Table of Contents
Copyrights and Credits
Table of Contents Page
Chapter 1: Those Who Assemble, and That Which They Carry On
Chapter 2: Conflict and Conflict
Newsletter
Prologue
Prologue
WE ORIENTED OURSELVES in the direction of the Castle of Alion, and got back on the move.
“Now we’re grouped up, it’s probably best for us to be the ones to find these disciples,” I said.
Mimori Touka, Piggymaru, Seras Ashrain, Munin—I wanted to avoid contact with anything in here until the four of us could group up. Now that we’re all together, though, we’re the best team to deal with these disciples. If we can take one down, that’ll really increase the survival rates of the other labyrinth entrants.
“Aside from Vicius herself, do you believe that the disciples will be our greatest obstacle in this labyrinth?” asked Seras, at the head of our party.
“Based on the information we’ve got right now, it sure seems that way.”
Lokiella’s intel was that these disciples are incredibly powerful in combat, even when solo.
“I hope Sogou and the Takao Sisters have already grouped up… Having Sogou and Hijiri working together will give us a big advantage.”
Even if two disciples were to attack them at once, those two might be able to take them out by working as a team. Most importantly, it would solve my biggest concern about Sogou Ayaka—her mental health. Just like Seras, she’s sincere to a fault, which can be a weakness. If she gets dragged into dialogue with a skilled talker, that would make her fragile. She’s not suited to going up against opponents like Asagi. I also don’t expect she’d be great in a hostage situation. I can imagine her innate virtues holding her back… But that all depends on whether there are any citizens of the capital left alive inside this labyrinth.
I was saved by goodness like hers in the past, so I don’t want to completely reject the way she does things… But when it comes to a fight to the death—that goodness might end up being a real weakness. Hijiri should be able to control that aspect of Sogou’s personality though… It sounds like she even had a hand in manipulating Kirihara for a while, after all.
“I will also be relieved once we have found Eve, Sir Geo, and the Wildly Beautiful Emperor,” said Seras.
If our first group of entrants can team up as much as possible, that’ll make them stronger as a fighting force—and give them more options in battle.
I took out my pocket watch.
“The second group of entrants should be coming in soon.”
If possible…
“The ideal scenario would be for our group to take out the disciples that are in here before the second group arrives, but…”
“I suppose our main concern with the disciples is that we are unaware of the extent of their power,” said Seras.
These disciples have been given Vicius’s element—and Lokiella said that she’s seen them fight before. Apparently, Vicius and her disciples also have something called anti-divine enhancement… Their abilities are much more powerful when fighting opponents aligned to some divine element, if I understand this correctly. When Lokiella fought against Vicius, her allies in that fight were all aligned with divine elements—a key point in her analysis of their defeat.
“It seems like she developed that enhancement because she intended on fighting higher ranked divines than us. We never had a chance against those disciples.”
But that hadn’t been the extent of Lokiella’s analysis.
“That’s exactly why humans might be able to pull this off…because you aren’t divine.”
Still…that doesn’t change the fact that these disciples are an unknown.
“They’re not going to get any use out of their anti-divine buffs when fighting us, they’re weakened by Erika’s anti-divine device, and we’ve got Asagi’s enhancement buffs strengthening us too. But it remains to be seen how far that’ll get us.”
Will we be able to hold our own against Vicius’s disciples, even with all these buffs? We might just roll over them in a fight, since we’re not divines…but we could be no match for them, regardless. These disciples could be our worst-case scenario.
“If they’re several levels above us in terms of pure fighting strength, then we’ll have to find a more indirect way of putting them down. My status effect skills seem to be the likeliest way we’ll be able to do that… I think they’re going to be important.”
But there’s also one other—Ikusaba Asagi.
Queen Bee.
If that skill of Asagi’s ends up working, then forget the disciples… It might be the key to taking down Vicius herself. I did just say that meeting up with Sogou and Hijiri would be for the best, but if Asagi’s unique skill really is capable of “giant killing,” then… Maybe it’d be best for us to find her quickly, given she’s quite weak in combat as an individual. But when it comes to Asagi, there are still some unknown variables that have nothing to do with her abilities.
“Hmph…” I snorted at the irony.
Munin came jogging to my side, sounding a little short of breath.
“What’s the matter, Too-ka?”
“Nothing,” I answered. “It’s just hard to go up against someone who’s like you…and I was just thinking how weird that is. It should be easier, right? I should know their moves like the back of my hand, but…ugh.”
We stopped dead in our tracks. Munin had been about to speak but swallowed the words. The passageway we were walking down was wide enough for us to maneuver in, and strewn with evidence of a past battle.
The ground was scattered with the remains of eucharist armor and weaponry. As for the creatures themselves, their bodies had dissolved away, disappearing without a trace.
Eucharist blood is white, and dissolves when they die—just like their flesh. That’s why only their gear remains.
“Given the bodies are completely gone…this fight must have happened some time ago.”
I don’t think whoever did this is still in the area. I can’t see any red blood—meaning they aren’t injured… But is that really a safe assumption to make?
“If the bodies remained, we might have been able to inspect their injuries to determine who killed them…” said Seras, looking down at the gear that was scattered through the passageway.
“Well…the good news is that these corpses weren’t any of ours. If whoever did this is still alive, we’ll find them eventually.”
Meeting up with our allies is one of the keys to making it through this labyrinth. At first, we talked about leaving little scraps of wood or some other symbols to mark our way through this maze. Dropping markers in these passageways would be just like the breadcrumbs in old children’s stories. We also considered color-coding our markers to let our allies know whose path they might be following. In the end, we decided it would be too dangerous—it might just lead the disciples straight to us because our parties would be too easy to track down.
I remembered Hijiri’s words on the subject. “there is, as you fear, a possibility that our enemies might use our trails to their own advantage. We might consider using such trails as a ruse, on the assumption that our enemies will find them. This would be a cheap trick, but a risky one, and very difficult to pull off, as there are far too many moving parts to consider. It might also be a waste of the entrants’ mental resources to have them focus so heavily on deceiving our enemies.”
After Hijiri’s analysis, that idea was scrapped.
I looked further down the passageway and went to investigate several pieces of gear that looked bigger than the rest.
No corpses…but based on this armor, they must have been mid-sized eucharists.
Munin peeked over my shoulder as I knelt to inspect the gear.
“Whoever fought these eucharists was certainly stronger than me,” she said once she caught her breath.
It must be hard on her—we’re always running while we’re on the move. I suppose it’s good that we took a little break.
“Anyway…” I got to my feet, and looked down the passageway—in the direction of the castle. “If we go this way, we might catch up with whoever it was that did this.”
We got back on the move. The labyrinth was complicated—twisting, turning, and doubling back on itself at times.
We can’t break through these walls, either… It’s frustrating to never be able to travel in a straight line to our destination.
As I ran, I glanced up at the Castle of Alion, only half-consumed by the whiteness. For a moment, I felt a strange emotion well up inside of me.
…I was summoned into that castle, then sent straight down into the Ruins of Disposal. I’ve never seen it from the outside before…or the town surrounding it. It hasn’t even been six months since I was first brought here, but…
“That day I was summoned to this world as a hero feels so long ago.”
“Speaking of heroes,” said Seras beside me. “I wonder what has become of Sir Yasu.”
“Yasu, huh?”
Yasu Tomohiro. He’s the only elite hero still alive and capable of fighting who isn’t participating in this war. I don’t know where he is or what he’s doing—except that he’s trying to find Sogou, I guess…
“When we parted ways, he said that he planned on heading to Alion, taking the northern route through Magnar. I guess it’s possible that he heard all those rumors of Sogou Ayaka’s appearance on the Miran front and headed south to meet her instead.”
It’s not just his current whereabouts, though… I haven’t heard any intel on him since the time we last saw each other in person. I asked Luheit and Kaize to send me a magical war pigeon if anything came up within Mira’s borders, but I haven’t heard from them since.
“If he didn’t hear of Sogou’s appearance in the south, he might have kept going north through Yonato. It’s possible that he’s stuck there right now.”
When we said goodbye in the Country at the End of the World, there was the risk of exposing Mimori Touka’s true identity to consider. And since Yasu was mentally unsound, it was a big risk. If those two factors hadn’t been in play, we could have incorporated him into our army.
…I remember what he said back then.
“I want to know more about others, just about as strongly as I want to know myself…”
I wonder if he knows more now?
“I want to go out and find those who need my help.”
I wonder if he did end up helping someone?
“…”
“Perhaps…” began Seras. “He may be in Azziz, helping with the defense of the Holy Eye of Yonato.”
“I’d sure be grateful if he was.”
Yeah—that’s another important fact to consider in this fight…the Holy Eye. Vicius has sent an army of eucharists north to destroy it. Will Yonato’s defenses hold until we’re able to make it through this labyrinth and defeat Vicius?
There’s another battle happening over there…and its outcome might be the ultimate difference between victory and defeat.
“Right now, we’re in this labyrinth, completely cut off from the outside world.”
Well, in that case…
“There’s nothing more we can do. The defense of the capital city of Yonato is in their hands now.”
Chapter 1: Those Who Assemble, and That Which They Carry On
Chapter 1:
Those Who Assemble, and That Which They Carry On
THESE EVENTS TOOK PLACE shortly before the appearance of the Divine Labyrinth in the capital city of Alion—
***
Yasu Tomohiro, Rinji, and the rest of their companions entered Azziz—the capital city of Yonato—through the south gate. He and his companions weren’t alone, as volunteers flooded into the city to offer their help in defense of the Holy Eye of Yonato. There were people within the walls loaded up with luggage on their backs and horse-drawn carriages hurrying along. It would be wrong to describe the atmosphere as lively—there was a tension in the air that kept everyone on edge. The capital still bore the painful scars of the great invasion. They had yet to rebuild and repair, and Yasu saw many buildings that had collapsed and been left in ruins. Most of the city’s people had already evacuated, and the district Yasu found himself in looked like a base of operations on the verge of war.
“That right there’s the second defensive wall, if I remember right,” said Rinji, pointing toward the center of the city.
Rising up beyond the wall Rinji indicated, Yasu saw the top of a castle. It was colored ash white and faded blue, and there were several spires rising alongside it. The second defensive wall looked to surround the castle and some of its grounds. Rinji looked back at the southern gate that their party had just passed under.
“So we just walked through the first defensive wall, eh?”
The first wall protected the castle town—the area that Yasu was currently in. Rinji looked back to the second defensive wall.
“Then that thing you see way up there…” His eyes trailed up to the castle, and he pointed right to the top. Yasu was looking up at it too—and at Rinji’s cue, he spoke its name. “The Holy Eye of Yonato…”
The Holy Eye really did look like a human eye—or rather, it was designed to look like one. The stone statue was elliptical, with patterning drawn on. It looked to Yasu a little bit like a piece of avant-garde artwork.
I suppose if that faded gray-white is the white of the eye, then that light blue part is the pupil? I was expecting more of a living, biological thing, I think…
Those were Yasu’s first impressions of the stone statue perched atop the castle above the city and its colorful patterns. The towers of the castle were all topped with pedestals surrounded by stone petals. They stretched out from the main building at ordered intervals, reaching up as if trying to touch the Holy Eye in their center—as if in worship of the stone statue. The Holy Eye was surrounded by the pedestal towers but was physically higher up than all of them.
Perhaps they’re just for decoration then, thought Yasu. They aren’t actually supposed to protect the eye itself from attack.
“…”
The Holy Eye.
This ancient weapon watches the skies of this world. If it detects a golden-eyed monster flying above a certain altitude, it shoots them down, no matter where they are on the continent. But…putting it right in the middle of the capital where everyone can see it… That eye looks defenseless to me, now that I’ve gotten a good look at it.
“So anyway, Rinji,” said Oulu, standing by Yasu’s side. “Are we going to keep hiding the fact that Tomohiro is a Hero from Another World?”
Oulu felt that the coming fight could turn out to be much more intense than any of them were bargaining for and it would be valuable for them to have an elite hero on the battlefield. “For the people planning this defense…I think it would be good for them to understand that they have a Hero from Another World on their side…”
“Maybe…” Rinji replied. “But heck, Tomohiro’s the one that gets to make that decision, not us.” He looked over at Yasu. “This is a battle you chose, Tomohiro. You decided to come here and fight. How you do this is up to you.”
“I think it might be best to let them know who I really am.” After hearing Rinji and Oulu’s opinions on the matter, Yasu had made up his mind.
“…All right then. I’ll go and talk to the higher-ups.” Rinji went to speak with one of the organizers of the Holy Eye’s defense—a man who was in charge of the volunteers.
“A Hero from Another World? For real?”
The man sounded skeptical…until Yasu activated one of his skills to show him. Seeing was believing, and the effect it had on the man was immediate. It seemed he’d heard of an elite hero who wielded black flames. His attitude completely changed the moment he heard Yasu’s name. He called a messenger and sent them to the castle, and before long, they returned with instructions for Yasu to be brought up.
Yasu and his party made their way to the castle on foot. Given the situation, Yonato had no carriages to spare. Once they were through the second defensive wall, they came out into a district filled with imposing mansions and grand temples. This part of the city seemed elegant when compared to the bustle of the castle town district below. Even so, the damage from the Demon Empire’s great invasion was still evident in the upper district. They made their way through the third and final wall and found themselves within the grounds of the castle itself.
“Jeez…that’s what it took to get in here, eh?” said Oulu, looking around. Rinji and the others were looking around in curiosity.
I suppose they’ve never gotten in here before.
From what Yasu could see, it looked like the castle and its grounds had been damaged in the great invasion.
Huh…the damage seems worse here than it was in the mansion and temple district we just passed through.
The castle was clearly preparing for war, setting itself up for the fighting to come.
“Wh…? What is that thing?” Oulu asked, his mouth wide open in shock.
“That thing, yeah…? That’s the Holy Cavalry, ain’t it? Massive magic puppet, from ancient times.”
The giant lay in the rubble of a building that had yet to be cleared away. It looked as if the rubble was holding the thing’s body in place, and there was scaffolding set up around it. The giant almost looked like a fantasy robot to Yasu.
Are they really getting anywhere with repairs if they’re leaving it in the rubble like that?
Rinji appeared to be searching his memory for something. “Some inner circle monster was sent to Yonato, I think? Heard this thing is what fought the monster off… Eh?”
A guide approached them and escorted Yasu and his companions into one of the rooms of the castle, straight into the audience chamber of…
“I am Alma Saintnokia, Queen of Yonato. Thank you for coming.”
Yasu and his party bowed, all of them showing reverence. None of them had expected to be immediately granted an audience with the queen. The room was lined with grandiose knights to guard the throne. A silver-haired girl wearing a black eyepatch stood beside the queen, supporting herself on crutches.
“Raise your heads,” the queen said. “We are the ones asking for your assistance, given the circumstances. You need not show such deference. We have no time for formalities, though I appreciate you did not forget your etiquette in this moment.”
Yasu and the others did as they were told and looked up at the queen. There was a huge mural on the wall behind the throne depicting the Holy Eye of Yonato.
The queen walked toward them, and the silver-haired girl moved with her. The knights began to follow, attempting to escort the queen, but she stopped them with a wave of her hand.
“A Hero from Another World—one of Vicius’s pawns—has infiltrated our city of Azziz under the guise of volunteering to defend our Holy Eye. Nothing could make me more suspicious of you.”
The queen’s words sent a chill down Yasu’s spine.
Of course she thinks that I’m an assassin sent here by Vicius. But…that doesn’t explain why she offered us an audience in person. I’m an elite hero, after all… If she really suspected that I was here to kill her, letting me get this close would be the most dangerous thing she could do.
It was then that the queen’s tone shifted, just a little.
“But you, Tomohiro Yasu… We received word of you from Mira in advance of your arrival. They told us that the Hero of the Black Inferno opposes the Goddess. They requested that we assist you if you were discovered within our realm. We were sent two such letters in fact, signed by the Wildly Beautiful Emperor and Luheit Mira themselves. Their correspondence was genuine, of that I have no doubt. The letters’ contents also stated that the Lord of the Flies Belzegea, Seras Ashrain, and a representative of the Country at the End of the World named Munin have vouched for you.”
The queen inspected Yasu.
“Those injuries of yours…are those Vicius’s work?”
“…Indirectly. It seemed I was no longer of any use to her, and this was her attempt to get rid of me.”
“I see,” the queen nodded. “Then you have more than enough reason to oppose her.”
“Even those scars might be a ploy. A trap to make us lower our guard,” said the silver-haired girl attending the queen’s side.
She was Curia Guilstein, the Holy Priest of Yonato. Rinji had whispered a few words to Yasu about her as they arrived in the audience chamber. It was the first time that Yasu had ever met the Holy Priest of Yonato. She had been greatly injured while piloting the Holy Cavalry during the Demon Empire’s great invasion. Her skin was wrapped in bandages, revealing glimpses of the painful-looking wounds underneath.
“Curia, I appreciate your caution in this matter…” replied the queen, acknowledging her concern. “But it is my judgment that we require this elite hero’s power in the present moment. That is why I will trust him and fight alongside him as if he was one of us. If he truly were an assassin sent here to murder me…do you not agree that I would already be dead? Look how close we are standing.”
“Well…I suppose you’re right.”
Breathing an inner sigh of relief, Yasu thought about the Lord of the Flies.
Belzegea…
Even though now they were so far away, Belzegea and his companions were still looking after Yasu—and that thought made him happy. The queen looked at Yasu again with powerful determination burning in her eyes.
“The Magnar army approaches our city, bringing the citizens of Magnar with them as they march. From the south, an army of reinforcements led by Luheit Mira and the White Wolf King will join us in due course.”
The holy priest picked up where her queen left off.
“This massive horde of eucharists heading for Azziz is currently east of the Magnar army. They are trampling down man and earth alike as they advance upon us. They are on their way to Azziz.”
Yasu was told that many people in Magnar were fleeing west into Yonato territory. Many of the citizens of Yonato were already taking refuge in the state’s western regions—leaving that area unable to accommodate any further refugees. Those seeking asylum were directed south to Mira, taking the opposite route that Yasu and his companions had traveled.
Mira had set up a refugee camp just south of the border, but there were frequent attacks of golden-eyed monster hordes in the area—Just as there had been when Yasu’s own party had elected to avoid the highway north.
The northern advance of the Miran army was dealing with that issue, however, and the safety of the camp had been more or less secured by Miran forces. Supplies were also making their way up from the empire’s reserves. Yasu was relieved to hear that news.
…They haven’t given up on the future. They aren’t forcing those who can’t properly fight into this war. They are thinking about what this world will look like once they’ve won—what will become of those who have to put the future together again once the fighting is over.
Yasu thought for a moment about those he had left behind.
Yuri… Her mother… Those we parted with on the road… All of them… They…
He clenched his fist.
That’s why I have to do this. I have to keep going… To make a future for them.
Yasu and his party were given a simple, dusty room in the castle, that was nevertheless quite spacious. They were told that it was the old station house for guards. Oulu went over to a bed and rolled onto his back.
“Well hey, this sure beats camping out in the woods.”
Rinji took out a toothpick, and patted Yasu on the shoulder as he walked by him. “All thanks to Tomohiro, mind.”
Yasu returned an unsteady smile, and sat down on the edge of one of the other beds. He knitted his hands, pressed them to his forehead, then closed his eyes.
This castle. This whole city. I can’t pretend I haven’t felt it before. But entering Azziz, it feels like this has really begun. Why is that, I wonder? What happened at the White Citadel of Protection felt so real…so intense. What’s different this time around? Is it just that I’m more experienced? That I’m ready for what comes next? Or…do I feel differently now about the people I have to protect?
“…”
Yasu breathed out slowly, trying to let the fear and anxiety escape through his lips.
No matter what…it is coming. It won’t be long. I can’t be sure, but I think this will be the final battle.
As the dizzying churn of battle preparations continued across Azziz, the Magnar army arrived in the city.
Yasu Tomohiro, Rinji, and Oulu stood in the audience chamber of the Queen of Yonato. The room was rearranged in preparation for a military meeting.
Then the doors opened, and two women entered leading a group of white-clad knights behind them. One of the women had a circlet upon her head, and the other held a white helmet under one arm, decorated with what looked like a tail.
“It has been far too long. I am Dearis Artlight, Captain of the White Fox Riders of Magnar.”
The woman looked as if she was cloaked in light. Her armor was foxlike and her cloak was pure white. She had a longsword at her hip, and long white gloves stretched from her fingertips to her elbows. Even though she was wearing armor, she was slim in build with long limbs and emerald green eyes.
Her hair appeared almost white on first glance, but on close inspection it was the palest shade of blond—even fairer than that of Seras Ashrain. The knight appeared dignified and graceful…and most of all, she was beautiful.
The shorter woman who stood by her side was also of great beauty.
They actually look quite similar…
She wore a circlet and had her long hair tied up behind her head. A friendly smile graced her face. At her hip, however…
Are those axes…?
Two small axes hung from her waist—seemingly at odds with the beautifully petite woman who stood in their presence.
…Or some might think so, perhaps.
Yasu thought the two honey-colored axes actually seemed to suit her quite well.
Is it their design? Those things hardly look like plain axes.
The woman’s circlet reminded Yasu of bunny ears, and she was wearing long white gloves just like the knight beside her. The combination of white and red colors made Yasu think of a white rabbit. But unlike the armored knight, the other woman was wearing something closer to an armored dress. She gripped the edges of her skirt and curtsied like a noblewoman.
“It has been a long time, your majesty. I am Sicily Artlight, Captain of the White Rabbit Riders of Magnar.”
“Long time no see, Sicily,” said the Holy Priest of Yonato with a smile. Yasu had never seen her look anything but stern before.
So she does crack a smile sometimes, then…
“It has indeed, Curia,” Sicily replied with an affectionate grin.
Seems like the two of them are old friends. That squares with what I was told before this meeting. These are the famously beautiful warriors of Magnar—the Artlight Sisters. They used to be two vice-captains of the White Wolf Riders of Magnar. The White Wolf Riders are the strongest fighting force of knights in Magnar, responsible for riding the length of their territory. The white rabbit and fox orders are mostly active in the area surrounding the capital city. Their main responsibilities are guarding the king and keeping the peace in and around the capital, so they’ve never had many opportunities to show their prowess. But during the great invasion, the captain of the White Fox Riders died in battle, and Dearis was promoted to the position. The White Fox Riders rarely left the capital…but it’s for good reason that they’re here in Yonato now.
“I have heard that you are with child, Lady Dearis. Are you sure that you should be here on the battlefield?” asked Curia. Dearis smiled back at her, then looked down and stroked her belly.
“I can still move. Though, well… My subordinates have been insistent that I stay away from the front lines.”
Dearis’s faint smile turned into a wry grin, and a flash of sorrow passed over her face.
“For the future of this child that Sogude has left me, I must fight. Allow me to command, at the very least.”
Sogude Sigmus’s White Wolf Riders had been annihilated according to the public reports. The order had been lured into a trap by one of Vicius’s plots, and killed. Word of their demise spread across Magnar, and was one reason for the nation’s quick turn against the Goddess.
“Regardless, sister…please don’t overexert yourself.”
“I know that, Sicily.”
“I will work hard enough for the both of us, and His Majesty will be joining us soon.”
The death of Prince Sogude Sigmus had brought great sadness to the nation of Magnar. But there was one speck of salvation to help soothe the people’s sorrow—the White Wolf King, who the populace had believed died in battle during the great invasion, was in fact still alive. The reports were that he had been gravely wounded in the fighting and had been receiving treatment in Mira for some time.
“Why was his survival not announced earlier? Why did the Mirans take our injured White Wolf King to their own imperial capital of Luva? Some might question the reasoning behind such decisions… But for now, I’ll simply rejoice at the fact that our White Wolf King is still alive and is on his way here to Azziz.”
Dearis bowed to the queen. “Your majesty, allow me to express my sincere gratitude that you have agreed to accept the citizens of Magnar in our time of need.”
“…And yet I will be unable to shelter all of you, I fear,” the queen replied.
The people of Magnar who are fleeing to Yonato…some of them were slow on their feet, I suppose. There were Magnar forces serving as a rear guard, but they were swallowed up by the eucharist army when the horde overtook them. Then…it’s not hard to imagine that those slower Magnar refugees must have met the same fate.
“Vicius’s eucharists slaughter indiscriminately, even killing those that have no strength to fight them,” said Dearis, her lips pursed in self-reproach and regret. “My order is sworn to defend those people, but I was forced to leave some behind—discard them. We had no choice.”
“That isn’t something that you should concern yourself with, sister,” said Sicily, stepping forward with a gentle smile on her face and folding her white-gloved hands behind her back. “The decision to abandon the refugees was not yours, sister—nor were they the orders of the White Wolf King. I—Sicily Artlight—made the call…entirely on my own.”
Her gentle expression flipped in an instant. There was a dark cunning hidden behind her eyes, and even the smile at her lips was as sharp as a knife.
“When this fighting is over and it comes time for blame to be assigned—it will not fall on my pregnant sister or the king who holds the momentum and strength to rebuild our broken nation. I will accept the anger and displeasure of our people. Please, do not let it concern you any further.” Sicily laughed a little, and her easy smile returned. “Well, I suppose if I die in combat then dead men tell no tales, eh? Just pile all the blame on me if that happens, okay?”
“Sicily, but you…”
“This is the end of that conversation, sister.” It was clear from her tone that Sicily wouldn’t tolerate any objections. “In any case, getting past this present battle is what’s important now. So…is he the one?”
Sicily looked directly at Yasu Tomohiro, and the queen nodded.
“Yes. He is the Hero from Another World who will be fighting by our side.”
Yasu nervously smiled at Sicily. “…N-nice to meet you. My name is Tomohiro Yasu.”
She took a few steps closer, then grinned at him.
“Nice to meet you too. Sicily Artlight,” she said, holding out her hand.
Yasu took it, and they exchanged a handshake. For a time, Sicily looked as if she was sizing Yasu up.
“I see,” she muttered under her breath finally. “Looks like we’ll really be able to count on you.”
With that, Sicily Artlight turned on her heel and walked back to her sister.
Before long, the Miran army arrived in Azziz, along with the White Wolf King. Yasu, Rinji, and his companions found themselves a part of the welcome party. The sky was clear as the Miran commanders passed through the capital’s final defensive wall and came into view.
First there was the beautiful Luheit Mira, commander general of the Miran army, looking every bit the noble. By his side rode a head of one of the three princeps elector houses, Hauzen Dias. Despite his old age, he was serving as vice-commander of the Miran forces. Next came a great man that made Yasu think of a winter wilderness—the White Wolf King. He rode atop a sturdy steed that made him look every bit royalty, dignified and tall. The Magnar soldiers within the Yonato castle walls could barely contain their excitement at his arrival. The moment they caught sight of him, they erupted in cheers of joy.
Then Rinji saw them, and a pained expression passed over his face.
“Oh,” said Oulu beside him as he noticed the new arrivals too.
Yasu saw them last of all.
Aren’t they…the Sabre-toothed Tigers?
“Hey, Rinji…isn’t that Pig?”
Rinji suddenly looked sheepish. “…Sure is, yeah.”
It was awkward—Yasu felt it too.
Before their journey to the Land of the Golden-eyed Monsters, the heroes had been assigned instructors for leveling. The Sabre-toothed Tigers hadn’t been in charge of Yasu’s group—but he had met them before.
Meeting someone who knew me back then—this is going to be embarrassing. But…I don’t think I should sneak away from this situation.
Yasu plucked up the courage to speak out and greet Riri as she passed by, but…
“Hey, Pig!”
Oulu managed to beat him to the punch by just a split second. Riri narrowed her eyes, scowling over at him, but the old warrior Pig by her side returned the greeting.
“…O-Oulu? Is th-that really you? And…it can’t be—Rinji?!”
Riri’s eyes slowly opened wide.
“Huh? Oulu? Rinji…?”
Oulu gave the group a dopey grin and waved over at them.
“Hey, Pig…long time no see. Er…glad to see you’re still kickin’ around.”
“What the heck are you two doing here?!”
Pig left the procession and ran over—the other members of the Sabre-toothed Tigers noticed, too.
“Eh? Rinji…he’s the guy who used to roll with the tigers, with Riri’s old man back in the day, right? The two of them were heads of the group, yeah?”
“Ah, right… You joined after Rinji and Oulu left, I s’pose.”
Rinji shot Oulu a sour look, as if to say “thanks for ambushing mewith this conversation before I was ready,” though he quickly seemed to resign himself to the situation, and returned an awkward smile. Pig was the first to greet him.
“Long time no see, former vice-captain.”
“…You too, Pig.”
“Hmph. Did you always play things this cool? I forget.”
“So, still in the tigers then, are you?”
“Hmph, I s’pose I am.”
Riri approached. “Rinji…do you remember me?”
“…You know it. Can’t expect you to know who a nobody like me is.”
Riri shrugged, and answered with a carefree smile, “I’m a bit vague on the details. I was only little…but I remember you. Hard to forget, to be honest. I mean…you were my dad’s old partner, after all.”
Rinji looked uncomfortable at that, and Riri saw it in his eyes.
“Ah, about the old man…” The anxiety was evident in Rinji’s expression. “He’s not mad at you anymore, Rinji.”
“…Huh?”
“Don’t get me wrong, he really flew off the handle for a while… I thought he was going to chase you down to beat you half to death at the time. I was young, but I remember just how mad he got.”
“…Can’t blame Guavan for that. I left the Tigers without saying a word to him.”
Listening to their conversation, Yasu had managed to slowly piece together what had happened between Rinji and the Sabre-toothed Tigers—only later would Rinji fill him in on the missing details.
The Sabre-toothed Tigers were a mercenary band first set up by Rinji and Guavan, Riri’s father. They were a well-known group, even back then, but Guavan wanted to expand. On the other hand, Rinji was looking to get out of the mercenary trade entirely. Guavan began to get more aggressive in his attempts to grow the organization, and started being more coercive on the business side. Rinji was against these decisions, but Guavan never even entertained the idea that Rinji would retire from the group.
“It’s you and me, Rinji!” he used to say. “It’s only the Sabre-toothed Tigers ’cause the both of us are here, y’know?!”
Then one day, Rinji vanished, taking a number of Tiger members with him. The grudge that Guavan bore against Rinji was intense.
“The two of us exchanged oaths, y’hear me?! We said we was gonna make the Sabre-toothed Tigers the best mercenary band on the whole continent! That bastard… Left me behind in the dirt with our dreams unfinished! Just left without a damn word!”
Two more things rubbed salt in the wound for Guavan. First, most of the mercenaries Rinji had taken with him were veterans. Second, one of them was his own sister.
“There was the fact that his little sister left,” said Riri, “But mostly I don’t think Dad could bear that most of the veterans left to follow you, Rinji. Pig stayed—the oldest—and I think that kept him holding on.”
Rinji looked off into the distance.
“I know I did wrong, too… It’s just… Back then it just seemed like Guavan had changed so much… He wasn’t listening to the veterans… Wasn’t listening to me, even. And well…the way he was try’n to expand the Tigers wasn’t what any of us wanted. It wasn’t the sort of mercenary band that we wanted to be part of. That’s why we left.”
So…even Guavan’s own little sister was sick of him back then, Yasu realized.
“But thinkin’ back on all that now…” Rinji went on, sounding lost in his memories. “I reckon maybe I should’ve stuck with him a little longer… Done more to try and convince him to change his ways.”
“No…Dad knows he was the one in the wrong.”
“…Is he doing all right?”
“He’s been living a quiet life since he retired and made me captain. He’s off carving crude wooden sculptures and makin’ crafts. He’s a lot thinner than he used to be, and he’s showing his age… You two look a lot younger than my old man does, Rinji.”
Riri gave him a wry smile.
“He doesn’t talk about it a lot, but I think somewhere deep down he regrets everything that happened back then. He really feels bad about the way he treated you, from what I hear. But, hey… He was never the best at expressing that stuff, right? I think…that’s why he hasn’t tried to come find you again—he’s just trying to forget.”
For a while, the two of them just stood in silence, until Rinji spoke again.
“Would it be all right…if I went to see him? Once this is over… I want to meet him again.”
“Of course.” Riri looked relieved. “I’m sure he’ll be happy to see you.”
“I’ll bring my wife with me, Riri…and your little cousin.”
“Ah, you’ve got a kid, Rinji?”
“Yeah.”
“Hmm…”
More silence—but it was a calm quiet this time.
“I’m sorry for what I did to you too, Riri,” Rinji said suddenly.
“Hmm? I don’t think you were in the wrong. Anyway, the Tigers under my watch don’t turn away good applicants. And we don’t chase down anyone that tries to leave. If you don’t like the way we do things you’re free to go. I don’t force anyone to stay. I just think that would make everyone unhappy. But I look after my friends.”
“It sounds like you’re running a good group, Riri.”
“But well…” Riri smiled in self-reflection. “The way that Vicius used the Sabre-toothed Tigers in all this—that was my fault. I regret ever agreeing to help her… But I’m so grateful all my companions still choose to follow me, even now that it’s over.”
Riri looked over the members of the Sabre-toothed Tigers, her eyes filled with trust. Those that knew Oulu were rejoicing at their reunion—Rinji and Riri watched them all in silence.
“…I don’t want anyone here to die,” said Rinji, finally.
“Neither do I… It seems like Vicius is getting desperate though. At the very least, this is going to be a pretty tough fight. I don’t know if we can win it…” Rinji pointed to Yasu. “We have him now, though. We’ve got an elite hero on our side.”
“Hmm? A Hero from Another World eh…? Hmm. Hey wait a minute, aren’t you…?” Riri furrowed her brow, walked over to Yasu, and brought her face closer to his. “We’ve met before?”
“I—it’s been a long time, but yes…” Yasu replied, backing away a little.
Rinji looked surprised. “Huh? What, you two know each other?”
Riri pointed her thumb back at Yasu.
“We got a job from Vicius because she wanted us to train those hero guys. We weren’t in charge of this one though…but, er—who are you, again?”
“Eh? My n-name is…Tomohiro Yasu.”
Riri closed her eyes and furrowed her brow even harder, crossing her arms like she was really trying to sort through her memories.
“I mean, I do sort of remember you, but…nah. It’s like you’re a whole different person than you were when we met, right?”
Yasu averted his eyes for a moment. “Well…a lot has happened since then…” He bowed his head. “I am sorry for the way I used to be…for the unpleasant way in which I acted back then.”
Riri looked stunned at first but quickly seemed to catch on. Her eyes fell to Yasu’s bandages, and visible scars.
“Well, like you said…it sure seems you’ve been through a lot. I don’t intend on bringing up any painful memories. If you’re willing to fight by our side now, then I’ve got nothing to say about what used to be. Seems like you’re a lot nicer now, anyway… And past attitude aside, I know how strong you are. We can count on you in this fight then?”
“I-I’ll try my best.”
Riri put a hand to her chin and leaned in toward Yasu once more.
“So, you and the Hero of the Black Inferno, one and the same, eh…? People keep showing up with completely different personalities—Lord of the Flies was the first one.”
Eh? The Lord of the Flies…?
“Excuse me, but…what about Belzegea?” asked Yasu.
“Eh? It sounds like you’ve met him too?”
“Yes…well…he’s the whole reason that I’m still alive, and here fighting.”
“Really? Sorta the same story with us, actually… We’re here thanks to one of the Lord of the Flies’ schemes.”
“Then you’ve met Belzegea before, Riri…?”
“Uuugh…” Riri pouted uncomfortably. “We fought once. Or rather…he saved our lives. I guess actually—apparently, we’d met the man behind the mask some time back, y’know? Heard that’s the whole reason he spared us.”
Yasu was shocked. “What? Th-then…you’ve seen what he really looks like?”
“…Yep, we have.” Riri scratched her head, trying to figure out what the nagging feeling inside her was. “The young lad we met…and the Lord of the Flies he became… To be honest I still can’t make a real connection between ’em in my head. Back then he just looked like a harmless kid…”
Young…then whoever is behind Belzegea’s mask is young?
“Did he give you his real name?” asked Yasu.
“Never asked. But you might be able to look it up in the registry from when we did that dungeon clearing in Mils. Ah…but I s’pose he might’ve been going by a false name, even back then.”
…Is it that mask and those clothes? There’s something about him that doesn’t feel human—but there is a real person in there. And I hope I can see him again someday.
Yasu wanted more than anything to meet the Lord of the Flies again, just as he wished to see Sogou Ayaka. …To meet them as the man he had become, not the Yasu Tomohiro he used to be.
The queen’s audience chamber was filled with people—including Yasu, Rinji, and Oulu.
“Tomohiro, sure…but what are Oulu and I doing here, eh?” Rinji had asked aloud.
But Riri disagreed. “The Sabre-toothed Tigers used to be a real force of veterans, right? You’re the one that used to lead them, Rinji. If we’re here, there’s no reason you shouldn’t be here too.”
In the end, they decided that since the queen had allowed Rinji and Oulu to attend, it was probably for the best. The military meeting in question was coming to an end. The eucharist army was closing in—and the table in the center of the room was scattered with the maps and plans for the fighting to come.
“The situation in brief,” said the holy priest Curia. “There are two main entry points into the city of Azziz—the east gate and the south. The castle and the holy eye atop it are protected by three layers of defensive walls. If the final defensive wall is breached and the enemy disables the holy eye, our forces will be defeated… That is our situation.”
“Correct me if I am wrong…” began Luheit. “Do we not need to worry about trebuchet-like weapons that might launch projectiles over the city walls?”
“Not an issue. The holy eye is covered by an invisible defensive membrane, and no past attacks have ever destroyed that barrier. If anyone wishes to touch the Holy Eye of Yonato itself, they must go through the interior of the castle.”
I see, thought Yasu. The eye looks undefended from the outside, but it’s actually shielded by a barrier of some kind.
The White Wolf King let out a low growl. “As for this city’s walls…none of them were destroyed in the great invasion. I knew that these walls were tough, but not to this extent. It helps a great deal that we need not worry about trebuchet weapons or massive magical devices breaking down our defenses.”
It was said that the walls appeared from the ground the very first time that the Holy Eye of Yonato activated. With the long passage of time, Azziz had transformed into a grand settlement—and while none knew whether it was by the holy eye’s will or not, the city planners always found incredibly convenient paths to build sewage and tunnel systems under the city.
Curia turned to look at those assembled before the queen. “And yet—no matter how ineffective direct attacks against the eye are, and regardless of the sturdiness of our walls—we cannot prevent projectiles from being launched over our defenses. Those within the city will fall victim to such attacks, and our enemies might use siege towers to breach our walls. The largest eucharists may also be capable of carrying hordes of soldiers to the top by hand. It’s possible also that…”
Curia appeared to search her memory before she continued. “There was an inner circle monster that we had a great deal of trouble dealing with during the great invasion…Dreykuvah. It is possible that some of these eucharists may be similarly elite.”
Yasu recalled that Dreykuvah had the ability to teleport short distances, which had allowed him to easily skip past Azziz’s defensive walls. The surprise attack he launched from within the city itself was what had opened the city’s gates to the invasion and led to massive damage during the attack.
“We had no choice but to allow him entry into the castle grounds, and to fight him off with the Holy Cavalry as a last resort—but even so, it was a hard-fought victory only made possible by the tactics of Asagi Ikusaba.”
The queen’s expression was grim, but Riri looked nostalgic upon hearing Asagi’s name.
“Asagi, eh? I heard that she was in the capital of Mira around the same time that we were… We didn’t end up meeting down there though, so I haven’t seen her since we left Azziz. She listened well during training, but I don’t know—there’s something about her. I just can’t put my finger on it.”
The other members of the Sabre-toothed Tigers had nostalgic looks in their eyes too.
“I wonder how Kobato’s doin’, eh? She was such a good kid, I always thought it was weird she was in that group.”
Asagi-san… Kashima-san…
During the great invasion, Asagi’s group had fought on the western front of Yonato with the Sabre-toothed Tigers, Yasu knew.
So many people have met… There are so many connections here…
“There are no gates to the north or west, but is there any danger of infiltration from those angles?” Luheit asked Curia.
“We cannot discount that possibility, and so I intend on deploying some of our forces there. Yet, I believe most of our defense should be focused on the east and south gates.”
The defensive walls of this city are impregnable, but the gates that are set into them aren’t. It’s possible, of course, that they might bring battering rams to break inside.
“I think it’s most likely that the eucharist army’s main force will hit the eastern gate, and so our forces will chiefly be concentrated there with a secondary force at the south gate. The remainder of our soldiers will watch the northern and western walls.”
The conversation then turned to troop placements.
“The south will be led by the Miran army, under Luheit Mira’s command. The Ninth Order of Alion, of the former Thirteen Orders of Alion, will also join their ranks.”
The Thirteen Orders of Alion.
The name made Yasu cringe at first—but after learning more about them, the Ninth seem nothing like their peers…
The captain and vice-captain of the Ninth Order were present at the military meeting, and to Yasu’s eyes, they looked nothing like the foul Alion knights he’d encountered before.
“The east will be guarded by the White Fox and Rabbit Riders, the Magnar army led by the White Wolf King, the current and former Sabre-toothed Tigers…and the Hero from Another World.”
Everyone turned to look at Yasu. He felt his whole body seize up and smiled awkwardly back at everyone. Yasu didn’t shrink away as he might otherwise have done. …Perhaps that was because he had Rinji standing there behind him.
Then, the Queen of Yonato began to speak once more, and all eyes returned to her. “Yonato’s Holy Order of the Purge will remain within the castle, as a last line of defense against surprise attacks. We will also divide some of our forces to cover the northern and western walls, and in addition, we will keep an eye on the fronts of the coming battle to send reinforcements where they are needed.”
“Will the south gate hold…?” asked the White Wolf King, flanked by the Artlight Sisters. “Most of Mira’s strength is off fighting in Alion, ain’t it? All you’ve assembled are the reserves that were in Luva for your capital’s defense…and some of your forces were sent to protect the refugee camp on the border. Even with this order from Alion to support you, won’t we be short of men?”
Then, the White Wolf King suggested that some of the Magnar army be dispatched to the south gate. The camp that Miran forces had been left to defend was largely composed of Magnari refugees—and for its defense, Mira had divided their army.It seemed that the White Wolf King felt remorse for the situation—leading to the proposal to divide his own forces. The majority opinion won out in the end, however.
“The fighting will be most intense around the east gate—we should avoid drawing any of our strength away from there.”
“With respect to that…” said Luheit, once there was a lull in the discussion. “While we were on the march, I received a message from the Country at the End of the World.”
Mira had given magical war pigeons to the people of that nation when they had last made contact.
“The Immortal King of the Country at the End of the World informed me that the Band of the Shining Dragon—which had been left in reserve to defend their capital…along with every other individual still capable of fighting—will be coming to participate in this battle as well. They are on their way.”
“Hmph. The Country at the End of the World, eh?”
“They did inform me, however, that their main strength has been sent to Alion.”
“Regardless—the more allies in this fight, the better…”
The Country at the End of the World. I remember… How could I ever forget? They were the ones who treated me—healed my wounds. If the Band of the Shining Dragon are coming, then maybe the dragonkin who treated my injuries is among them?
Even now…we keep making connections.
Luheit and Yasu had, in fact, exchanged a few words after the former’s arrival.
“I wish to speak with the Hero of the Black Inferno, if he is present,” he had reportedly said. “I am under instruction to inform the Lord of the Flies once I am aware of Yasu Tomohiro’s location.”
He had apparently made a promise to the Lord of the Flies, and wished to speak with Yasu to send as much accurate information to Belzegea as possible.
Returning to the military discussions at hand—the White Wolf King had a bitter expression on his face. “But to be frank…I’m anxious about the strength of the force we have gathered here, especially given our soldiers’ exhaustion so soon after the great invasion. Regardless—we’ve no intention of rolling over and letting Vicius take us without a fight, eh?”
“Indeed,” said the Queen of Yonato, nodding resolutely. “We cannot despair of our cause just yet. We have another army moving to resolve this issue for good, I understand?”
“You’re right about that. The Miran army led by the Wildly Beautiful Emperor, the Lord of the Flies Brigade, and the mighty Ayaka Sogou. That army is on its way to Alion right now to destroy Vicius herself. That man…the Banished Emperor… If what he said was true, then destroying Vicius should also eliminate all of the eucharists that are heading this way. The army bound for Alion is the hope we need.”
The military discussion continued, but in truth all that was left to do was to prepare and wait for the eucharist army to arrive. The meeting broke, and Riri went over to speak with Rinji—but she was stopped.
“Do you have a moment?” asked the White Wolf King, with Dearis at his side. The king waved his hand to Riri to stop her from kneeling at his feet, explaining that he wanted to speak with her. “I heard from Dearis that you were chosen… You are to be the next wielder of the demonic sword Stormcaliber, the keepsake of my younger brother Sogude, no?”
“Ah, y-yes…it seems so.” Even Riri was nervous to talk with royalty. The White Wolf King was massive, but looked every bit the king.
Dearis placed her hands over her belly and smiled softly. “I have another keepsake of Sogude’s within me and I entertained the faint hope that the sword might choose me instead…but my prayers went unanswered.”
Stormcaliber had been retrieved from the location where Sogude Sigmus and the rest of the White Wolf Riders were rumored to have been killed. Then, Yasu learned the shocking truth straight from the mouth of the White Wolf King himself: the person who annihilated the White Wolf Riders…was Kirihara Takuto.
Kirihara-kun…?
He also learned that Kirihara’s body was currently in the imperial capital of Mira. Kirihara Takuto’s death greatly disturbed him.
Kirihara’s…dead? What in the world happened to him? Why did he kill the brother of the White Wolf King?
Yasu asked, but it seemed that the White Wolf King knew very few details of Sogude’s death. As Yasu stood in shock, the conversation continued and Riri apologized awkwardly for the situation at hand.
“Ah…I don’t know what to say… I am sorry that I was chosen…”
Dearis returned a considerate smile. “Not at all. I apologize if the meaning of my words was unclear. We are lucky if there is one wielder of the demonic sword within a whole generation…and I am very happy that we have found another in you.”
Riri still looked a little awkward. “I had no connection to His Majesty the late prince, and so…I don’t know why the sword chose me…”
“It is beyond our understanding. Perhaps it is a kind of fate. I am sure that God only knows why this has happened.”
“I am pleased that we have found a new wielder too, now that Sogude is gone,” said the White Wolf King. “It will be as if I am once again fighting by his side in this battle.”
The corners of Dearis’s eyes softened in faint sorrow at the king’s words.
“Yet,” she said, facing Riri. “You must be careful when using that sword. It is powerful to be sure, yet…when you are near your allies, it may harm them as much as any enemy. And prolonged use of the blade may cause you to lose your mind. It is for those two reasons that even Sogude rarely made use of the sword.”
“I understand.”
“Oh, and also…” said Dearis, appearing to remember something. “Speaking of objects that require a specific wielder, there was another item. A magical war pigeon arrived with a…smartphone. The device’s name is White Noise—and Curia has been chosen to wield its incantation power. It seems that among the army that was dispatched to Alion, no suitable wielder was found for it.”
“From what I heard, the Lord of the Flies took it from a bunch of Vicius’s underlings that he defeated on his journey—some people called it the Sword of Courage,” Sicily chimed in from behind her sister. The White Wolf King looked impressed.
“To think that we have found a wielder for both the demonic sword Stormcaliber and this new magical incantation device in such a short time… To say nothing of the elite hero that now stands by our side.” The White Wolf King looked over at Yasu. “This must be some kind of sign—or at least, I’d like to believe it is.”
***
On the day that all their preparations to face down the eucharists were completed, the reinforcing army from the Country at the End of the World was sighted near the city of Azziz, as they had crossed the border into Yonato.
And on that exact same day, the eucharist horde was sighted from atop the castle walls for the very first time.
***
Now that the great army was visible from atop the wall of the east gate, the mood among the troops changed completely. Yasu Tomohiro stood atop the ramparts, watching the army march toward them. A light breeze blew past his cheeks, worrying them with dust and dirt.
Rinji, one step ahead of Yasu, spoke but three words.
“They’ve finally come.”
Eve Speed
EVE SPEED RACED through the labyrinth, heading in the direction of the castle.
I’ve yet to see anyone in here.
Eve had covered some distance through the passageways but hadn’t yet encountered any of her allies.
Munin is the key to this fight… I just hope that someone has found her by now…
The Takao Sisters, Ayaka Sogou, Too-ka and Seras—all had entered close in line to Munin and had the highest chance of encountering her in the labyrinth. Eve had been deliberately placed far from Munin in the entry order, on the off chance that Munin happened to be teleported far from the others. The high chance that those who entered one after another would be placed in proximity was just that—chance. There were no guarantees, and so the possibility remained that Munin might be greatly separated from her allies.
But if the probabilities bear out as expected…there’s a very low chance that I will encounter Munin early. Still, I want to quickly find one of my allies in this place.
Eve focused her ears.
…With sound traveling so poorly in here, I can’t make the most of my strength.
Nevertheless, Eve tried to concentrate on picking up noise from far across the labyrinth. It took her a few moments, but she realized something.
These walls absorb sound…but they do not eliminate it completely. Perhaps it’s only due to my sharp sense of hearing…perhaps no others could focus this hard, picking up on the faintest of murmurs.
“…”
Eve thought that time had stopped for a moment. She felt a blank sense of shock. Then came the pressure—the overwhelming presence.
She had been doing her best to conceal the sound of her footsteps and as she concentrated hard on picking up on sounds and presence from nearby—or so she thought. This thing, however…it gave off no presence for her to detect. It was simply there.
The moment that Eve made to race by the passageway, she heard it say…
“I’m gettin’ excited now.”
What Eve saw with her leopardman eyes looked like a white knight in armor.
“Let’s play a game, eh?”
Eve’s defensive instincts kicked in, and she reflexively moved to guard herself.
Eve grit her teeth. “A disciple.”
If Lokiella’s intel was accurate, then that is the one they call Ars.
Eve chose to withdraw to a new position, only to see Ars with his sword in full swing, and a shield in his other hand.
I dodged that attack…but I had room for error. Is he not as fast as I expected he might be?
She sprinted away from the disciple, hoping to put some distance between the two of them. Watching her back for long range attacks, she made it through an adjacent passageway.
I have heard of the strength of these disciples…this is not an enemy I could hope to face on my own. Not to mention…
Something else troubled Eve. The sword and shield that Ars was wielding looked a little too small for his build.
That weapon…and the shield… I’ve seen them somewhere before… Yes…in the line, waiting to be teleported in…
“…!”
The shield in particular caught Eve’s eye—and she remembered the person holding it.
I think it was the…Lamia? One of the Four Shining Warriors from the Country at the End of the World. Amia Plum Lynx—she was a part of the first group of entrants.
There were small droplets of blood splattered on the shield.
She’s already encountered this disciple, then…
Eve tried to shake herself away from assuming the worst.
No… I haven’t seen her body, so she might still be alive. …I hope she’s still in here somewhere.
She glanced behind her, but Ars wasn’t there. She didn’t hear his footsteps either.
But the way he concealed his presence…he might reappear in front me now at any mo—
“Ah.”
Another presence—there were two eucharists waiting for Eve as she rounded the corner of the next passageway. She kept her speed up as she drew both of her swords and sliced the monsters down as she passed by. The katana blades had been given to her by Geo Shadowblade before her entry into the labyrinth. She was told that they had been slumbering in a sealed vault in this nation for many years.
These katanas…they are so easy to use, and cut so incredibly well…
But the swift defeat of eucharists didn’t make Eve overconfident.
I don’t have the incredible powers that Too-ka does, nor the intelligence that he and Hijiri possess. I don’t have the strength of Seras or Sogou. My role in this labyrinth is to support and reinforce. I am but a pawn, here to serve my role… That’s why I have to run—to find allies that will be capable of fighting Ars…
“Gah.”
“Keep runnin’ and we’ll never even get started—don’tcha get it? Yeah, c’mon now—we’re doin’ it here,” Ars said.
He appeared at the end of the passageway she was running down.
He was waiting for me, then…ugh…did he circle around? Does Ars know the layout of this labyrinth?
What unsettled Eve most was how he appeared out of nowhere, with no presence to indicate his coming. He felt elusive—undetectable.
Can I really make it away? Can I escape this monster?
But there was something else more important than that.
At this distance, I can’t dodge him. I can’t get away in time.
Eve used the katana in her right hand to block Ars’s sword, and focused strength on her left, eyeing his throat. The disciple moved his sword to protect his neck in response. Eve ignored the shield and drove her blade toward Ars’s unguarded heart…
“—!”
Two prongs emerged from Ars’s shoulders, like bladed whips, capable of changing their toughness at will. One shot toward Eve’s katana, knocking it away from Ars’s heart.
Clang!
There was a ringing sound of metal on metal. The bladed whip on Ars’s right shoulder attacked Eve and she twisted her body into a dodge to avoid it. She’d heard about the blade whips from Lokiella before entering the labyrinth, and so the attack wasn’t unexpected.
That might be the only reason I was capable of dodging that blow in time.
After the flurry of blows, Eve kicked off against Ars’s knees, using the momentum to fly backward and land safely. The moment she made contact with the ground, Ars charged in for a follow up.
This disciple…
Ars had the sharp instincts of a true warrior and the confidence of the truly powerful. Eve glanced down the passageway.
Once the chance presents itself, I’ll try to get away from here.
Eve dodged again, and Ars’s sword sliced through air, thanks to her experience in predicting strikes and her beastly instincts. Both had served her well when she faced Itsuki Takao, and made her dodges sharp and precise. The blade whips that Ars sent out along with his strike never made it to Eve.
Well, now I know the range of his blade whips. But that may have been a feint to feed me incorrect information about the range of his abilities… But since he did not move to finish me after that attack, does that suggest that it wasn’t a feint?
Ars stopped moving after his attack, standing motionless with his body diagonal to Eve. She took a breath and considered her next move.
…What’s his next play?
Unsure whether she was being presented with enough time to run or not, Eve tried something else instead.
“…I want to ask you something.”
Ars swayed back to face Eve, then looked up at her.
“…”
“That sword and shield…what became of their previous owner?”
There was a pause—a few moments passed.
“Hey, Holoeba. If these golden-eyed monsters could speak…do you reckon I’d be able to kill ’em like I am right now?” Ars answered enigmatically, but the conversation was going nowhere.
Eve focused her senses on the surrounding area.
It sounded like he was calling for someone just now… Is Holoeba one of his companions, lurking somewhere nearby? No…
Eve remembered the words that Lokiella had spoken, as she speculated about the disciples.
“I don’t believe it will be possible to communicate with Ars.” That was the conclusion that Lokiella had reached, after she had observed Ars for just a short time while in Vicius’s company. “These were just my initial impressions. But I think it will be hard for you to engage him in conversation. It’s just that the disciple Ars… Well, it’s possible that he can only speak using quotations—words that he once spoke—long before he was turned into a disciple.”
Lokiella’s judgment was that the only disciple that could be verbally engaged with was Wormgandr.
Come to think of it…the words he spoke to me when I engaged him just a few moments ago weren’t quite right for the situation. It’s safe to assume that what Lokiella said about him is true, I think.It’s going to be hard to find out if Amia is still alive. Was Holoeba someone Ars knew in the past? And what should I do now…?
Eve glared at Ars. Against such a powerful foe, she knew that a rash misjudgment could be the difference between life and death.
“…You’re good, you are. I love fightin’ the strong ones. So c’mon.” Ars lowered his hips to the ground, taking up a fighting stance. “Let’s keep at it.”
With a heavy thud, Ars kicked off against the ground and charged toward Eve. It was a simple charge—such a basic attack that it made Eve suspicious. Ars had a sword, a shield, and two blade whips at his back. Eve countered them with her swords, carefully calculating when she would be able to make her retreat.
“…Hmm? Hate fightin’ do you? But you’re so damn strong!”
It sounded as if Ars was talking directly to Eve. His tone was twisted and echoing, but the voice was that of a young boy. Ars’s head was completely covered by his white helmet, his face and expressions never visible. All Eve could see through the slit in his helmet was blackness and two gleaming golden eyes. She could see no mouth—perhaps that was why it didn’t feel much like Ars was speaking at all. The voices were like echoes of the dead, seeping out from the deep darkness.
Eve deftly sliced her blades through the air as she crossed swords with Ars.
This thing likes to fight, she thought as their swords clashed. Eve was sure she wouldn’t be able to communicate to Ars…but she had heard his statement that she did not like to fight. The words sparked thoughts of self-doubt within her.
I have my pride as a warrior. I understand the meaning of my strength, and what my power is worth. Fighting is what has made me into who I am today. I also know the enjoyment that I have gained from improving my fighting techniques. But if I could live without battle…then I would like nothing more than to spend my days in peace.
Eve had spent days living in Erika’s house with Lis, and the peace had brought her so much joy.
It isn’t for me…but some individuals are truly suited to becoming bloodsport gladiators.
Eve Speed, in her heart of hearts, had no love for fighting.
And yet if I find myself able to take up weapons to win peace, then I believe that there is value in that fight. It’s not enough to build peace for just Lis and myself… The Takao Sisters, Piggymaru, Slei, Seras…and Too-ka. I’m sure they are all the same—they don’t like fighting. That is why I want to win peace for them…to free them from war. That is why I took up the sword once more. There’s Erika too—the dark elf. Her fight has never ended.
Before Eve set off, she had spoken to the Forbidden Witch.
“You really don’t smile, do you? I thought that living with you for this long, I might catch a glimpse of a grin at least once… But nothing.”
“I will smile once Vicius has been defeated—that is what I resolved to myself. Whenever I feel I might smile, it’s as if something stops me from doing so…something within me.”
“That’s why you say ridiculous instead, then?”
“For the longest time, I thought the day might never come that I would smile again. Strange, isn’t it? Strange that now I feel that day could be close at hand…”
Erika Anaorbael… I wish for you to have peace… For the day when you might regain your smile.
Eve blocked another attack with her katana and raised her voice in a cry. “How starved you must be for battle—disciple of the Goddess of Alion! Well then, I’ll give it to you! Come on! Come at me!”
Eve let out a beastly roar, unleashing her savagery. Her ferocious cry was so fierce, it shook the air around her with its force.
Eve roared…and then Ars spoke.
“Ha ha…ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha! That’s the way it’s gotta be! It’s just like Vicius said! I’m only really me when I’m right here—when I’m in the fight!”
Thunk—!
A blade pierced the left side of Ars’s chest—his heart.
“Ghaaaah—?!”
The disciple had been stabbed in the back;. The long katana belonged to none other than…
“That cry… Trying to focus his attention on you so that my ambush went off without a hitch, eh?”
It was the black leopardman warrior—Geo Shadowblade. He snorted in annoyance. “From the looks of you… You must be the disciple they call Ars. From what they told me before I came in here—this isn’t likely to finish you off, eh?”
As Geo spoke, his black katana blades were already moving. He gripped them tightly and yanked in a diagonal motion as he leapt away from Ars, ripping into the disciple’s flesh as he withdrew. From his left underarm to his heart, the disciple’s torso was cracked open wide and he began to bleed profusely. Ars turned to counterattack Geo as the leopardman jumped backward, but Geo parried the blow with his other katana and landed near to Eve.
“Good to see you,” she said.
“Seems like you’re doing all right, eh?” As Geo spoke, his eyes scanned Ars’s gear—the sword and shield belonged to Amia, one of his compatriots from the Country at the End of the World.
“Just as we were told, I haven’t been able to communicate with this disciple,” said Eve. “…I don’t know if she’s safe.”
“…Right,” Geo answered with a single word of reply.
The dual-wielding black leopardman looked calm on the outside, as he crouched low to the ground and adopted his battle stance—but Eve knew the truth. There was a burning rage roaring within Geo. At the same time, however, she knew that he understood a reckless move against an opponent like Ars would lead to nothing but a quick death.
I knew that he was quick to anger, but that there is a strangely calm side to his nature too… I see, then. He doesn’t operate purely on impulse.
Eve remembered Too-ka’s words.
“Setting aside Seras, Sogou, and the Takao Sisters… Geo and the Wildly Beautiful Emperor are the next strongest fighters we’ve got.”
Even Too-ka spoke highly of Geo’s abilities in combat…
“I’m lucky that you found me in here,” she said.
“Me too,” Geo replied, still inspecting Ars. “You’re one of my kind, and you’ve been surviving there in the outside world… Can’t go letting you die in a place like this. That’s why I chose a spot near you in the entry order.”
Eve laughed, then told Geo everything she’d learned about Ars. In the meantime, the disciple began to regenerate. His blood flowed backward into his body; the liquid current returned to Ars’s white flesh, which closed up along the tear that Geo had made.
“I guess that means the heart isn’t his core.”
Eve was impressed.
I should’ve known…he’s been watching Ars carefully…
Eve had noticed the same thing. Throughout Geo’s attack, Ars had been protecting not his heart, but…
His shield and blade whips seemed to move to cover his neck and the middle of his abdomen… Can we assume that we’ll be able to deal a fatal blow to him at one of those locations?
“So what now, dual-wielding warrior? Should we try to withdraw and find more allies?”
Geo rose slowly from his lowered stance and loosened the grip he had on his katana.
“So long as that thing lets us get away, sure.”
Hmm…he’s rational enough that running away from this situation is still an option, then…
“I don’t want to focus too much on that though,” Geo explained. “Insisting on escape might give him the opportunity to strike us.”
“Hmph.”
Sometimes offense can be the best defense—there are openings that you’re less likely to present to your opponent when you’re on the attack. Fighting this battle might save our lives.
And fighting a defensive battle here will at least let us restrain Ars in this location. So long as he’s fighting us, he won’t be able to roam the labyrinth attacking our allies.
“Not to mention…” said Geo, looking down at his hands. “It’s just a hunch, but…this opponent doesn’t feel all that unbeatable to me.”
Eve stared down Ars and adopted her own battle stance.
“Let’s do this?”
Tchak.
The hand guard rattled as Geo adjusted the angle of his blade.
“…Let’s do this.”
There’s information that we might gain during this fight… Intel that could be worth something to those that follow in our footsteps.
Eve and Geo exchanged looks, then turned their gazes back to Ars—something felt different about the disciple now.
Hmph…perhaps we’re right to make the decision to fight.
Eve felt Ars’s murderous intent toward them fade a little the moment that it became clear that they were going to turn and fight.
Perhaps he would have tried to murder us the moment we attempted to run.
Now that Eve and Geo were in their battle stances, however, Eve had the impression that Ars was completely ready to enjoy the coming battle.
Is that really what he’s after? Battle? I felt his disappointment fade when we decided to face him… His murderous intent waned… Was he that angry that we might try to run from the fight?
Ars opened his arms wide and adopted his battle stance; the blade whips at his shoulders danced through the air.
“It’s fun bein’ strong…what’s so bad about that? Vicius… You don’t understand a damn thing.”
Ars charged. Eve and Geo pushed forward, splitting to the left and right. Geo went right, toward Ars’s sword hand, while Eve went left to the side that held his shield. Ars sent out a blade whip each side, but the leopardmen parried them both with their blades.
The way those whips move is easy to predict…for now.
Geo deftly handled the blade whips and sword, while Eve took the opportunity to attack Ars directly. She pressed on in search of an opening she could exploit.
If he figures out that I’m just assisting Geo in this fight, it’ll make it difficult to play my role. We need Ars to think that I’m the main fighter here—that will allow me to function at my best.
When Eve had first started fighting as a bloodsport gladiator, she had participated in group matches. She couldn’t keep those familiar sensations from flooding back. She remembered with nostalgia the way in which she used to work in a team, assembling her members for the fight.
“…!”
Just then, Geo launched a slashing attack on Ars’s shoulder that split cleanly through his armor. One of the blade whips flew into the air, still attached to a chunk of the disciple’s shoulder meat.
“Ghaaaaah?!”
I see. That attack was aimed to take out one of the whips.
At a glance, it looked as if Ars was wearing a suit of armor, but in reality, Ars was the armor. Geo had cut a chunk of armored flesh out of Ars’s shoulder, taking one of the whips along with it.
Hm?
Shhp shhp…
The chunks of flesh that had been severed from Ars’s body began to move on their own, attempting to return to him. Amputated pieces of Ars’s body moved as if they had minds of their own—and his red blood was just the same, writhing like a liquid animal. Geo moved to stamp on the chunks of flesh as he continued his attack against Ars, but he stopped himself suddenly.
“…”
The severed blade whip had looked limp at first, but then it began to writhe. Geo saw that stepping on it would leave his leg open to its attacks. He glared at his enemy.
“You can move parts of your body even when they’re separated from you, eh?”
Will Ars just keep regenerating until we destroy his core…?
Eve heard the sound of a katana slashing through flesh once more. Geo’s blade had sliced into Ars’s shoulder but hadn’t severed it completely—yet Eve could see that had been his intent.
“Haah…haah… The blood…khh… Y-you’re so s-strong—s-so freakin’ strong…! B-but I ain’t gonna lose… No way… Haaaah!”
Ars’s voice rose like a battle cry, but his words were a poor fit for the situation at hand, as they echoed from the void within his helm. Eve and Geo exchanged another look.
That is a talent of his. That look told me everything I need to know about what he’s going to do next… Now I can coordinate my movements to his. I’ve never fought alongside a warrior like him before.
It wasn’t just Geo’s talent for fighting, but his tall stature and toned muscles. His limbs were long and supple. His build was suited perfectly for battle—he had everything he needed. He was built for battle and had an innate talent for fighting.
Geo is capable of fighting on equal footing with that huge disciple…or potentially even getting the better of him, because of his extreme physical strength.
Eve, she knew, could never match Geo in those respects.
But I…I have my speed, my reflexes, and the forethought that experience has earned me. Of those qualities, I’m confident.
The sparks continued to fly as the three of them fought. But soon, Eve noticed that something felt off.
What is this feeling? There’s something about this disciple… Something I can’t quite place…
Eve couldn’t figure out what the feeling was. Geo kept pushing—it appeared that he was stronger than Ars in terms of strength and technique. The black leopardman looked like a swirling tempest of dark blades. He was deftly avoiding the blade whips of Ars’s that had been struck from his body, which now lay writhing on the ground in fallen chunks trying to attack him.
Geo truly has the edge now…but he has yet to land a finishing blow. Will it have to be the middle of the abdomen or the neck, after all? So long as Ars is fighting to protect those parts of his body… Hm?
“D-damn it…Shion…I’ve gotta defeat the Root of All Evil and save the world… But this is fun! Fighting is just so much fun! Taking lives is awesome! I can’t help but feel such joy in all this! Gah… What am I s’posed to do?! I got summoned here to save this world, y’know? Am I doin’ something messed up here? Is there somethin’ wrong with me for feeling this way? Answer me, Shion… C’mon, Shion… Say something, please…”
Ars was talking again—the lines were from some journey long ago to defeat a past incarnation of the Root of All Evil. From the things he said, Eve suspected that Ars was a former Hero from Another World.
“Tch, this guy’s creeping me out… He’s talking like he’s in the middle of some battle, but it’s like he’s not fighting at all…”
Geo had covered Ars’s body in wounds, but their duel was almost at an impasse.
That’s what it looks like… Both of them are at equal strength… A stalemate.
Eve was conflicted.
Should we keep this up and wait for more allies to join us? But there’s always a chance that enemy reinforcements could arrive, too. If only Too-ka or Hijiri were here, I’m sure they could create a path to victory for us…
In their absence, Eve tried to find a solution.
“…!”
Suddenly, Ars regrew his blade whips. The new appendages grew from his elbows. Geo paid them no mind and continued fighting—as did Eve.
Hmph… We can still fight him, even with those two extra blade whips… Not to mention…
Eve narrowed her eyes.
“…Geo! Can you get some distance from him for a moment?!”
Geo immediately leaped backward, and Eve retreated in the opposite direction. Ars hesitated for a moment.
“I see…”
Geo understood.
It appeared that while Ars now had more blade whips, their range had been shortened in the process. It looked to Eve as if Ars could create more blade whips at will but was choosing not to. Increasing their number would further limit their range.
It looks like the power of his blade whips has fallen, too. That is probably why the disciple doesn’t make more of them.
Ars had been failing to hold off Geo’s ferocious attacks, and it looked to Eve as if the additional blade whips were an act of desperation.
He’s focusing on defending now—or at least I think he is.
“…Geo.”
“Hmm?”
“There’s something strange about this disciple. I have a bad feeling about this.”
“A bad feeling?”
“I don’t know what it is yet… It might even just be a misunderstanding.”
Geo snorted in reply.
“Instincts are important—especially the instincts of a talented warrior.”
Hmph… He sees me as a talented warrior, then?
Geo adeptly spun his katana around in his hands, switching up his grip. “That bad feeling you’ve got might just be our key to defeating this thing, eh?”
“I don’t think this is the kind of enemy we should be taking gambles with…especially not on hunches.”
“No… It’s precisely because we’re up against this kind of enemy that we need to gamble.” Geo leaned all the way forward, like a beast about to pounce on its prey. “I’ll try and buy you a little more time to figure out what that feeling of yours is.”
Thud—
Geo kicked off against the ground and charged straight for Ars, launching a series of wild strikes. Eve matched the charge and approached Ars, too. An ever more intense exchange of blows ensued. Geo was fighting toe-to-toe with the disciple and Eve was parrying Ars’s attacks while attempting to determine what felt so off to her about the disciple.
We’re managing to fight this thing. Is it because Ars was created to combat the divines? Is that why we’re capable of holding our own against this disciple? But we aren’t making progress… I can’t figure out what this feeling is… I must have been imagining it after a—
“…!”
Just then, something in Geo’s movements shifted, and Eve felt it at once.
He’s telling me to mirror his moves?
Geo slashed at Ars’s gauntlet-covered hands. One of Ars’s arms was severed at the wrist, sending Amia’s sword falling to the floor. Geo twisted his body in midair to avoid a blade whip, then kept running. As he dived in close to the disciple again, Eve launched her attack. She knocked back the blade whips with her twin swords and kicked off hard against Ars’s shield. The shield shook violently, and it was clear that the disciple had to tighten his grip to keep hold. Geo made a feint for Ars’s torso—but switched at the last second to drive one of his blades into Ars’s thigh instead.
“Ohhhh?!”
Ars let out a battle cry, but Geo seemed to pay it no mind. He gripped his remaining katana in both hands and struck.
Squeeze—
Eve saw the incredible strength in his black arms as he was trying to cut through Ars’s torso.
“I ain’t lettin’ you do this to me—!” Ars cried out once more.
In an instant—all sound vanished from Eve’s senses.
“…”
Everything became so clear to her, a pure and transparent sea of thought. Eve understood the moment she felt it happen. Her premonitions had helped her in that…or her beastly instincts, perhaps.
—Now—
She remembered Geo’s words.
“I’ll try and buy you a little more time…”
Buy some time… That could be taken as a decision that we’re switching to a more defensive style and not going for the kill in this battle for the time being. That must have caused Ars to think that we weren’t moving in for a finishing blow. …But to be honest, who knows if Ars really gets any of this. We don’t even know if he understands what we’re saying. As a warrior though—Ars can read our strategies. After fighting him, we know that much… He understands the language of battle. He must have realized by now that I’m not his biggest threat, only supporting Geo in this fight. He must know that I’ve been giving this battle my all, expending everything I’ve got to show that I’m not just dead weight.
That was how Eve fought, giving a proper accounting of herself to the disciple.
But Geo must have intended on defending—it was only in a split second that he changed his mind.
It had taken Eve only a moment to realize what Geo intended to do. The two warriors’ instincts reverberated as one and a miraculous burst of power was born of their mutual understanding. It was only possible because of the incredible abilities of the two leopardmen…
But either way…
The moment before Geo struck Ars’s torso with his finishing move, he cut himself short and feinted instead. Then he sent the signal to Eve—do it.
Ars was moving to defend his torso when Eve Speed’s blade slashed.
With this one attack…
“You guys are pretty g—”
Thunk!—
Ars’s head was severed from his body.
***
Eve Speed watched from her place in line as the entrants were teleported one by one into the labyrinth. The Takao Sisters, wearing their fly swordsman masks, stepped into the teleportation chamber. Eve called out to them as they went—then continued waiting for her turn to come. She was still in line when Geo Shadowblade approached her.
“You can manipulate mana, right?” he asked.
“Hmph.”
Geo held out two katanas for her to take. “Then use these.”
Geo practically forced the blades into her hand.
“Katanas…” she said, inspecting them. “These blades look old to me.”
“They were in the vaults of the Country at the End of the World… They’re ancient magic weapons. Pour a little mana into them. They’ll feel lighter in your hands and cut sharper.”
“You’re giving them to me?”
“I’ve got my own blades already.” Geo indicated the black scabbards hanging crossed behind his legs. “I don’t need four…and heck, the blades you’re using right now look soft to me.”
“My blades are fine pieces of work…but I’ll accept these gladly.”
Eve drew them from their scabbards and checked their grip. She then poured a little mana into the handles, and the blades glowed faintly with light. She swung them a few times to test how they felt, then returned them to her waist.
“These are good weapons.”
“A few practice swings were enough for you to tell? At least it looked like you’ve got the hang of them.”
“It’s proof of your strength that you were able to notice my ease.”
“This labyrinth…” said Geo, changing the subject. “I heard that only those who are prepared to die are being chosen to enter.”
Only elite volunteers from the nations of the continent were chosen to enter the labyrinth—and only on the condition that they were prepared to die in battle. The volunteers knew it might be a one-way trip.
The Wildly Beautiful Emperor, Too-ka, and the others didn’t force anyone—not so far as I know, at least. Everyone volunteered because they want to save this world. Some of the people here want to return to their old world, too. And some are here for revenge—to settle a score.
Eve watched as the teleportations continued. Soon it was her turn, and she strode up to the entrance of the teleportation chamber. Geo walked beside her.
“I don’t intend on dying in that place, y’know? The most important woman in the world is havin’ our kid pretty soon. There’s no way in heck I’m dying until I see my baby’s face. I’m not dying in there…even if it kills me.”
“But you’re still here fighting.”
“’Course I am. I’m having a kid… I’m goin’ in there to protect their future and her future too. Why else would I be doin’ this? You know damn well why I’m here,” Geo swore at her.
“I’m here for the same reason,” Eve smiled.
She turned to look back at Lis, who was inside the familiar sitting on Nyaki’s shoulder.
“I am not going off to die, either,” she said. “I’m going to protect our future.”
“Ah…!”
When Eve landed, she felt the sharp pain. There was a cut running down her left arm.
One of the blade whips must’ve caught me during that attack. I was trying to watch for counters… But to take off his head, I had to accept the chance of injury. More importantly…
Geo’s left arm was split open—vertically.
Eve remembered her days living with the Speed clan, splitting tree branches with her axe. Once she had failed, leaving a deep gash in the wood, split open but not quite apart. Geo’s left arm looked like that piece of firewood—split in half like an alligator’s mouth, all the way from the gap between his index and middle finger and up his forearm to just below his elbow.
That looks awful.
Eve had only seen an injury like Geo’s once before, during her time in the bloodsport arena. There were plenty of gladiators who had their arms severed from the elbow up, and most seemed to resign themselves to their fate once it happened. The gladiator whose arm had been sliced vertically though…perhaps having the flesh still attached was what made it harder to accept. He fell into a state of complete terror and panic—wailing and crying on the arena floor.
Geo, however…
—Thunk!
“…!”
He didn’t hesitate for a moment; he took the katana in his right hand and used it to amputate the rest of his split left arm.
“I just need a minute—could you buy me some time?”
Geo had a piece of string in his mouth. He tied it tightly around the stump of his left arm to stop the bleeding. Eve moved, doing exactly as he asked. She parried the looming blade whips with her katana, sliding into place in front of Geo to act as his shield. The black leopardman clicked his tongue once he had finished with the makeshift tourniquet.
“I was focused on covering my legs and I left my arms wide open… That disciple’s gotten way faster and stronger. Maybe he’s been hiding his true strength and now that he feels threatened he’s started getting serious, eh?”
“…Maybe so.”
Ars’s severed head lay motionless on the ground, split into two pieces. Eve had delivered another blow to the head after she had taken it from Ars’s body—hoping that the head was Ars’s core, and that splitting it in two might be able to kill him for good. It seemed that slicing Ars’s head apart did nothing to stop him from moving around.
All that Eve saw within the disciple’s skull was a mass of white flesh, with a golden eye embedded in each half. The halves were connected by thin strands of blood like threads that still linked to Ars’s neck. The two halves were trying to slowly drag themselves back over to Ars’s upper body. Eve wanted to go and destroy them, but was faced with an enemy who was letting off much more pressure than before, which left her with far fewer openings.
I don’t think that headless disciple’s body is going to let me get off another attack on the head—his body’s still moving like it has a will of its own.
The split head of Ars began to speak. “Nice, nice…! Humans, monsters, demons…don’t matter a bit to me! I just love fightin’ whoever’s the strongest! I’m gonna defeat you and get even stronger than I was before!”
He’s headless. His skull is split in two…but he can still speak. Still move around? Does this mean that his true core is somewhere within his torso? But if Ars’s speed and fighting abilities were this strong at the time of Geo’s attack, he would never have made it to his core anyway. It was only because Geo turned his own strike into a feint that I managed to take off his head. Decapitating Ars wasn’t a mistake—but that’s not the problem now. If we destroy his torso…will it win us this fight?
A sudden concern struck Eve.
Ars can converse with us as a warrior…and there’s also a subtlety to his fighting style. Is he protecting his torso, even though that isn’t his core at all? Is he just protecting the weak points he once had, back when he was still human? A strike at the heart, at the neck, a slash directly across the torso… Those are locations that any warrior would instinctively move to protect. Could it be that Ars is just reacting by memory? Following the same instincts he once had as a human?
But then… If we slash through his torso, will that do anything at all? There’s even a chance this disciple has no weak spots to begin with…
Geo seemed to be thinking much the same.
“Forget his vitals, it could be there’s a limit to his regenerative abilities… We might have no choice but to wear him down with fatal blows, over and over again…”
Geo narrowed his eyes, and glared at Ars with a little regret in his eyes. Eve understood how he felt.
“C’mon, what’s wrong?! Come at me! I came to this village ’cause I wanted to fight you lot! I ain’t here as some hero come to save the world—I’m just a warrior! Just Ars! It ain’t over…that ain’t all you’ve got, is it?!”
Ars was clearly more powerful now than he had been at the onset of their fight. It even looked, cruelly, as if his regenerative abilities had sped up. The injuries he had sustained in the battle had healed… The chunks of flesh that had been sliced from his shoulders and the severed halves of his head were beginning to reattach themselves to his body.
“Vicius… I reckon I’ve got too strong. I just want another fight…one where I’m not sure if I’ll live or die… Living right on the edge. Just like those battles like I had when I was just settin’ out. The kinda fight that gives you chills, you get me? I want to fight—and I want to win.”
“…”
The strange, awful feeling that Eve had about Ars was still a mystery to her.
Unless I can figure out what this is, we won’t get any help in this battle… That’s just how it is.
An idea was beginning to manifest. The scattered contours were forming into the more distinct, realistic shape of an answer, taking shape within her mind.
***
As a bloodsport gladiator and as a warrior, I’ve always needed the ability to judge the strength of my opponents to survive. The ability to read, observe, and size up a foe.
When Eve had traveled with Seras Ashrain, she sparred with her several times. But it only took a few brief exchanges for Eve to determine Seras’s strength. She saw in the undeveloped Seras an innate talent for combat that had yet to be realized. Eve had a similar experience with Itsuki Takao in the Land of the Golden-eyed Monsters. It only took a short exchange of blows for her superior ability to read opponents to recognize Itsuki’s ability to grow and learn in the middle of combat. Eve did not have the abilities of Too-ka, who could think deeply about a situation and plan far and extensively into the future.
But in terms of combat… I know who I’m fighting.
***
“The disciples are suited to battling the divines.”
“Those who aren’t divines should be able to fight against them.”
Those were the preconceptions that Eve brought to their fight—and perhaps they were what had clouded her judgment.
I thought that was the reason that we were holding our own against this disciple… But is that really what’s happening? Ars is an incredibly talented warrior…far beyond the norm. He was so strong that he was chosen to become one of Vicius’s disciples. Geo’s help aside… Ars shouldn’t be the sort of enemy that someone of my level could ever be capable of facing down in single combat, right? Much as it pains me to admit it…I know that must be true.
We didn’t exchange many blows during our first encounter, but it’s strange that I could parry him at all. Thinking back, it seems so odd. Maybe Ars was holding back his true strength because he wanted to enjoy our battle… But that was not the technique of a warrior who was holding back…
Eve had seen countless warriors fight during her time in the bloodsport arena and knew the tells that showed up when a warrior was holding back in combat. Ars demonstrated none of them.
It’s possible he’s a talented actor, just like Too-ka—but…
“I just want another fight…one where I’m not sure if I’ll live or die…right on the edge.”
Eve remembered the disciple’s words.
If what he said was true… Ars enjoys fights where his life is on the line. Holding back is exactly the sort of thing that would sully the joy of battle. If he really enjoys life or death combat, then fighting at his full strength with everything he’s got…that’s the spice that’s most important to him.
The bloodsport arena provided a similar experience to its spectators. It was only the fact that two warriors were truly fighting with everything at their disposal that made a fight worth watching.
I don’t think that Ars was holding back.
“…”
Eve came to a realization. All the threads of those unsettling feelings came together and formed themselves into a single answer that appeared evident inside her mind.
There’s only one thing that could make this all make sense. But if that’s what he truly is…then anyone who fights Ars is falling into a fatal trap.
“…Geo.”
“You’ve figured it out?”
“I think so. This disciple…”
Ars stood waiting for their next move.
“He matches the strength of his opponents. I think he has the ability to adjust his own combat strength to always be just slightly above the power of his opponents.”
“…Eh? Seriously?”
“Hmph… It still sounds strange to me and I don’t fully understand it myself…but that’s the best way I can describe it.”
“I want to fight—and I want to win.”
That’s what Ars said. He has no intention of letting us beat him. He wants a close fight, right on the edge…but he wants to come out on top in the end. That’s all Ars desires.
Eve’s thoughts led her to that speculative conclusion.
But if I’m correct about this, then the problem is…
“You’re saying…the stronger his enemy, the stronger he gets?”
“Hmph…yes. Just slightly stronger than his foes.”
That’s why we feel this way—like we might just be able to get the better of him. Anyone who fights Ars feels like they’re holding their own whenever they exchange blows. But that’s just Ars adjusting his strength to match his enemies. He’s always fighting a deathmatch—lowering himself down to our level. He must be doing it on a subconscious level. He doesn’t even know that he’s making these adjustments. That’s why Ars never holds back against us—his subconscious knows what he wants and makes it happen for him.
Geo’s expression told Eve that he had managed to understand.
“Since I’m stronger than you are, this Ars guy has gotten even harder to deal with since I started fighting with you?”
“That’s how I see it. He’s always as strong as his opponents are. That might be a better way of putting it.”
His physical strength, his flexibility, his reflexes, the speed of his blade whips, and the rate of his body’s regeneration—everything is improving.
“With strategies like the one we used earlier, we might be able to pick up some temporary victories… But unless those victories deal some kind of fatal damage that can destroy Ars, he’ll just regenerate and all our progress will be for nothing. And he can keep regenerating, even in the middle of combat.”
He can move—even if he’s rendered into chunks of flesh scattered across the battlefield…and he’ll keep evolving all the while.
“…So that’s how it is, eh?”
“Yeah.”
We’ve no way of touching him.
“It’s still possible that his torso is his true core, I s’pose…”
“…H-hmph.”
Eve’s reply betrayed her lack of confidence, and Geo raised no objection.
I think he understands. There’s a chance that Ars’s torso isn’t even his weak point, so going for it would be a massive risk to take. It’s more likely that there could be a limit to Ars’s regenerative abilities, like Geo said… But even if that’s true…
Eve and Geo were both injured and Geo had lost an arm. The katana that he’d held in his left hand was now lying on the ground of the labyrinth.
“There’s a crack in that blade from the attack,” said Geo, seeming to notice Eve looking at the fallen sword. “I feel like this bastard is making his whole body tougher…”
Eve’s arm was injured too—though not as badly as Geo’s.
I don’t think we’ll be able to deal a series of fatal blows to Ars in the state we’re in. We don’t even know if that would defeat him.
“Gah…”
He not only grows stronger, he also regenerates himself… Keeps evolving… Always a step ahead of us.
Eve could clearly see that continuing to fight would only lead to them being worn down to an inevitable defeat.
Aiming for Ars’s core would be too much of a risk, and we have no way of knowing where that core truly is. To have a real chance of defeating him, we need to overwhelm him with combat strength… Dice him into pieces in a matter of seconds… As much as it pains me to admit it, we don’t have the strength for that now.
Eve tried to come up with some smart scheme to overcome the disciple—but nothing came to mind. She tightened her grip on the swords in her hands, readying her legs to move.
…Lis.
“I’m sorry, Geo. We have to retreat.”
“Got it.”
“Hmph…I’m surprised you didn’t take any convincing.”
“He vouched for you. I trust your instincts, and your decision making.”
“Can you run?”
“Still got both my legs, don’t I?”
Eve decided to wait for a moment—but in truth, she knew that they would never be presented with a perfect opening to get away.
…This disciple will never give us one.
The moment the thought struck her, Eve and Geo were already running. They could do nothing but pray and hope that they encountered an ally with the strength to dice Ars into pieces. From behind their backs, a distorted voice boomed out.
“Kill—!”
He’s never done that before. Then that must mean what he just said wasn’t some quotation from his past, but…perhaps that was his real voice?
Ars wanted battle, and the disciple would not allow his enemies to turn their backs on him. He had judged that they were foes worth fighting.
…And that was quite unfortunate for Eve and Geo.
The two leopardmen sprinted through the passageways of the labyrinth. Ars was just thirty meters behind them in pursuit. Ars had tried to cut them off several times, but Eve and Geo switched into defending themselves with short bouts of combat, before changing direction as they continued to flee from the disciple.
“Are you okay, Geo?!”
“Haah, haah…seems like you’re better at sprinting than I am…!”
“You’re wounded… If we’re stopped again, I’ll buy you some time to get away!”
Focusing her hearing, Eve could hear the faint sounds of Ars’s footsteps—but most of the sounds were absorbed by the labyrinth walls. That forced her to keep eyes on Ars where possible. She glanced back at him, then turned to look forward again.
He’s gaining on us, little by little. His strength… Is he measuring out his own power so that he can overcome both of us at once? If that’s the case… If I let Geo escape to face down Ars alone, will he adjust his strength back down to fight me in single combat? Just like he was when I first encountered him… Then it might be best if I let Geo run on ahead, given his injuries.
“I don’t know if you feel responsible for what’s happened,” said Geo. “But don’t think about doing anything stupid like letting me escape by staying here to buy time.”
“But…if my hunch is right, then that might be our best chance.”
“I might be missin’ an arm, but I’m still stronger than you are.”
“That’s not what I’m saying.”
“Haah, haah…I see it on your face, Eve—the shadow of death.”
“…”
“There’s someone out there waiting for you, right? Waiting for you to come back to them alive…!”
Ars’s voice sounded from behind them.
“Stoooop running! You get away now, and you’ll be running the rest of your life, y’hear me?! If you don’t take a stand here, then when the hell will you?! You ran from these golden-eyes before, yeah? You lost someone who was important to you, yeah?! You’re gonna lose more if you don’t stand your ground! That kid in your hands is a memento! Their parents are dead already! What’s your problem with these golden-eyes with the human faces?! Kill ’em already, you can do it! I’ll take the golden-eyes with the face, okay?! I’ll kill ’em! You and the rest of the party kill the others for me! I’ll kill that one! I’ll kill it! Kill, kill, kill! I’m gonna murder it!”
There was an urgency and determination to Ars’s echoed words.
Did he fight against humanoid monsters once, back when he was still human?
Geo glanced over his shoulder at the disciple to see how close he’d gotten.
“It’s easier on us, y’know?”
“Eh?”
“It’s way harder for ones who are at home waiting for us to come back.”
“…!”
“There’s someone waitin’ on you, Eve…so don’t go doing anything stupid, for their sake, y’hear me?”
“…I’m sorry.”
“Having a strong sense of responsibility ain’t a bad thing, I s’pose…”
Eve couldn’t help but laugh at that.
“What?” asked Geo.
“Well… Too-ka said something similar to me once before.”
“’Course he did.”
“…?”
“I can just imagine him saying that.”
I see. I understand why Too-ka likes this black leopardman warrior so much… But what do we do now? Ars is gaining on us… Probably because he’s not trying to cut us off by circling around anymore. He must think that he’ll be able to catch up with us eventually. Should we throw away our weapons to reduce our weight? No…there’s a good chance that he’ll adjust his own speed, evolving to become just a little faster than we are, no matter what. And it’d be too much of a risk to discard our weapons, leaving us unable to defend ourselves when he actually does attack. He might even throw our own katanas at us. Even now, Amia’s sword might come flying toward us at any moment. And maybe because I’m a warrior, I’m just unwilling to part with my weapons… But Ars wouldn’t hesitate to use spare katanas against us in this fight… Geo probably thought of this too, and that’s why he hasn’t thrown away his katana. If discarding weapons wasn’t an issue, it would be better if the two of us were holding one of my lighter, magical blades each…
“I didn’t expect the disciples would be this tough to deal with,” said Geo in annoyance.
“The information we’ve gained in our fight against Ars is valuable though,” said Eve, nodding. “If we find an ally that can defeat Ars, then they can skip the close combat phase of the fight that I had to go through. And something we’ve learned about him might just give them the key to victory.” Eve turned to look ahead of her. “I’m sure our intel will we worth passing along.”
Geo started to speak, but Eve silenced him with a finger to her mouth.
“There’s someone up ahead.”
They came into view. The “someone” was actually five mid-sized eucharists.
“Can you take them?” asked Geo, as Eve was already adjusting the grip of her katanas.
“No other choice.”
Without stopping for a moment, the two leopardmen launched into combat.
“Don’t stop moving, you hear? Focus on making it through, no matter what else happens. If we end up leaving one of them alive, we’ll just have to bring them with us too.”
“Understood,” Eve answered.
“Let’s do this.”
The pair slashed at the eucharists as they raced by, losing almost none of their momentum. They cut down three of the five monsters and made to race past the rest.
Ugh…I suppose we were bound to lose some of our speed.
When Eve turned her head to see how close Ars was now, she was shocked.
“…!”
The two eucharists that Eve and Geo left behind had been overrun and sliced into pieces.
“Enemy, friend…I don’t give a damn! Don’t get in the way of my battle! Graaah!”
Ars continued to close the distance.
At this rate…
Eve turned to look forward again and grit her teeth.
Gah… Focus. Please… Eve prayed.
“Geo! Listen to me!” she cried out, raising her voice with everything she had left. “I’ve seen this passageway before! It’s going to split off to the left and right, if I remember correctly! We’re going to split up when that happens—okay?!”
“Huh?!”
“It’s now or never! We have to find an ally that can take on that regenerating monster behind us! One of us, at least! We’ve both got the same intel! He’s 20 meters behind us! Sooner or later, we’ll be in range of his blade whips! He’s going to catch up to us! Even if it means splitting up…one of us has to carry this information with them! Tell them what we learned by fighting Ars! No matter what!”
“Damn it…you…”
“First we’re going to lead him straight—sprint with everything you’ve got! Let’s go!”
“Tch, fine! I told you, didn’t I? I trust your judgment, and I ain’t gonna go back on my word!”
“…I owe you one!”
Eve and Geo raced through the passageway and into a wider, open area of the labyrinth. There was an opening at the far end of the room which would split in two directions at its end. The leopardmen raced directly for it, and Ars entered the room just a little behind, in close pursuit.
“Waaait—! Stop right there!”
Eve turned around, but the intense speed of her sprinting kept carrying her forward, and…
Thud!
She was unable to kill her momentum in time, and she crashed into the white wall of the labyrinth.
“Gah…!”
***
My ears…my sense of hearing. I think that’s one of the few places where I have the edge over Geo. Back when I fought against Ashint, and the army of Baron Zuan…these ears of mine were able to judge how many soldiers were on their way toward us. Even in this labyrinth, where sounds are deafened by the walls, I can still hear whispers when I focus. I can still sense the presence of others when they are nearby. To do so, I use these ears of mine that he relied on.
Eve also had her detection abilities and realized in an instant the moment that Geo moved in to join her in the fight against Ars. Only Eve Speed could have noticed what came next. She had the ability to understand.
I’m sure it was my mother and father who gave me these gifts.
It was as she kept Ars at bay that she realized that her voice could reach a certain distance if she strained herself by crying out. That’s how she got her message through. Her cry was not meant as a distraction, as had been her intention when Geo first attacked Ars. When she cried out this time, it was to get her message through to someone. She did include a feint within her words, of course—simply to ensure that Ars didn’t catch on.
But Too-ka… I’m sure he’ll know what I meant. I know he’ll take advantage of this situation. He’ll find the best course of action.
In her heart, that is what Eve believed.
***
Then Eve saw her—the woman with the silver hair, her mouth open.
“Binding Curse, Release.”
The Princess Knight charged forward with her blade of light, knocking away the blade whips that went for her. Then the burning-eyed, black cloaked man stretched out his arm toward Ars…
“Paralyze.”
Eve Speed spoke his name.
“Too-ka.”
Chapter 2: Conflict and Conflict
Chapter 2:
Conflict and Conflict
SERAS USED THE POWER of her wind spirit to make it easier for her to pick up sounds while on the move. She was mostly focused on serving as frontline guard for the party—aware that she would need to immediately jump into action to counter attack if they were ambushed by Vicius or one of her disciples. Piggymaru, on the other hand, was tasked with ignoring combat, and focusing all of its energy into detecting things nearby—and so Piggymaru noticed it first. Because the slime realized what was happening so fast, we were able to make preparations for Eve’s arrival.
We waited in a position to the side of one of the passageways, so that the enemy Eve was leading wouldn’t see us as it passed. We were to the left of the pursuit as it emerged into the larger labyrinth room—roughly twenty meters from the action. We waited there, right on the edge of our forbidden magic’s range. In truth I had wanted to use Sleep—the fastest way for me to disable an enemy with just one strike. There were issues with that approach though—I didn’t know how powerful my enemy was and a lower range skill like Sleep would be too risky. There was also the problem of Munin to consider. It would’ve been dangerous to let any enemies get too close to her—we couldn’t take her into battle with us, but we couldn’t leave her unguarded in the labyrinth, either. So, we attacked from the location that we did—which kept Munin close to Seras.
***
Munin fired off her forbidden magic. When she did so against Kirihara Takuto, there had been a unique bursting sound—the sound of the Goddess’s Dispel Bubble being destroyed, probably. Semi-transparent chains of forbidden magic appeared across the white armor of the knight disciple—but there was no sound to be heard. We had cast forbidden magic on the disciple, expecting that he might be protected—but as Lokiella had predicted, Ars never had the protection of Dispel Bubble to begin with.
“Paralyze—”
“Oh?! What’s going o—”
Paralysis successfully applied.
“Ber—”
“Found you”
“—serk!”
Red liquid spurted from the gaps in Ars’s armor—a wellspring of blood. The disciple jabbed a finger at Seras, and I moved to take my next action.
At this distance, I might as well…
“Dark!”
“Wha?! I can’t see?! Wh-what happened?! S-stay calm… Remember what master taught you, yeah? You can’t go relyin’ on your senses… Th-the wind… Yeah, the wind! I feel life around me… The shape of it… It’s tellin’ me where it is! Keep your cool, ’kay?!”
Ars was bleeding profusely—but kept on moving. He wasn’t dead just yet, and from the darkness within his helm, he continued talking as blood poured out. His words came out in fits and starts as he tried to speak.
The blood…is it flowing back into his body?
“Poison!”
Ars’s white flesh began to turn purple, and bubbles appeared to indicate that poison had been successfully applied.
All that’s left…is to wait and see if this damage over time will kill him.
“…”
The tentacle-like blades surrounding Ars continued to move, as if attempting to protect him.
Those must be the blade whip things that Eve mentioned.
“…!”
Ars fell to his knees. But the blade whips on the other hand…
“…What’s going on?”
The tentacles were clearly getting faster, more powerful with each second that passed. Ars continued to spurt blood, damaging himself as he tried to move through the paralysis.
But whenever the blood leaves his body…it just flows right back in. I can see that he’s poisoned, but…am I really dealing him any damage? I can’t tell based on his facial expressions as he doesn’t have any, so it’s hard to read what condition Ars is in. If Lokiella’s intel was correct about him, it’d also be completely impossible to use Seras’s lie-detecting abilities to figure anything out by talking to him, right? Most importantly right now…
“…”
Should I trust in poison and keep waiting here for him to die? I don’t actually know if it’s dealing him any damage.
As I watched, I noticed that the poison bubbles had disappeared. The purple hue of the disciple’s skin was beginning to fade somewhat too.
What do we do? Should I send out Seras in her prime armor to finish this in one blow? Or should I try and get closer so that I can use Sleep?
“Too-ka!”
It was Eve’s voice.
“There is something I have to tell you!”
My eyes never left Ars as I listened intently to what Eve had to say. She gave me a quick summary of everything she and Geo had learned during their fight with the disciple. Ars remained on his knees, never moving from his spot. The blade whips still stretched out from his shoulders, lunging toward us. Eve explained that they now seemed to have a longer range than they did during her first encounter with Ars. Seras parried the blade whips that came for us as I finished listening to what Eve had to tell me.
“…I see.”
“Though that does all depend on my theory about him being correct…” said Eve.
“From what I’ve seen of Ars, I don’t reckon you’re wrong. I think we should work on the assumption that you’re right about him.”
Using prime armor here would be a big gamble. When Ars first laid eyes on Seras, he pointed at her and said, “Found you.” I sensed a lot of intention behind those two words… If what he meant is that he’d found the target that Vicius had ordered him to kill, then he would’ve been pointing at Munin or me instead, not at Seras. Then that leaves another possibility… He found an enemy that he wants to fight. If Eve’s theory about Ars is correct, then that seems like the most likely explanation.
“I’ve found you… The perfect prey, who will drive my evolution to new heights…” That might be one way of looking at what he said. Meaning…
“Using prime armor here might just cause Ars’s abilities to evolve further,” said Eve, putting voice to my concerns.
“What do you think about using prime armor to finish this in a single blow?” I suggested.
“To be honest…I don’t know. I thought if we could slice him into small enough pieces then perhaps… But I have no proof that doing so would be effective.”
“If we use Seras in her prime armor, who has the best chance of being able to dice Ars into pieces? We might only end up making this disciple unkillable instead.”
“If you’re attacking, then I’m joining you.”
It was Geo Shadowblade, who had been fighting alongside Eve, it seemed.
“Geo, the gear that disciple’s using—”
“We’ll talk about that after,” said Geo, cutting me off. “Can’t get any confirmation on that until we cut this damn disciple down.”
“—All right then. If you’re going to help out…then I want you and Eve to protect Munin.”
That lets me get in close to be an insurance policy while Seras is making her attack. If Geo and Eve guard Munin for me, it makes things easier. There’s always a chance that enemy reinforcements might arrive down a different passageway.
“Are you sure you’ll be all right with those injuries?” I asked Geo for confirmation.
“With Eve’s support, I can deal with those blade whips, yes.”
“Right then.”
Eve and Geo moved into position to defend Munin.
Right… Let’s suppose that Ars was listening to everything we just said…
“B-but…wh-what do you m-mean… I can’t get s…soul power…f-from killing humans…Vicius…? Th-they’re…still alive… Everyone I’ve…killed even if th-they didn’t…g-give me…s-soul power…they’re s-still alive! They’re inside me…! Th-they’re alive! Inside m-my heart! D-don’t insult them! Th-the dead…the lives I’ve t-taken…with my own hands… Those w-warriors…! Huh? I-I’m crazy? M-me…?”
It doesn’t seem like he’s reacting to anything we just said. What he’s saying doesn’t have much relevance to what’s going on right now either. It’s going to be difficult to detect lies in those words.
It’s not just Paralyze that I’ve got applied to Ars right now. I’ve also stacked Berserk, Dark, and Poison on him. But…well…it’s not just his blade whips that are moving around any longer.
Ars…
“I want to fight…do battle…with t-technique alone… M-my soul power… the Goddess’s b-blessing… It made me t-too strong… B-but with only my technique…just my tech-tech-tech-technique…th-then I can f-fight on…a level playing f-field…r-right on the edge… Th-the sort of f-fight that g-gives you chills! Th-that’s…what…I want…!”
…got to his feet.
“…!”
What’s the deal with this guy?? His blood is spurting from his body—but it immediately rushes back into him like some tape playing in reverse. There are no poison bubbles anymore either, and his skin looks completely white. Is he regenerating faster than the poison can damage him?
There were thick veins popping from his white armored body—Ars’s thighs were leaking blood at an especially high rate.
That’s probably Berserk, trying to force his body to charge toward us.
Whatever blood outside Ars’s body immediately reversed course and spurted back inside…
…Might as well try this out then.
“Seras.”
“Understood.”
I didn’t even need to give the order—Seras understood exactly what I wanted to do. She stepped out in front of me, and I followed close behind her.
We aren’t using prime armor yet—her blade of light might still be enough to make it through.
Seras closed in on Ars. He still held a sword in his hands, quivering as the blood spurted from and then returned to his body. Seras launched herself at the disciple on a diagonal, knocking away his sword with her blade of light. Ars was in a battle stance, a pose of raw beastly instinct—seems like Berserk is meaningless at this point.
The blade whips surged toward us, surrounding Seras and I as we charged. I gave up on trying to dodge them.
I trust Seras—they’re up to her.
It wasn’t just the extra range—Ars now had six blade whips at his disposal. But Seras Ashrain surpassed all of them with the speed of her single sword.
“Sleep—!”
“Good…night… Good morning! What a great start to the d…good night…good mor…good n…good mo…good mo…good n…good…good…good mooorn…!”
“…”
Is he waking up and falling asleep over and over again? Just like Eve mentioned earlier, maybe his abilities of regeneration really are infinite.
“Sir Too-ka…”
“Ugh… Let’s pull back.”
“Understood!”
Seras counterattacked as we retreated. Ars was swaying where he stood—but even in that state…
“He leaves so few openings…”
It’s not just that…
“Eeeveryone’s deeead—I k-k-k-k-k-kiiilled them—wh-wh-wh-wh-why are yooou looooking at me like thaaat, Viiicius—? Wh-whoooo—aaaam—I?!”
Ars moved like he was in a poorly-made clay animation movie—like a twisted anime show with several of the keyframes missing. His movements were odd, his body twisting as he jerked toward us…yet somehow still leaving us no openings to attack. It also looked like his shape was warping, becoming less humanoid as he approached. He had grown a pair of asymmetrical horns, and a mouth appeared on the bottom of his helm, bursting open like a flower in bloom. He had red gums and golden teeth; the inside of his mouth was dyed jet black.
“Vi—Viiicius—! I—I—I’m scaaared—I-I-I didn’t reaaalize—I k-k-killed too maaaany—k-k-kill meee!”
I knew it. I was right about him. Ever since I landed Dark, I’ve had this feeling inside me…and right now I’m completely convinced of it.
There’s something different about this guy.
The humanoid types, Civit, the heroes, that damn Goddess—he’s not like any of them. There’s something unsettling about the way he doesn’t fit into any of those categories.
“Evolution.”
Eve said that this disciple evolves in the middle of battle… I don’t think any of the things Ars is saying really qualify as conversation, but based on what I’ve heard, it could be that he was too powerful of a hero for even Vicius to handle? It sounds as if he asked Vicius to kill him once. My instincts—Mimori Touka’s instincts—are telling me something that can’t be understood through logic alone. If I keep allowing this disciple to evolve…this is going to be fatal.
“Seras,” I called to out to her, keeping all of my attention on Ars.
“Yes?”
I want to keep her prime armor in reserve. That’s another thing I’ve come to feel during this fight…just how necessary Seras’s sword is to complement my status effect skills. No matter what happens, I want to avoid using up all of Seras’s strength against this opponent. With Sogou Ayaka on our side, I have a close-combat fighter who’s just as capable… But in the end, the only person I really trust is Seras.
“I’m counting on you.”
“Understood!”
Seras intuitively understood everything I was communicating.
In that moment, Ars closed in. He had been jerking about like a twisted claymation doll—but his movements were finally starting to return to normal. He was evolving further. I felt a strong sense of will coming from Seras.
“I’m sorry—but I am going to use a little of my strength.”
“I’ll leave that up to you.”
Seras activated her prime armor—just from her elbow up the length of her forearm. Ars’s blade whips danced hideously through the air. They were faster now, and their range had extended even further.
Finally, with five different status effect skills stacked upon him…
“S-s-strongeeer! W-w-we’re g-gonna wiiin this baaattle! Viii…I ain’t gonna looo… Sooo much fuuun… Peaaace… I’m gonna saaae yooou no matter whaa… K-k-k-k-k-k-k-k-k-k-k-k-k-k-k-i-ll■■■■■■”
Ars took up his battle stance against us.
“K■ll”
Seras got me close enough…
“—Freeze—”
I disabled all of my other skills—and fired Freeze at the disciple.
“…Ah.”
…Crack…сrack…сrack…
Ars’s body began to freeze over. The movements of his blade whips stopped.
“…”
…Evolution…that’s about progress. Movement, in other words. But Freeze has the ability to stop things from moving.
Well, regardless…I could worry about this forever. This is just the only method I could think of for stopping him. Using Seras’s prime armor might have made him so powerful that we’d never be able to stop him. Just as Eve said, we have no idea if Ars actually has a core to his being that could be destroyed. Most importantly, while I don’t understand the logic to it…the more time passes, the less effective my status effect skills seem to be against him. I don’t think using Slow would have given me a path to victory against Ars either.
This disciple is an ever-evolving monster. All I could think of to stop him was this skill…a freezing ability that prevents him from moving and evolving any further. There was the insect I used my skill on the first time, and Kirihara Takuto… With those two target slots filled, I only had one left… My last use of the status effect skill Freeze.
“…!”
Seras and I withdrew, keeping our guards up against the disciple. Ars was stuck in place, his lower body completely frozen.
It’s slow. The freezing happened faster with the insect, and with Kirihara. It’s clearly progressing slower this time. If Ars manages to adapt to Freeze—to evolve past this ability—what do I do then? …I’ll just do what I always do—think of something. Whatever it takes.
“No matter what happens…there has to be a way.”
Never stop thinking. Keep your mind in motion. What’s the next move?
“Thank you… V-Vicius… I… I-I’m too d-dangerous… I… Ars Monroy…I sh-should disappear…sh-should leave this world…I g-gotta go…”
Ars was reaching out toward us, like he was trying to grasp at something. I glared at him in silence with Seras at my side, ready to strike at any moment.
Should I retreat? Should we hold our ground? Or…
…Crack, Crack…
The ice spread, slowly crawling up the white disciple’s torso.
“Hey, Vicius, you mind if I ask…just one more thing? What would happen if the two of us had a fight, eh?” Ars spoke his final words. “Which of us do you reckon is stronger?”
“…”
Ars was completely swallowed up by the ice, then there was complete silence.
“…Is it over?” asked Eve.
“Status open.”
I called up my skill screen and checked the display. The target limit numbers under Freeze now read [3/3].
If this is right—then it seems like Freeze did its job.
“Doesn’t look like he’s about to move…yeah.”
It had taken some time for the skill to take full effect, but now Ars was just as frozen as Kirihara and the insect.
“There’s obviously a chance that he might start moving again… But for now, let’s work on the assumption that my skill has actually stopped him. I want to throw him in a hole or something, so that even if he does reactivate himself, he can’t do anything to come after us… But I doubt there’s going to be any convenient place to do that inside of this labyrinth.”
With Freeze applied to Ars, I doubt any attacks will be effective against him either. That’s something I tested out against the insect. I knew that destroying the insect would open up one of my Freeze target limit slots, so I tried everything I could to destroy it…but nothing worked, in the end.
Geo looked over at the frozen disciple. “So you’re saying we have to leave him here?”
“Yeah, I am.”
“Too-ka.” Eve stood before me. “Too-ka…thank you for your help.”
“I should be thanking you—your contribution was vital. If I didn’t have your intel before this fight, I might have had Seras use her prime armor at full strength. Given Ars’s abilities, there’s a good chance that would’ve just worn Seras down and gained us nothing in return.”
“Heh heh… You are a fine talker too, as usual.”
“Squee.”
“Thanks for your help too, Piggymaru.”
“Speaking of contributions, I believe you were one of the ones protecting me?” said Munin, chuckling with a hand to her mouth.
Munin sure is good at calming the mood. Her shoulders are shaking though…she must’ve been a bit scared during that fight.
“Thank you to you too, Geo.”
“Hey… We’ve got the same home, right? The Country at the End of the World.”
“Yes, we do indeed.” Munin grinned.
Geo glanced over at Amia’s sword and shield, which had been frozen in ice along with Ars’s body.
“Let’s head to the castle for now.” His eyes turned toward the citadel. I looked over at Munin and saw her expression had completely clouded over.
Well…that smile did look awfully forced.
“Amia… We don’t know if she survived her encounter with Ars. We might think she’s alive, and it turns out she’s dead. We might think she’s dead, and it turns out she’s alive. Just no way to know… But…she volunteered to enter this maze. She was ready. She knew the risk. If she is dead…well, that was a choice that she made for herself. But if she is…” Geo tightened his grip on the katana in his hand. “…She won’t rest in peace unless we stop whatever that damned Goddess is planning.”
Seras glanced at Geo, a somewhat bitter look in her eyes.
“Sir Geo…”
“I appreciate the concern, but this just ain’t the time to be worrying about Amia’s fate,” said Geo, turning to look in my direction. “We’ve got to finish this, Lord of the Flies… Finish it once and for all.”
“…Yeah.”
And so we left the frozen Ars behind us, departing through a nearby passageway in the direction of the castle.
Yasu Tomohiro
YASU TOMOHIRO GAZED INTO the distance at the approaching eucharist army. His heart was beating loud in his chest.
Looks like I’m scared after all.
Yasu hadn’t felt afraid before the Battle of the White Citadel began. He’d even looked forward to the fight. And then…
I was so blind… There was so much I didn’t understand back then. I’m much stronger now than I was at the citadel, but somehow, I feel much more scared. It’s just like it was when I fought those giant monkeys in the forest.
“…”
The other soldiers standing up here on the ramparts… Are they scared? They all look so calm. Is it because of their training?
Yasu overheard some conversation from a few soldiers who were standing nearby.
“Y’know when I left my house today, my kid comes up to me…”
“Eh?”
“Says to me that she ain’t scared one bit.”
“Really? Tough kid.”
“Yeah, but that’s not all… She said somethin’ else.”
“Hmm?”
“Said she knows everything’s going to be all right ’cause her Dad’s gonna protect her.”
“…Oof.”
“Been like this ever since I survived the great invasion. Kid looks at me different, pride in her eyes and all that.”
“Same. Wife in my case though.”
“That so? I heard she was always gettin’ mad at you.”
“Yeah… She got a bit softer after the recent fighting, I guess…”
“Then we’ve both gotta make sure we survive this one too, eh?”
“Yeah.”
“…Unf—”
The soldier that had been talking about his daughter leaned forward a little, propping himself up on his spear. He looked as if he might fall to the floor at any moment. The man began to sob.
“Nhhgh…I…I don’t wanna die. I’m scared. I’m so friggin’ scared…”
“H-hey…look, I know how you feel… But c’mon, we gotta keep up morale here,” said the other soldier, looking around in panic.
“It’s fine,” said another man who had been listening to the two of them speak. He placed a hand on the crying soldier’s shoulder. “We all feel the same. All of us are scared. I’m scared too, y’know? But we’re still going to fight—ain’t that right?”
“Nhh…yeah… My kid’s dead if we don’t hold them off, yeah? So I…I’m going to fight… Ugh…I’m fighting!”
The other soldiers looked on—some with gentle but bitter smiles, some crying alongside the man. There were others whose expressions didn’t break for a moment, and others who watched the horizon with new resolve…
“…”
I see. The people here are scared. It’s not just me. …It’s not unnatural for me to feel this way. Everyone gets scared.
Yasu Tomohiro had always been struck by a curious emotion from time to time—the feeling that when compared to everyone else, that he might just be the worst person in the world. The emotion would come to him like an unwanted memory, as paralyzing as a seizure. Everyone around him seemed to be living such better, fuller lives. He felt that he was the only one in the world that had such awful luck…that there was something about the way he lived his life that was just wrong. Yasu couldn’t shake feeling that he was just surviving, cheating his way through existence. Even if it did seem like there were people around him going through similar situations, they always looked to be doing so much better to him. He lived on the same world as them—but it felt to Yasu like he was living on a different planet.
That’s why I thought I was the only one here who was really scared.
The feelings started to rush up inside of Yasu again.
But…maybe it’s not just me.
Yasu looked down at the palm of his hand, then back up at the soldiers.
I can see now.
I’m looking at the faces of the people around me. Back when I thought I was the only one…it was because I was only ever thinking about myself.
“Bein’ scared isn’t always a bad thing,” said Rinji. “If you’re scared it means you’re still here. You aren’t running—you’re standing to confront what’s coming.”
“I’m standing here…”
Back in the old world, I used to think it was people who weren’t scared by horror movies that were the tough ones. I think I still felt that way, even after I got summoned into this world. I was given so much power when I came here—I thought the real heroes were the ones who never got scared before a battle.
“You’re taking this seriously…standing your ground to fight. That’s why you’re scared,” Rinji continued. “You’re terrified, but you aren’t running away. That’s what courage is, yeah?”
…Ah. Now I see. That’s the way that I can be brave…a hero.
No matter how resolved I am to fight, how ready I feel…the fear is still there somewhere inside me. It was just the same when I fought against those golden-eyed monkeys. But now, I…
Yasu couldn’t help but smile.
I don’t mind being scared. I can fight with this fear in my chest.
Yasu’s expression stiffened as he looked out determinedly at the approaching horde of eucharists.
“To protect the people of this city, I’m going to hit those things with everything I’ve got.”
The white mass of the eucharists was finally starting to look like individual soldiers, advancing in broad ranks across the land. Their column stretched far off into the distance behind them. Rinji estimated that there were twenty or thirty thousand of them at least, from what he could see from the wall. Attack preparations were being made on the ramparts by the magical device squads and archer units. A stationary ballista was being wound back for firing.
“Looks like they’ve got catapults with them, eh…?” said Rinji, squinting down at the army.
“Doesn’t look like that’s all, either.”
“Riri.”
Suddenly, Riri of the Sabre-toothed Tigers was beside them on the walls. She indicated the approaching army with her chin; the horde was throwing up dust as it rumbled toward them.
“Look, they’ve got those damn siege towers, too. I don’t reckon they were stupid enough to bring them all the way from Alion. They must’ve built them on the way.”
“Using those massive carriages, you think…?”
“No human would be capable of that…but those eucharists don’t get tired, and there are countless more of them than any human army I’ve ever seen. Doesn’t matter what sort of supplies they might have, or what they might be capable of building by human standards.”
Siege towers—sometimes called breaching towers—were weapons of war. Usually, soldiers would need to use ladders to scale walls, but siege towers allowed an army to deploy large groups of soldiers to higher elevations without the need or risk associated with ladders. Yasu had seen similar weapons used before in movies and manga back in the old world.
Rinji scratched his head.
“I don’t want to think about that horde gettin’ to climb up on top of these walls.”
“It’s not just the siege towers. Their army might’ve brought all kinds of things from the fortresses and cities of Magnar they sacked on their way here. Weapons, horses, who knows what else.”
There were some centaur eucharists, but others were mounted like normal soldiers and armed with weapons.
“These eucharists…” said Riri, sounding fed up. “Seems like they’re smarter now than they were when we last fought them. I think these are capable of a lot more. They only used to be able to follow simple orders.”
Suddenly a call went out…
“Prepare to attack!”
Whistles sounded out across the ramparts. Yasu felt the faint rumbling of the ground even from atop his place on the wall.
They’re getting close now. The fight’s about to begin.
“Following the queen and the holy priest’s orders, we’re to stay in position and not ride out to meet them. Watch the enemy’s movements and focus on defending the wall. The gate’s been sealed up with rocks from the inside, so it should be able to take a beating from any battering ram they try and throw at u—”
“…Gah! Here they come—!”
Suddenly, the wall was bustling with voices and activity. The enemy eucharists weren’t in range of offensive magical or archer attacks, but Yasu and the others saw something else. Everyone had their eyes to the sky.
There was a square box sailing through the air, easily clearing Azziz’s first defensive wall. Everyone atop the ramparts watched as it passed over their heads.
“What the heck is that thing?!” cried Riri, her eyes wide with shock.
They had all expected catapults, and knew that their walls were tough enough to withstand bombardment. Their forces also expected that some projectiles might make it over their walls, but what landed within the bounds of the first defensive wall was no rock. The box appeared to be made of iron and was around the size of a shipping container. Yasu and his companions rushed to the other side of the wall to peek over into the city.
Bang!
One side of the iron box flew open, and from within…
“There are eucharists in that thing…!”
The box was stuffed full of eucharist soldiers. And while it seemed that a fair number of them had died on impact when their capsule struck the ground…some of them were still alive.
“Ugh…” Riri ground her teeth. “I s’pose you can get away with that when you’ve got an army of eucharists.”
That would never have worked with human soldiers… They would’ve all been crushed. Were those eucharists specifically designed for this mission?
There didn’t seem to be many eucharists emerging from the capsule from what Yasu could see.
I think most of them must have died on impact. The forces we have behind the second defensive wall should be able to wipe them out without much trouble. But with the enemy inside our walls already…it takes our focus away from the approaching army. It makes our soldiers feel like the city has already been breached.
Atop the wall, waves of anxiety ran through the ranks, and panic took hold.
“One box is one thing…but a rain of those would be trouble.”
It doesn’t matter how many eucharists were killed on impact—the enemy’s capable of getting troops behind our walls. That’s all that matters.
“More of them!” a soldier screamed.
A flurry of boxes containing more eucharists came flying toward the city.
Bwhoosh!
Some flew too high and were shot down by the Holy Eye of Yonato, but the enemy paid no mind to those casualties and kept firing. There were large boulders being fired over the walls now too.
We expected those… There are hardly any people left inside the first defensive wall, so there aren’t going to be many casualties there.
“There’s a psychological aspect to this, makin’ us feel overrun… And if any of those boulders hit the top of the ramparts, they’re going to crush whatever men we’ve got stationed on the walls.”
They’re attacking us with long range weapons, but we aren’t able to move or properly fight back. Rinji’s right, that’s going to take a mental toll on our soldiers. This is also a more underhanded sort of tactic than just a siege bombardment. They’re slowing down the movements of the units we have on standby near the second defensive wall, since those men are worried about being crushed by boulders the moment they charge out to destroy the eucharists roaming within our walls. I can’t blame them. It must be tough to force themselves to ride out into enemy fire.
Booom!
“Wh-what was that…?! An e-explosion?!” cried a soldier, his eyes wide with fear.
A magical device? Or perhaps—something made of gunpowder?
A large wooden box exploded on contact with a building within the city walls.
“Tch…that’s gonna make it even harder for the guys within the walls to make a move…” said Rinji.
“Cripes…” The knight that was in charge of Yasu’s section of the wall turned to look back at the enemy army, with frustration in his voice. “Our catapults won’t reach them yet at that range…!”
Their forces had deployed catapults of their own within the first defensive wall, but the enemies weren’t close enough for them to be effective yet.
Not to mention their projectiles are way bigger than ours…
And then…
“Aah!”
A soldier on the other side of the ramparts raised the alarm, pointing toward the approaching army. Yasu and his companions saw them too. A row of giant eucharists were carrying large, shallow baskets on their shoulders…baskets that were packed to the brim with smaller eucharists.
“So that’s it… Before they send in the siege towers and ladders, they want to send those giant eucharists to the walls and open up a path to the top,” said Rinji.
Riri pouted in frustration. “That basket would send a lot of them straight to the top. Then once they’ve got a solid route up onto the walls, that’ll make it easier for them to get their ladders and siege towers into position.”
Not to mention that while we’re fighting off siege towers, we’ll also have to send troops to stop those baskets from getting atop the walls.
“We want to reduce their number as much as we can while they’re still outside the walls…but they’re not making it easy.”
Yasu looked over at the soldiers by the ramparts—many looked terrified. The commanding knights were angrily barking orders and trying to calm them down. In the great invasion, many elite soldiers from all the nations of the continent died, and many veterans were lost in the fighting.
Most of the soldiers here are concerned about their lack of experience… I understand that. There are some militia members up here who haven’t been through proper training yet. We’ve got the Magnari troops, who are better trained than most here on the eastern wall, but we don’t have enough of them. There are so many poorly trained soldiers here to bulk up our numbers. I can hardly blame them for wanting to run from this fight.
But still…they’re all still standing here. They remain here to protect what’s important to them. Nobody could blame them for running, but…
Yasu felt grateful that the men on those ramparts were standing beside him.
“I don’t wanna die…”
Yasu remembered the man who had been sobbing a few minutes earlier. The eucharist army had halted, perhaps because it was currently attacking them with its long-range weaponry. Yasu gazed at the vast rows of eucharists facing the city.
“Once they get closer, I might be able to take down those giant eucharists and siege weapons with my flames,” he said to Rinji.
“Your flames are pretty powerful… I’m countin’ on you, Tomohiro.”
“But there are only so many I can take,” said Yasu.
Rinji looked over at him, puzzled. “Eh?”
The enemy’s army is in a wide column. If they get in close to the walls, will I really be able to move around fast enough to tackle them all? How long will that take? How much ground will I be able to cover?
If that’s the issue, then…
“…”
Yasu swallowed, then turned back to Rinji. “Could you ask permission for me to strike out from the east gate?”
A group of Magnari soldiers shifted the boulders that were blocking up the eastern gate. Yasu Tomohiro watched in silence from his position nearby. The rocks had been placed in relatively adjustable locations, as the defenders of Azziz wanted to keep riding out against the eucharist army an option.
I’m going through that gate to face them.
The eucharists’ long-range attacks were continuing, but that also meant that there were no enemy soldiers outside of their gates just yet. Yasu turned to look back at the eucharists that had been fired over in iron boxes still roaming inside the first defensive wall. The Magnari knights were dealing with them, having ridden out from their position near the second defensive wall after some initial hesitation.
“The Hero from Another World wants to ride out and destroy those giant eucharists and the catapults?” the White Wolf King of Magnar had asked, upon hearing Yasu Tomohiro’s proposal. An unguarded smile flashed across his face.
“Very well. Then I will be going with you. The great cavalry of Magnar can hardly make full use of their strength pinned down in a siege.”
The Magnari cavalry unit would ride out, it was decided—and Captain of the White Rabbit Riders Sicily would also be joining their ranks. The White Wolf King himself would lead the charge. Dearis Artlight was to remain in the castle. While some raised objections to the White Wolf King riding out to battle in person, he rebuffed them all with a daring grin.
“You already all thought I died once. Dearis led the Magnar army all this way, and led them well. Don’t worry. Before long the memento my brother left us will be born into this world. The future of Magnar is assured, with or without me!”
The command of the whole battle lay with the Queen of Yonato, but there was also the Holy Priest of Yonato, as well as Luheit and Hauzen from the Miran army.
“What will be the harm if I am lost?” reasoned the White Wolf King, adding, “We’re going to be plunging straight into that horde out there. Those who ride out will be scared beyond belief… But riding shoulder to shoulder with a king? Sometimes that can make a soldier feel somethin’ else instead.”
He reasoned that his presence would raise morale among the attackers.
“Our White Wolf King seems a bit more cavalier than he used to be,” said Sicily, grinning.
The surprise attack unit was mostly composed of Magnari cavalry and members of the White Rabbit Riders. The Sabre-toothed Tigers and their former veteran members also joined the ranks, including Riri and Rinji. Rinji’s right hand man Oulu joined too, though he looked quite displeased about what was happening.
“Huh… Straight into that horde then, eh? Ah… None of this is feeling real to me anymore, Rinji.”
“S-sorry…this was all my idea,” Yasu apologized. Oulu returned a wry smile and shook his hand from side to side.
“Ah, c’mon I was just kidding. I volunteered for this.”
Smash!
A boulder flew over the first defensive wall, landing a direct hit on one of the buildings nearby and destroying it. Rinji urged his mount forward.
“Gate’s almost open.”
The final boulders were being shifted away from the east gate.
“The Miran army is going to create a little bit of a diversion for us by sending some of their forces out from the south. If they can draw a little of the enemy’s southern flank away, that’ll make it easier to create the path that you’re looking to carve, Tomohiro.”
The White Wolf King brought his mount to the front of the group. Given their proximity to the first defensive wall, they were protected from most of the incoming projectile fire. Their cavalry was positioned in long lines, sheltered behind the wall to avoid being hit, and the northern king rode up and down their ranks, calling to them as he went.
“Is anyone here afraid to go into battle?!”
The warriors of Magnar answered their king with the silence of resolve.
“We’ve fought for our home…for Magnar! This city is not ours, but today…” The White Wolf King’s voice was loud, dignified, booming out to every last one of the warriors who faced him. He pointed down at the dirt beneath his horse’s hooves. “…this is our homeland!”
The excitement rose in the king’s voice as he continued.
“This is Yonato! Yonato is not ours! But this land—this continent is! We are fighting for our homeland now! So many of the people of our nations have been used by that Goddess of Alion, especially during the great invasion! I was used, too! I am ashamed of it! I will admit that I could not see the truth! But back then, what was it that we were fighting for?!”
There was rage in the White Wolf King’s voice now—a heat…power rising with every word.
“You already know! We fought to protect the homeland that raised us! Our own nation! Our families! Our loved ones!”
The White Wolf King pounded his chest with a closed fist.
“What I felt back then, I feel today! For me, nothing has changed! I’ve always fought with my nation in my heart! I know we were used by that goddess! But what I felt during that fight was no lie! My feelings have not changed! I’m going to protect my homeland! That’s all I ever wanted! I’m fighting for those of us that died when the Nightwall fell! For all those who were lost in the great invasion! For the White Wolf Riders! For my brother! For Sogude! I feel the same today as I did back then!”
The king raised his arm into the air, straining his voice even louder over the noise.
“Today we fight for all the people of this continent! Fight for the future of our homeland by putting our lives on the line! I’m risking my life in this battle! I will gladly die with you men today! Do you know why?! My father! My mother! Their fathers, their mothers! Every parent that has ever lived and died on this earth… They have all brought us to this day and to this moment! All of us standing here! Let us be part of the same foundation, then! Even if we die here, the future of this world will be built on the bodies we leave behind! We’ll leave a foundation for those that follow us! Are you ready?! This is it! This is the place! Azziz! We’re the last line of defense on the front line of the battle to save the world! Let me say that again! This is our homeland! Your great nation needs your protection!”
Something stirred deep inside Yasu’s chest. It felt like there were faint electrical currents running over the surface of his skin. He felt inspired, his spirit rose within him.
So that’s what a king can be… He inspires confidence. That’s another way to be a hero.
“Y’know some people say words don’t have power…” said Rinji, looking deeply moved. “But there’s times you need inspiration like that when you’re heading off into the jaws of death. Look at how the mood’s changed, eh? He’s the one that made this happen. That’s what a king’s meant to be.”
Yasu felt morale rising from parts of the lines that he wasn’t even sure that the White Wolf King’s voice had reached.
The last boulders were cleared from the east gate, and at the signal of the guards, the doors began to open. Yasu breathed out slowly, steadying himself.
It’s almost here. At last.
He stroked the mane of his mount.
“I’m sorry… This might be scary for you—but keep going, okay? I’ll protect you.”
The horse whinnied in reply.
Then, there was a message from atop the ramparts that the area outside the gate was clear. With the eucharist army firing long-range projectiles toward the city, its soldiers had halted their advance. There was nothing outside the gate to stop the cavalry from riding out.
We can get out there.
The White Wolf King stopped in the threshold and drew his sword. He raised its tip to the sky and let out a final cry.
“For our homeland!”
The other soldiers raised their weapons and repeated the words as a roaring battle cry. The gate was completely opened and the whistle sounded for the riders to set out. The White Wolf King wheeled his horse around and pointed his sword toward the light of the outside world.
“Ch-chaaarge!” The tip of his sword was still forward, as he kicked his mount into action.
The horses rushed off at once, dashing through the gate. Yasu went with them, Rinji and Oulu by his side. Their mounts were running almost parallel to his. The moment they were out of the gates, Yasu felt as if he’d fallen into some dream in which the whole world’s color scheme was flipped on its head.
This is a battlefield.
The sound of countless hooves beating the earth assaulted Yasu’s ears, like the roar of a hundred drums. The sound pummelled his eardrums and overlapped with his heartbeat, as his mount thundered on beneath him. Overhead, the enemy projectiles kept coming—eucharist boxes and crates packed with explosives soared above them. With every second, the explosions at their back and the voices of those fighting within the walls grew quieter and quieter. Dust thrown up by hoofbeats blew into Yasu’s eyes, and he heard a voice from one of the other riders in front.
“They’re coming!”
They must have seen us ride out of the gate. They’ve made a move too. The eucharists are coming to meet our charge.
“Blade of the Holy Eye! To the front!”
That meant Yasu—his code name for the duration of their surprise attack.
The enemy shouldn’t be aware that there’s a Hero from Another World fighting here. I want to stay hidden for as long as I can. I chose that name because it sounded unlikely to give my identity away…
“Almost time for your turn then, eh?” said Rinji, eyes forward. He drew his sword from its sheath. “We’ll stick by your side to guard you the best we can. We’ll give it everything we’ve got. Do what you came here to do.”
“Thank you.”
Riri and the other members of the Sabre-toothed Tigers were at the rear of the attack formation.
“Should we really be usin’ your powers from the jump? Aren’t you worried about that em-pee somethin’ or other?”
“It’s okay. I leveled up thanks to those giant golden-eyed monkeys we killed in the forest.”
The monsters had also delivered lots of EXP, and Yasu had killed most of the other golden-eyes that they encountered later near the border. His skills consumed very little MP to begin with, even less now than they did during the Battle of the White Citadel.
Those eucharists are golden-eyes, too. I hope I’ll gain experience from defeating them. Maybe I shouldn’t be optimistic about that. I failed last time because I didn’t think about the worst-case scenario. I was arrogant.
“Right, first strike is up to you then. When you get back, you’ve got to leave the fighting to us though, okay?”
“Okay. Thank you.”
Rinji let out a short laugh, then smiled.
“Hm?”
“I was just thinking how relieved I am. You seem calm.”
Yasu gave him a wry smile. “O-on the inside I’m completely overwhelmed, but…everyone here’s counting on me. No…on the skills I have as a hero. Everyone’s so determined to get this done, I would feel bad getting panicked and flustered. I can’t let you down Rinji, or you Oulu…or any of the other members of the Sabre-toothed Tigers.”
The unit in front slowed a little and opened up to let Yasu move up. A female knight seemed to have been listening to him speak, and she turned back to look at Yasu as he approached.
“Well said.” She turned back to look dead ahead. “We are risking our lives for good reason.”
She signaled Yasu to move forward. He smiled at her and spurred his mount to speed up.
I can see them now. The front line… That approaching line of centaur eucharists. We’ll crash into them soon. We’ll run them through.
“Lævateinn.”
Yasu cloaked himself in black flame, and a murmur swept through the Magnari cavalry.
The haven’t seen anything like this before. I can alter these flames with my own will, choosing who they burn and who they leave untouched. So long as I adjust right, my fire will never hurt my allies. But I can’t adjust for those who are beyond my focus.
Before long, Yasu saw the White Wolf King and Sicily, who had been riding at the very front of the formation. They slipped out of his gaze, and then Yasu’s field of vision completely opened up.
I’m through. This is the front.
The only riders to Yasu’s left and right were Rinji and Oulu—nobody else was nearby.
They don’t need to stick so close to me…
Yasu was grateful to the two of them—thankful from the bottom of his heart.
That’s why I have to do this… I have to play my role.
Yasu created a vortex of black flames and sent it forward. The rolling inferno collided with the first line of eucharists and spread to the left and right of their formation. Yasu watched as the white eucharists were consumed by black fire.
“Please don’t ride ahead of me for a few minutes!” he shouted.
Oulu slowed his mount, falling back to make sure Yasu’s message reached the rest of the attack.
There are allies at my back—nothing could make me more confident. I wish…I had realized this sooner.
“…”
Burn.
Consume them.
These enemies must be destroyed.
Soshio Eucalyon
SOSHIO EUCALYON WAS a noble of Alion and the eldest son of House Eucalyon. Vicius had ordered him to conquer Azziz, and placed him in command of the whole operation. He stared out at the city as his catapults continued their bombardment.
“So they won’t surrender, then…” he said, turning to his younger brother and aide, Kujah Eucalyon.
“Doesn’t seem like they have any cards left to play, though.”
Kujah was Captain of the New Knights of Alion, and had been there when Vicius had spoken to Takuto Kirihara. The second son of House Eucalyon—Michaela—had led a failed invasion of the Country at the End of the World at the head of the Thirteen Orders of Alion. They had been destroyed almost entirely.
Soshio sighed.
Michaela was a lecher and a drunk—his fetishes only became more intense with time. Worse still, he was starving for the thrill of battle…a battle which killed him in the end. I should never have come to this place, thought Soshio, tracing a finger across his cheek. Just the thought that some sword might scar this face of mine…ah…
Soshio was a man who loved beauty and hated all that was hideous, seeing evil in the ugliness. All of the Eucalyons were beautiful and influential, and the house’s position among the Alion nobility was secure. Soshio had but one fear—age. His grandfather looked awful right before he died, and it was difficult to watch him wither away into nothing. He hated seeing how his back stooped with each passing year, and how his manner of speaking had aged poorly as well. Soshio’s grandfather spent his last few years sleeping for entire days, incontinent and occasionally throwing his excrement at the serving girls and smearing it all over his bedding the rare times he was awake. Such stories made Soshio’s hair stand on end.
Ah, how terrifying…
What scared Soshio most of all was that he might grow old and become just like his grandfather one day. The thought left him consumed by despair.
Why do humans fade and lose their shine when they advance into older age? Why are the primes of our lives so fleetingly short? But if Vicius makes me into a demi-god as she promised, then I’ll be able to retain my beauty indefinitely. This face…this flesh will never change.
Vicius explained that she would be returning to the heavens once this battle was over. Another world, separate from this one, I think? I’ll negotiate with her then, perhaps. Ask that she allow me to command this continent. With eternal youth I will be able to change this place…transform it. Only the beautiful will be allowed to live. The ugly will be executed. I will require death for all who exceed an age limit. What a wonderful idea.
Only those with the most beautiful traits will pass them on to the next generation. It has always been a mistake to let the unattractive procreate and continue on into the future. Their offspring will always be unfortunate. All children would much rather be born with the beautiful traits of their parents. Of course, this is so.
“A utopia.”
That is why I am here on this battlefield. The very combat I so long avoided by feigning illness. I have come all this way to serve as commander and to receive my reward once this war is over. A demi-god blessed with indefinite youth.
“Kujah.”
“Yes, brother?”
“Don’t kill them.”
“…Eh? Do you mean the people of Azziz?”
“The Queen of Yonato and those Artlight Sisters who have fled Magnar. The Holy Priest of Yonato…I hear she is covered in scars. You can execute her. I’d also want Luheit and Kaize Mira to be spared, if they happen to be found within the walls.” Soshio closed his eyes, and spread his arms wide from atop his white steed. “Beauty makes a person worth sparing—gives them worth.”
Seras Ashrain, for instance. And the Forbidden Witch. They looked so beautiful in the portraits I saw. I hear that elves have such long lives, too…
Elves… Yes, once this matter is dealt with, I will set out to search for the elves that are living in secret somewhere on this continent. I am told that almost all of them are beautiful. A race comprised almost entirely of beautiful men and women… They are almost perfect beings. They are the ones with the right to live alongside a beautiful man such as myself. I will treasure the elves. They are the beings worthy of forming my inner circle.
Kujah began to grin. “So then…what about the others in the city?” he asked.
“Hmm? Ah, once Azziz has fallen, we’ll divide them up by appearance and age. You can leave those who aren’t chosen to live to torture them if you like—it’s a hobby of yours, isn’t it?”
“Ah! Y-yes!”
Soshio’s little brother’s eyes were gleaming.
“Heh, you little sadist. You take after Michaela.”
Well…it’s not as if exterminating the misshapen and ugly of this world will make us all equals. We must build a hierarchy once only the most attractive remain. But in my world—even the slaves will be beautiful. Come to think of it…
Soshio remembered something.
The Ninth Order of Alion, wasn’t it? I remember their captain…he said something so stupid to me once.
“What do I think about beauty? Let me see… To be honest I don’t think it’s anything to do with looks, or gender, or age. If I had to say, well… I think beautiful people are the ones with good hearts.”
I wanted him to shut up with that nonsense. It was the stupidest thing I had ever heard. He was on our side of that fence, anyway—you and that attractive vice-captain of yours.
Soshio couldn’t help but recall more of the man’s words.
“Well… If my beautiful vice-captain happened to get some massive burn in the middle of her face, for instance, she’d still be great to talk to. That’s enough for me. If her voice went, I guess we could always play tabletop games together. I reckon the two of us could have a lot of fun, right up until the end of our lives. Heck…I just hope she feels the same way about me…”
Was he trying to curry favor with the unwashed masses with that nonsense? It was such pure idiocy.
Soshio had heard that the Ninth Order were destroyed during the attack on the Country at the End of the World.
“I told you so,” he had wanted to say, feeling such joy at their demise.
It served them right. A pointless, ugly death for a witless moron. There is no beauty in this world that can compensate for a lack of intelligence. Snow, however… The vice-captain… I do regret that she died alongside him.
“But brother… How long will it take us to conquer Azziz?” asked Kujah.
“What are you saying? It will be over in no time. Those putting up this fight against us are merely the scrapings of the bottom of the barrel.”
Magnar and Yonato were ravaged by the great invasion. Mira, which conserved more of its troops than the other nations, has since sent them off to die in Alion. I am also told that our main threat, the Heroes from Another World, went with them. Even among their number, only Ayaka Sogou could truly oppose us. And according to the Goddess, all of the other elite heroes are already dead.
“Ah, the Lord of the Flies Brigade, was it? That rabble are with them too, no?”
I am disappointed that Seras Ashrain will not be here… But it is fortunate that we won’t be facing the Lord of the Flies Brigade during this siege. In the intense fighting that drove our forces onto the back foot during the Battle of the White Citadel—it was the Lord of the Flies Brigade that completely turned the tide. They are the most troublesome enemies we might have the misfortune to face.
“Heh… But I do wish to see this city fall soon,” said Soshio. “I will transform Azziz into a crucible of agony.”
There came a report.
“The enemy has struck out through the east gate!”
“They must have recognized the effectiveness of our long-range attacks and understood that they must do something to avoid being sitting ducks. How pathetic.”
“It seems that the unit is composed of Magnari cavalry!”
They don’t have much in terms of numbers. Though under normal circumstances, that would be quite the charge, I suppose… But they are facing such a massive army that their puny numbers look sad in comparison. There are some of them coming out of the south gate too, but a trifling number there as well. I can see what it is they are after. They intend to destroy our catapults.
A suicide mission. Wasting their lives… How foolish—how ugly.
Soshio sighed as deeply as he could.
“Even a worm will squirm, I suppose…but does this even qualify as squirming? How unattractive…” With pity in his eyes, Soshio raised his arm and directed it forward. “Pulverize them.”
Then there was fire.
A sea of flames spread as far as his eyes could see.
“…Huh?” Soshio sat atop his horse, completely stunned. “Wh—what…? What is that stuff…?”
Black flames.
“…”
It can’t be… Black flames?!
“I… It must be…”
A magical device… Yes, of course. It has to be a magical device… It cannot be anything else. It simply cannot.
“…Eh?”
There was a hero once… A boy who could command black flames, but…
“The Goddess told me! She said that the hero with the black fire was dead! Did I hear her correctly?! I did hear it! Right before we left Eno!” Soshio grabbed at the lobe of his right ear and began twisting it as he screamed. “I heard her say it! I did! N-nobody told me… Nobody said he’d be here! I didn’t know the Hero of the Black Inferno was still alive!”
Those black flames… Writhing through my ranks like great serpents of fire… Roasting the white army to death as they slither through…
“Brother!”
At Kujah’s voice, Soshio snapped back to reality.
“Y-yes…”
“They’re after the catapults! Quick, give the order to defend them!”
The catapults went up in flames. Consumed at frightening speed, they crumbled to the ground.
“Ahh?! Brother! L-look!” Kujah cried, all the blood draining from his face.
A siege tower is burning this time.
Soshio managed to get a hold of himself.
Right. I can’t afford to fail here. I must become a demi-god.
“C-crush them…crush them all! Defend! Protect the catapults! Protect our siege towers!”
One of the giant eucharists began to burn in the distance, smoke rising from its feet. The flames rose to the basket it was shouldering, incinerating the eucharists inside. The giant monster swayed, then fell, crushing a number of eucharists to death with its giant body.
“Wh…what are you doing…? You idiots!”
The eucharists seemed to be heading toward the enemy as ordered, but the hero showed no signs of stopping. It seemed that whenever a eucharist got close, they were burned to death by the swirling mass of black flames.
“H…” Soshio felt as if all the strength had left his body. “He can’t be stopped…?”
Soshio snapped back once more—he was surrounded on all sides by his subordinates, many of whom had deep connections to House Eucalyon. Everyone was watching him panic—he blushed red hot when he met their eyes.
How unsightly of me!
He grit his teeth.
“Gah…what are those blasted eucharists doing?! Such tiny numbers of enemies should wither before the might of an army such as mine! Crush them! If those flames are one of the Goddess’s blessings, then the hero will surely tire himself out soon enough! He cannot bear the mental strain forever! We will wear him down, little by little—then overwhelm him with our numbers!”
Soshio tried to smile as if everything was going his way, while greasy sweat ran down his face.
He carefully brushed the strands of hair that were sticking to his sweatband, and continued, “Are all of you aware? The Hero of the Black Inferno did nothing of note during the Battle of the White Citadel—he fell into a panic and fled from the battlefield at the first sight of combat! Unlike the tales that are told of the other heroes, I have heard nothing of his accomplishments. I saw him in person once…and he looked like little more than an idiotic…er, a scumbag…a moron to me! Yes! The Hero of the Black Inferno is no hero at all! Do you hear me?! This is no elite hero we face on the field! We are not up against the humanoid monster-killer Ayaka Sogou. Nor Hijiri Takao, who defied the Goddess and paid with her life! Nor even Takuto Kirihara! …”
“…Brother? Is something wrong…?”
“…”
***
At that moment, a thought formed in the mind of Soshio Eucalyon. A thought that would ultimately blunt the effectiveness of his eucharist army.
Yasu Tomohiro
YASU TOMOHIRO didn’t stop moving, burning his way through to his targets. He fired his flames forward to clear a path, scorching the earth to make it easier for those behind him to follow. He raised his hand up to the giant eucharist above him.
It really is a giant…
Black flames engulfed the monster’s feet and spread quickly to its head. The eucharists had only eyes and mouths. The giant one howled as it burned, sinking to the ground as the fire roasted its skin.
I want to take out the giant eucharists without baskets on their shoulders, too…
Yasu turned around in the saddle.
“Rinji! Are the others okay?!”
“Yeah! They’re keepin’ up! Hah—Magnari cavalry sure are somethin’! Especially them White Rabbit Riders!”
Over Rinji’s shoulder, Yasu could see their captain Sicily in the distance. She had an axe in either hand and had just decapitated two eucharists on either side of her mount. The White Wolf King was also cutting down eucharists, one after the other. Riri and the other members of the Sabre-toothed Tigers were so far back that Yasu couldn’t see how they were doing. Soon, the whistle sounded again—and the cavalry attack began to change course.
Diving too deep into the enemy army will only leave us surrounded and unable to make it back to the city.
The decision of when to make the turn was given to the White Wolf King.
We’ve destroyed all of the catapults in sight. He’s right…it’s time to retreat.
But in that moment, Yasu saw something.
“…”
Among the writhing mass of eucharist soldiers, there was a human shape. The man was riding atop a horse, attempting to blend in with the horde. He appeared to be a noble of some considerable standing, with glittering armor. He was close—the man’s eyes opened wide when he saw Yasu approaching.
It looked as if he was caught off guard—or perhaps more accurately…found out.
“The eucharists get orders from humans. That’s what lets them use complex tactics in the field.”
Yasu remembered Riri’s explanation of how eucharists functioned when they were leaderless, as opposed to when they were led, based on her own experience of leading the monsters into battle.
Then if we can reduce the number of humans on the enemy’s side…will that lead to less casualties on ours?
But Yasu Tomohiro, in the old world and the new, had never killed another human being.
I’ve killed golden-eyed monsters. Eucharists. But is this the same?
Monsters, eucharists, humans… Killing is killing, no matter who’s on the receiving end?
But…
“…”
Killing another person. Can I really do this? Am I capable of it? It feels so heavy. I wonder why? Monsters, eucharists…it’s all the same killing, isn’t it? But why does this feel so different—like such a burden?
…Am I really going to kill another person? But why?
…To protect.
The internal conflict lasted for an instant. Flames spread from his palms before he knew what was happening, and the noble on horseback was set ablaze as Yasu passed by. There was a scream as he went up—Yasu heard that clearly enough. The screaming grew quieter as he rode away, until it was swallowed up by the noise of battle and disappeared completely.
“…Uuugh.”
What is this feeling? This heavy sensation… The tightness in my chest?
Anxiety and fear were mixed up inside of Yasu, like a weight resting on his body.
“It’s half on us.”
The voice was Rinji’s, reassuring and strong. He seemed to have noticed the change that came over Yasu, and was now riding beside him.
“…R-Rinji.”
“I ain’t saying you got no free will… But it’s half on us—the adults that made you do all this.”
“Ah…”
“What just happened was because we’re relying on your strength to win this fight. You did it to protect your allies, right? Don’t go trying to shoulder all the blame on your own—y’hear?”
“I…”
“Look, maybe you’ve got your own way of facing it, Tomohiro. But I don’t think you need to take responsibility for everythin’ that’s going on. Whatever weight you feel inside, I’ll take half. Let’s share the load, eh? I can at least do that much for you. Hey Tomohiro… I know I’m a lot older than you are, but that don’t matter now,” Rinji looked over at Yasu. “We’re friends.”
“…”
“So don’t worry, okay? I’ll take the blame. Nah… You’ve gotta let me take responsibility. Not to mention,” he continued. “What you’re feeling is the proof you’re still normal. It’d be weird if you felt nothin’ at all… It ain’t anything to be ashamed of.”
“Shoulda known you’d have the right words, Rinji,” said Oulu, who’d been listening to the two of them talk.
“You take your share of the blame too, right Oulu?” asked Rinji.
Oulu noticed he was trying to keep the mood light with a cheerful tone.
“Yeah, yeah. Sure,” he answered casually.
Yasu turned to look straight ahead.
“…Thank you.”
Desperately trying to keep his voice from trembling, Yasu repeated the words of gratitude once more inside his head.
Thank you.
***
The surprise attack that struck out from the east gate of Azziz returned to the city once their objective had been completed. Their casualties were minor—far fewer than had been expected. Yasu Tomohiro’s black flames and the intense fight put up by the Sabre-toothed Tigers in the rearguard were to thank.
Another factor contributed to the success—the eucharist army appeared terribly sluggish in combat. The monsters almost seemed reluctant to attack for some reason.
But the Miran army which had departed from the south gate of Azziz as a decoy, faced a difficult battle in the field. There had been more eucharists advancing on the south gate than anticipated, and their movements were not yet slowed. The monsters were sharp and precise in their attacks.
“This sortie might leave us unable to return to the south gate,” the troops began to worry, concerned that reopening the south gate might allow eucharists to rush inside in their great numbers.
Then help arrived: the army of the Country at the End of the World.
The new forces turned the tide. The Miran army and the forces from the Country at the End of the World caught the eucharists in a pincer. The enemy leaders appeared to fall into absolute panic at the arrival of reinforcements.
In truth, the forces from the Country at the End of the World were not numerous, as most of their main strength had accompanied the Wildly Beautiful Emperor east to Alion. Their forces might have even been considered lacking under normal circumstances. But the eucharist commanders did not have any idea of the scale of the fresh forces that they faced. All they knew was that they had been ambushed from behind and caught in a trap. That drove them into a panic and significantly dulled the movements of the attacking eucharist army in the area. Luheit Mira seized on the opportunity, blowing his whistle to give the order to retreat, successfully returning to the south gate with the Country at the End of the World’s reinforcements in tow.
The south gate army of Mira suffered few casualties, and the Immortal King Zect and his forces joined the fight to defend the Holy Eye of Yonato.
Soshio Eucalyon
“SIR SOSHIO!”
One of Soshio’s generals came riding toward him. The man had been tasked with commanding the eucharists that guarded the catapults.
“Why did you order the whole army to wait and see?! The enemy penetrated our defensive line! We could have dealt them a harsh blow by surrounding them and crushing them with our greater numbers! We might even have been able to destroy that hero!”
“Sh…”
“What?”
“Shut up.”
“Wh…?!”
“You don’t get it! You don’t have a damn clue!” Then Soshio placed a hand to his mouth and remained silent.
That damned Vicius. She told me the Hero of the Black Inferno was dead! I heard her say it!
***
Soshio Eucalyon’s chief worry was the survival of other elite heroes—that they might have sided with the enemy. He received the reports that Ayaka Sogou was alive. She had been missing for a time, then appeared one day on the other side of the battlefield, fighting against the forces of Alion. It was not just that she was alive…Soshio had reliable intel on her present location.
But the others…
Shougo Oyamada.
Hijiri Takao.
Takuto Kirihara.
Nobody had seen any of their corpses, so far as Soshio was aware.
The Goddess told me that the Hero of the Black Inferno was dead, but here he is…and now he’s on their side. This tells me that Vicius’s intel cannot be trusted. I must consider that they might have other heroes somewhere inside the city. Takuto Kirihara—for one.
My younger brother Kujah was present for a meeting between Kirihara and Vicius once. He was leading an army of golden-eyed monsters—commanding them. It could be… It’s just possible… What if Kirihara can control humanoid types? What if he has a whole army of them standing by, waiting for the perfect moment to ambush? I know full well just how terrifying those humanoid types are, as any man born to this continent does. A horde of golden-eyes and humanoid types is too horrifying to even imagine. But no—that’s not all. I heard of Kirihara and Hijiri’s exploits during the great invasion…how the pair of them single-handedly fought off the enemy on the eastern front. That intel comes not just from Vicius, but from the soldiers I spoke with about their experience.
Now that I am unsure whether they are alive or dead… What would happen if both of them appeared here on the battlefield? Hijiri’s little sister might even be present. Or even Oyamada. If that is a possibility, then… I must consider retreat among my options. If it comes to that, I’ll use the eucharists as a shield to buy myself time to escape. I am the most important thing in the world, after all. Of course I should run. Yes… This concern of mine, this strategic speculation…it could all come true. I thought the Hero of the Black Inferno was dead, but here he is… And that calls into question the other heroes that I have been told are gone.
Unsure of whether he truly was being confronted by the worst-case scenario, Soshio Eucalyon turned to self-protection.
This dulled the movements of his eucharist army and allowed an arguably favorable engagement to slip through his fingers.
***
Soshio glared intently into the void.
I’m at an impasse. I can’t slip up. This is all Vicius’s fault. She’s the one who gave me this bad intel. Has she been lying to me this whole time? I cannot trust her…nor any of the things she has said. It’s not me. This isn’t my fault.
“…”
“Sir Soshio, your orders!”
“Right…we will wait half a day in our current position, and wait to see if… Eh?”
Ooohhh…
The eucharists opened their mouths and began to howl.
“What’s going on?” Soshio glared at them. “The blasted eucharists are…”
Thnk—
“…Eh?”
When Soshio looked down at his brother Kujah, he saw a spear tip jutting from his chest. He had been stabbed in the back.
“Ah… B-brother… Hnnngh—”
Kujah spit up blood and died on his horse, still sitting upright. His body swayed to the side before falling from the saddle.
“Wh-who did this?!” bellowed Soshio. “Who gave you the order to k—?!”
The commander looked up, wide-eyed and speechless by what he saw.
“Gyaaah?!”
“Wh-what are you doing?!”
“S-stooop?!”
One by one, Soshio’s subordinates—the humans—were being killed by the eucharists under their command. He looked down to see a group of eucharists underneath him, grabbing at his feet as he sat atop his horse.
“Wha?! You mutinous beasts! Let me go! S-stand down…stand down, I said! H-hey—eh?!” Several eucharists dragged him from his saddle, and Soshio rolled to the dirt. “Gah…my orders aren’t working? Why not?!”
He was surrounded by eucharists—holding weapons in their hands as they looked down at him. One of them readied a spear, and pointed it directly at his chest.
“W-wait…! Stop! H-hey…leave me alone! Stand down! S-stand down… L-let go! Gah—”
—Thnk—Thrust—Slash—
The blades stabbed at Soshio one after the other. He struggled feebly for a few moments.
“N-no…such an u-ugly…d-death…”
All his resistance was futile in the end. Every single human in the Azziz invasion army died at the hands of their own eucharist soldiers.
“The humans are interfering with the plan to conquer Azziz.”
It might have been that some aspect of Vicius’s will influenced the eucharists to take action. The eucharists were attempting to deviate from their instincts. The monsters howled like forest spirits from some children’s fable. Their unsettling cries reached the inner walls of Azziz and the eucharist army began to advance—slowly at first, but they quickly devolved into a ground-shaking, headlong charge at the city walls. It was hard to tell whether the army had any order. Based on their movements, it might have appeared that the army was under command—but there were no humans left to give them orders. If there was anything commanding the army, perhaps it was the “Will of Vicius” and nothing more. The army proceeded like a crawling mass of locusts, crowding around the walls of Azziz.
Orders flew atop the ramparts.
“Archers, draaaaaw!”
The eucharists continued their charge.
“Fire!”
A rain of arrows poured down upon them. Next came a flurry of offensive magical attacks, fired down onto the eucharists’ heads. Yet the white army did not cease. They continued to run under the hail of arrows until they crashed into the exterior of the first defensive wall. That didn’t stop their advance—the next wave of eucharists used the first arrivals as footholds to try and climb the ramparts. The perimeter overflowed with eucharists trying to reach up to the top of the walls.
The battle to defend the Holy Eye of Yonato—this second showdown in the city of Azziz—entered an even fiercer stage of fighting.
Chapter 3: Created Pure
Chapter 3:
Created Pure
WITH OUR FIGHT against Ars finished, we continued toward the castle.
We’re getting closer—approaching the end. It’s not just a matter of distance… I can feel it.
I talked with Seras as we ran. Munin was behind me and Geo was at her back. Our rearguard against ambush was our party’s “ears”—Eve.
“Sir Too-ka… Is something bothering you?” asked Seras.
“Hmm? Yeah… A little, I guess.”
Our fight against Ars had left me with a concern—though I was wary over whether to share it with Seras or not.
I’m not sure… It’s not like I’m completely sure this is correct. And it’s not going to be of any sort of advantage to Seras that she’s aware of my concerns—especially when she depends so much upon my judgment. That’s why this is something that I’m keeping to myself…for now.
“It’s not good to keep everything to yourself.”
I remember those words from the old world…and the sentiment isn’t wrong. But…I don’t think it’s right for me to follow that rule in every situation. Sometimes, talking everything over can lead people to get distracted in battle. I want to keep Seras’s combat abilities as pure and clear as possible—eliminate as many impurities and distractions as I can. And I already talked to Seras about this when we first found each other in this labyrinth. Talking to her about it again when I’ve already mentioned it would just be needlessly distracting. That’s why I’ve been thinking this over on my own all this time. There aren’t many ways that we could prepare for this concern of mine becoming a reality. When we fought against Ars, we had a lot of intel from Eve’s battle with him. What matters is how quickly we can put the puzzle together upon contact with a new enemy. Agility, flexibility, certainty… It’s all about our ability to adapt to these situations.
Seras seemed to notice something in my expression but didn’t ask me any further questions.
“…”
This is the deep trust we’ve built during our travels together. Assembling information in your mind and being able to really trust someone are different things in terms of the importance of time. Trust takes a long time and only comes about after consistent effort. But…I suppose it also only takes a second to destroy a person’s trust in you.
“Seras.”
“Yes?”
A eucharist appeared in our path, blocking the way. Seras handled it without breaking a sweat, using as few motions as possible.
With this team, we’ll have no trouble with regular eucharists… Especially not with Seras, and her outstanding strength in combat.
But, well…before the fight against Ars, what concerned me was…
“If it turns out that they’re much stronger than us in terms of fighting ability… Then that might make my status effect skills even more important, since they don’t deal with enemies head on.”
If that’s correct… No, maybe it extends further than just pure combat strength. Ars evolved constantly during our fight against him. If Vicius and the other disciples behave in a similar way… Will we ever be able to beat them in a battle of pure strength? Regardless of how those disciples are specialized to combat the divines… Are disciples enemies that a human can hope to face down in combat?
This started to concern me more after how the fight with Ars ended. It’s worrying me so much that it’s getting hard for me to bear. Ars managed to shake off my status effect skills in that fight. They worked against him…but they didn’t really finish the job. For now, I managed to stop him with my last charge of Freeze—but going forward, we’ll have to take on the next two disciples without Freeze. If it turns out our next two opponents are on the same level as Ars and have similar abilities, we’ll need new strategies to combat them. At this point, the only other way I can think of beating those disciples is if my status effect skills are off the table—or rather, the only other method that might give us a higher chance of victory, is…
“…Asagi.”
Now that it’s come to this, I suppose I have to work under the assumption that Asagi’s going to remain on our side. I hope she’s somehow found her way to Sogou or the Takao Sisters.
“Squee?”
“Hmm? What’s wrong, Piggymaru?”
“Squuuh…? Squee!”
Then there were two more voices—Eve and Seras.
“Too-ka!”
“Sir Too-ka!”
I noticed it soon after the three of them did. Munin and Geo didn’t seem to have caught on just yet.
“Oh? Whatever is the matter?”
“What’s going on?”
Everyone stopped, so Munin and Geo stopped too.
…There’s something in the shadow of that half-eaten building. It’s a weak presence though… Could it be…?
“Whoa?! So many familiar faces! I was so worried, I’ve been all on my own for ages!”
With a big sigh of relief after the happy outburst, she began to breathe easy again.
“Hah, I’m so glad to see you all… I thought I was never going to find anyone in here!”
It was Lokiella.
“Been hiding all this time, have you?” I asked, as the other goddess floated over to me.
“I’d lose in a fight with even the weakest eucharist in this place…so it was all I could do to use this teensy body of mine to hide in the shadows. Hey, is your black leopardman friend okay?” Lokiella looked over at Geo’s missing arm, and he snorted at her question.
“I ain’t gonna slow us down.”
“Oh, that’s reassuring!”
“Lady Lokiella.”
“Hm-hmm… Aren’t you glad that you were able to find your beloved Too-ka in this labyrinth, Seras?”
“L-Lady Lokiella… Ah-ahem, no I… Yes.”
“Hmm… It seems that in my short absence, Seras has fallen even more head over heels for Too-ka.”
Eve looked deeply moved by the statement, and Seras twirled the tips of her hair in embarrassment.
“H-head over heels… D-do I look like I’m head over heels…?”
Eve nodded.
“And I’m glad you’re safe and sound, Munin!”
Munin bent forward a little as she answered, and her shoulders faintly moved up and down.
“You too… Huff… I am glad to see that you are well, Lokiella.”
Lokiella exchanged a few words with everyone, then dived into my pocket.
“Well, it looks as if Munin has caught her breath. Do you think we can get going?”
“Y-yes… Sorry that I don’t have the stamina to keep up…”
Seras stepped in to reassure her.
“Please do not let that concern you, Lady Munin. The two of us worked hard together to improve your stamina, did we not? I know that you have put in the effort to improve, so you have nothing to be ashamed of.”
“Perhaps it must just be my age, then…” Munin replied with a sigh, placing a hand to her cheek.
I’d been thinking about giving Munin a break for a while, actually… It’s not like Lokiella had just been wasting our time with conversation here. She must have realized that Munin needed to rest, and decided a bit of cheerful chatter would calm her down and give her a bit of a breather.
She might act like an airhead, but Lokiella’s a surprisingly considerate divine… Nothing like a certain foul Goddess.
We got moving again and I filled Lokiella in on all of the intel we’d gained while inside the labyrinth, including my concern about the disciples.
“I see…”
“What do you think?”
It might be a stroke of luck that I’ve found Lokiella. I was going to keep thinking that concern over on my own…but as a divine, Lokiella knows a fair bit about them. She might be able to give me some good advice, based on her own personal experience and the intel we’ve gathered so far.
“You’re right that Wormgandr and Yomibito might have similar evolutionary abilities… But from what I heard of Ars, I believe he was once a hero from ages in the past. I remember some reports that Vicius sent up about him, when she was first dispatched to this world. I’m not sure I recall all the details…but I think one of the first generation of heroes killed the Root of All Evil, then asked Vicius to kill him too? Ars could have been around since before Wormgandr was taken care of.”
“What would that mean?”
“Unlike turning someone into a demi-god, creating a disciple takes a long time… But it gives the target way more power than if they’d just been made a demi-god.”
Apparently, becoming a demi-god doesn’t just dramatically increase your strength overnight. When someone becomes a disciple, there’s an outward change to their appearance, and that doesn’t happen when a person is made into a demi-god.
“Disciples also tend to get stronger the more days and months you pour into creating them.”
“You mean to say that Ars might have taken the longest to create of all the three disciples and he might actually be the strongest?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
That would be good news.
“Now that he’s disabled, I’d like to hope that Ars was the toughest disciple we’ll ever have to face…”
“When I saw him fight, it was against another disciple… So maybe he didn’t need to evolve at all. I don’t think he was using his full power against Torohn. It’s just…”
“What is it?”
“It’s Wormgandr…”
“The former divine?”
“…Yeah.”
“He’s strong?”
“He’s strong.” Lokiella didn’t hesitate for even a second. “Up in the heavens, the hierarchy of combat strength used to be, starting from the top… The chief deity Origin, the second deity Thesis, the Wolf God Vanargadia, and then the Serpent God Wormgandr.”
“Fourth from the top, eh?”
“But Wormgandr was never that aggressive. Back then, he’d never actually fought with Vanargadia one on one… When he was taken out by the other divines, it was Thesis and Vanargadia who were dispatched to destroy him. It was mostly a battle between Thesis and Wormgandr, from what I hear.”
“You mean that there’s a chance that Wormgandr’s even stronger than Vanargadia?”
“Yeah. Vanargadia was destroyed by Wormgandr in the fight I saw, when Wormgandr had that anti-divine enhancement on him. I think it’s possible that he was always stronger than Vanargadia, to be honest.”
Lokiella now had a stern look on her face, in stark contrast to the cheerful way she’d been chattering earlier.
“Our chief deity is the strongest divine, of course, but when it comes to combat, things are a bit different. In a fight, I think Thesis is the strongest divine… But what she does is manifest victory and give rise to successful attacks—her whole existence is sort of like cheating. She’s super powerful, but that comes with a lot of negatives. Thesis’s strength has a lot of advantages and disadvantages to it. But the top two deities are completely different sorts—speaking in terms of pure combat strength. Anyway, to get back to it…if Wormgandr really has been stronger than Vanargadia all along, then that would mean…”
“That in terms of pure combat strength, he was the strongest divine in all of the heavens.”
“Yeah.” Lokiella had a pained look on her face. “…As I told you before, Worm is hard to pin down. There was this theory that he actually loved humans more than any of the divines, but hated them at the same time. I think I remember hearing him say that once. He thought that the divines should interfere with humans more—that we should manage them. He said that we should be selective—divine hands removing the bad apples—and that letting humans roam free without stricter controls was slowly letting all their potential go to waste.”
“…”
“He also said that as human society matures, and technology and ideology advance, it never seems to bring any happiness… I remember that. His opinion was that as creatures, humans are bound to constantly make the same mistakes, unless they’re ruled by some non-human absolute power…”
“I’m one of those bad apples, so I suppose he’d want to eliminate me… But it’s complicated. I sort of see what he means.”
“You don’t reject what he’s saying out of hand then, Too-ka?”
“Thinking about the world I came from, I can see some ways in which he’s probably right. But…I can’t really comment on his methods.”
I can’t say he’s wrong—but I can’t say he’s right. This absolute power that Wormgandr thinks should rule us… Who guarantees that power remains just?
The divines… Is what they say right, just because it’s a god saying it?
No way. I don’t think that foul Goddess is right just because she calls herself a god.
“I mean, he always had this easy-going air about him, and as more time passed, he just stopped talking about the human stuff altogether. Nobody expected him to launch a whole rebellion just to put his ideas into practice. I mean, I’d forgotten all about the things he said before he started fighting the other divines. He kept quiet for so long, everyone forgot. I mean, it was so long. Or well…maybe he was making plans all that time. Always watching, observing the workings of human society.” Lokiella looked down, as if lost in her memories. “The real problem is that, depending on how you look at it, I guess he might have a point. That’s exactly why you can understand where he’s coming from, Too-ka.”
“But…”
This is on too grand a scale for me to get involved. Mimori Touka has no place deciding what humanity does. All I can really do is take care of my own business. And the only thing in my head right now is revenge. Unfinished revenge.
“He’s on Vicius’s side and he’s in my way. Simple as.”
“…I figured as much.”
The disciple Wormgandr, this former divine… He might be a serious threat.
“Disciples are like the kids of the divine whose essence they’ve been given,” said Lokiella, forcing herself back to the topic at hand. “In other words, they’ve got Vicius’s essence inside of them. Her orders are absolute. They can’t defy her. They also can’t harm her. And if she orders them to die, they’ll disappear,” Lokiella continued. “Vicius has likely ordered her disciples to dispose of any enemies they encounter.”
“…”
Suddenly, I remembered Amia’s shield and sword—the two items that Ars had been holding when we found him.
“This might sound cruel of me to say…” said Lokiella. “But when we encounter Wormgandr in this labyrinth, you might want to prepare for the possibility that he’s killed several of our allies already.”
Sogou Ayaka
“HYEH HYEH HYEH!” Wormgandr laughed loudly, both hands spread to the sky.
Sogou Ayaka faced the disciple down, drenched in sweat.
“Huff… Huff… Huff…!”
She heard an unpleasant snap from somewhere in her body.
One of my muscles, I expect.
Ayaka had continued her long battle against Wormgandr—unsure if it was luck or misfortune that nobody else had stumbled upon them during their fight.
“Hyeh hyeh hyeh… Looks like you’re almost out of juice.” Wormgandr turned to look back at Ayaka, scratching at his temple. “That empty state you got yourself into…the super-focused one… It’s weird that you were able to keep it up for this long in the first place, y’know? Hyeh hyeh… I knew it. You’re a real monster, aint’cha?”
“Huff, Huff…!”
She no longer had the bandwidth to wipe the sweat from her brow. Ayaka had showered Wormgandr with countless blows, dealing him injury after injury—making him bleed. But he wouldn’t go down.
“I reckon you’re the first human t’ever make me bleed this much in a fight. Ended up spendin’ way more effort on regenerating than I’d planned to. Hyeh hyeh… Never thought a human would be this persistent. Hyeh hyeh… Nothin’ could make me happier—ain’t that right, Vicius?!”
Gah… He’s right. My focus is slipping…
With sweaty hands, Ayaka tightened her grip on her unique sword. Before Ayaka entered the labyrinth, she had spoken with Seras Ashrain on the topic of strength. The intent had been to understand each other’s abilities. They spoke about battle, and about power.
Stamina…
She remembered Seras’s words.
“From what I have heard of your abilities, Lady Ayaka, your ability to maintain your strongest combat state is time-limited—and in that way we are similar. It may be our biggest weakness in combat.”
“Do you mean the stress placed upon you by your prime armor, Seras-san? It is similar to the limits of my MP and the pressure my kyokugen ability places on my body.”
Add to that the limited “unconscious state” that Wormgandr just mentioned, which I’m able to enter.
“Civit Gartland is dead, and so I can only speak to what I feel… But I believe that when I am in my prime armor and when you, Lady Ayaka, are using your kyokugen ability and making full use of your unique skills…the two of us are on his level, in terms of our individual strength. It’s possible that we might even have had a chance of beating him when he was still alive.”
“But he was called the Strongest Man in the World…”
“At the very least, I do not believe that he could kill us with a single attack. We would be capable of holding our own. It’s just… I realized recently that the true strength of Civit Gartland may have been something quite different.”
“His true strength?”
“Yes. Perhaps you are aware that a baron once revolted against the Empire of Bakoss, and that that baron was the younger brother of the emperor. Most of the nobles supported the younger brother’s claim, as he had greater personal connections.”
Brother fought brother for the throne of Bakoss—and the elder had been completely outnumbered… Yet in the end, he still managed to win a crushing victory.
“The current emperor had Civit Gartland on his side. Civit was not just overwhelmingly strong, but appeared like a phantom on the battlefield, attacking day and night. His attacks continued constantly, harassing the rebels without rest until he had taken the heads of every last one of their commanders. That was his strength, I believe.”
Ayaka understood what Seras was trying to say.
“Unlike the two of us, Civit’s power was unlimited. He did not enhance himself temporarily in order to achieve his ultimate power—he was the strongest that he could possibly be at all times. He was capable of continuing to fight with almost no need for sleep or rest that might restrain his activities. That ability to fight so continuously may have been his greatest talent. We, on the other hand…”
“Our peak strength is limited…”
“Yes,” Seras said, nodding her head elegantly. “Ours is a qualified strength. I believe that in the showdown that is to come, there will come times when we must be wary of that fact as we fight.”
But against Wormgandr… Even if I wanted to hold him back, I would not be able to. I think it’s finally here now—my limit.
Wormgandr raised his jaw, looking like he was glaring down at Ayaka.
He always looks like he’s grinning about something.
“Hyeh, hyeh… This one might have t’be a draw, I s’pose. There’s that divine weakening effect that someone set off in this labyrinth, and then my anti-divine enhancements ain’t worth a thing against you… But I never thought the great Wormgandr would have this much trouble against a human. This is unexpected stuff. You’re the strongest human I’ve ever fought, that I can tell ya. Hyeh… I got ordered to sprint around this labyrinth and murder everyone I found, but since I ran into you, I’ve been stuck right here! I ain’t killed a single enemy yet.”
Wormgandr deliberately clapped his hands together three times—was that intended to be applause?
“But this is it—show’s over.”
Ayaka steadied her breathing.
He truly is strong. Exceptional. Stronger than any enemy I have ever faced before. Are all of the other disciples this powerful?
“That state you got yourself into just now—you can’t do that whenever you want to, eh? Certain conditions are met and you just fall unconscious, yeah? Right now, that state’s over. Finished. You did well to hold on… But this is as far as you get.”
Ayaka slowly exhaled.
Ring, ring, ring…
Wormgandr’s eyes opened wide, a dumbfounded look on his face.
“Wha?”
Ayaka fell into the sound once more. Wormgandr had been scratching at his forehead with his right hand, but he let his arm drop limply to his side. It looked as if the gesture was completely unconscious.
“You can’t be freakin’ serious? You can force yourself to consciously enter that state? C’mon… What’s the deal with this human?!”
Spurt!
Ayaka slashed diagonally at Wormgandr, slicing him open from the waist to the shoulder. She had closed on him in less than the blink of an eye—instantaneously placing herself in the best possible position to strike. Wormgandr glared down at Ayaka, her unique sword reaching the end of its swing, and his eyes bulged.
Crack, crack…
The black cracks that formed across Wormgandr’s white face grew even deeper.
“Correction… Show’s still goin’. Hyeh hyeh… Good, human…very good. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
By the time that Wormgandr finished speaking, Ayaka was already into her next action. She circled to his flank, aiming a strike to cut his body in two. Wormgandr directed a backhand blow at her with one of his hardened fists and Ayaka blocked it with her toughened unique weapon. Ayaka could feel the murderous intent on her skin. The white-hot desire to kill her felt almost searing. She could no longer get a clear picture of his location—couldn’t follow him visually due to Wormgandr’s incredible speed. Instead, she relied on the burning hot murderous intent emanating from him, blocking his attacks from behind with her unique weaponry without even turning to confirm that they were coming. Turning would have presented Wormgandr with an opening to strike. That was the level on which the two of them fought. Ayaka didn’t even blink, as that might have sown the seeds of her defeat at the hands of Wormgandr.
I cannot allow such seeds to bear fruit.
Wormgandr was no longer speaking. They traded blows—blocking, parrying—each of them refining their senses to the absolute limit of what was possible. They pared away everything that was no longer necessary from their attacks, defensive movements, and dodges. If anyone had been watching their battle, they might have seen artistry in the way they fought. On the stage of battle, a single wrong step might mean instant death. This fight was balanced on a knife’s edge.
Ayaka tried to keep herself together, worried that the thread within her might snap at any moment. She dived deeper—further into the depths…
I’ll keep running until the thread snaps.
She felt her throat burning at the surge of murderous intent directed in her direction. Her throat, eyes, skin, the inside of her head—everything tingled with scorching heat. The silver hero continued to swing her sword, as her whole body was blazing with the red-hot fire of Wormgandr’s ire.
Sogou Ayaka believed something else, however.
Even if I cannot win this fight, if I can keep Wormgandr here for as long as possible, that will be time that he cannot kill my companions. Keep those seconds ticking down…even if it’s just one more.
With both fighters glued to the spot, completely focused on their battle—the duel finally began to approach its end.
“Huff…ah…huff…!”
Ayaka’s face was twisted in pain, her shoulders heaving with every breath. Wormgandr’s blood was splattered on the floor and up the white walls of the labyrinth. But standing just a few meters away, Ayaka saw that his wounds had already closed.
“I’ve bathed in it…” said the white disciple suddenly, after being silent for some time. “I have bathed in the potential of you humans to my heart’s content…”
Wormgandr slowly raised his arm and pointed directly at Ayaka.
“Thank you, Hero from Another World.”
Ayaka’s breathing was ragged and unsteady.
My concentration…after so long…it’s starting to slip…
She couldn’t hear the sound any longer, but Sogou Ayaka still took up her battle stance.
I can do this… I can still fight…
“I respect your spirit, but you’re done…right? This is enough. Hyeh hyeh… I’ve used up a whole lot of my regenerative strength too, y’know?” Then Wormgandr began a low laugh, as if he’d just realized something. “Hyeh… Come to think of it, I just realized somethin’ pretty damn important…”
He tapped at his forehead with one of his fingers.
“I got ordered to neutralize Ayaka Sogou… But I don’t remember ever bein’ ordered to kill you…”
“Eh?”
“Vicius jus’ wants you neutralized, that’s all. I don’t have to kill you. So if I can just stop you in your tracks, that’ll be followin’ orders. Geh… Hurk!”
Wormgandr vomited.
“…?!”
For a moment Ayaka thought she might have been presented with the perfect opportunity to strike but quickly stopped herself from moving forward.
I can’t hear that sound any more—I can’t do this.
All her instincts were telling her that. It was all that Ayaka could do to stand and stare down at the thing that Wormgandr had thrown up onto the labyrinth floor.
It looks…almost like a ball of meat…
Wormgandr wiped his mouth with the back of his arm.
“This is one’a them synthetic eucharists I left all compressed up inside my belly… Vicius said I might need it when it came to fightin’ you. But y’know—this is one of those mean souvenirs. A cruel joke. A sorta gag gift. I’m pretty sure I can imagine why she sent it to you, so I didn’t feel much like usin’ it to be honest. But the essence of Vicius inside me is gettin’ real impatient right now… It’s screaming at me to kill you. But me? I don’t feel much like murderin’ you.”
To Ayaka, Wormgandr’s words sounded like they came from some faraway place.
“S’this is goodbye for me. I’ma go kill someone else.”
“…”
Wormgandr twisted away from her.
“See ya.”
With that, he disappeared. Ayaka reflexively moved to follow him, her body acting instinctively. But now there was something standing in her way that stopped her in her tracks. The ball of meat had opened. It was on its feet and had taken on a human shape. There was something asymmetrical about the creature, as if it were several people that had been dismembered then mashed haphazardly back together. The thing’s shape began to warp and shift even more as Ayaka watched it.
It had three arms and a few pieces of clothing and accessories draped across its body. Half of its face was without skin, nothing but a bare patch of half-rotting flesh filled with maggots.
But the other half of that face… I think I’ve seen it somewhere before. I know I have. But…
“But… It can’t be… Why…? Wh-who would do this?”
After the Battle of the White Citadel, the Goddess treated his wounds, and he returned to his hometown… That’s what I was told. That’s what should have happened.
“A—”
Ayaka knew the creature’s face after all—no matter how warped the rest of the thing might be.
“Agit-san!”
It was Agit Angun, of the Four Holy Elders.
“Can…” Ayaka stammered at him, half of her mind overtaken by panic at what she was seeing. “Can you hear me, Agit-san?! It’s me! It’s Ayaka! A… Ayaka Sogou! Agit-san!”
“Uh…ah…uh…”
Something that looked like drool dripped from Agit’s mouth. His eyes were open wide and weren’t focused on anything at all.
I don’t think my words are getting through.
“A…Agit-san…”
No… It’s not just him. I recognize others in there, much as I hate to admit it. The body growing from the right shoulder…that arm belongs to Abis Angun. The left half of the face growing from the left…that’s Brown. Then there’s that eyeless head, dangling on the end of the tentacle that extends from his back…
“Wh…White-san…?”
There were other things she recognized—clothes and accessories that the Four Holy Elders had once worn. They had all been patched together, sewn up in a misshapen and ugly way, with not a single speck of respect for the dead.
This is desecration, nothing more. Defiling the corpses of the Four Holy Elders that were collected up after the Battle of the White Citadel.
“What did she do to you…?”
Tears flowed from her face.
This… It’s terrible… It’s just too cruel. These people fought for us. They heeded the call to come and train the heroes… Came at the Goddess’s request to fight and protect the people of this continent…
“…!”
Agit—or the thing that had once been Agit, launched an attack. His right arm transformed into a blade from the elbow down. Ayaka blocked his swing with her unique skill’s blade.
“…!”
He’s strong. Physical strength, speed… He lacks for neither. But I can block these attacks. I can defend myself.
Agit was nothing compared to Wormgandr…
And yet…I…
I cannot fight like this any longer.
Was I wrong? Wrong to let Vicius take care of their treatment? Is this all the result of my own mistake? Was I wrong to trust her?
I was.
Tears streaming down her cheeks, Ayaka’s face twisted in regret as she swept back Agit’s attacks. For a time, the one-sided assault went on as Agit continued to strike and Ayaka parried his blows. She called out to him as the fight continued, but did not get the response that she so hoped for.
I don’t know what to do.
Lost, Ayaka kept calling to him.
“Agit-san! Agit-san, it’s me! Please… Agit-san! Stop this! Stop…”
I could kill him. I think I could. I could kill him, but…I still haven’t even thanked him yet. What happened at the White Citadel of Protection… He drew the humanoid types away to protect me and my classmates. I… Am I really capable of striking him down?
“…!”
No! This is something I have to do with my own hands. This is what Agit-san would have wanted—to send him on to the next life. I’m sure of that!
“Ahh… Ah…”
My hands aren’t moving though. They won’t do what I tell them. I only have a single ray of hope remaining. There’s a chance that when this battle is over, a divine like Lokiella might know how to put them back together. I hope—I can’t help but hope… But if I kill Agit here then…even that chance will slip away.
Whoosh—
“…Ah.”
Agit’s blade grazed Ayaka’s cheek. A thin bead of blood oozed from her face as a millimeter thin layer of skin was scraped from the surface of her cheek. It was an attack that Ayaka could have dodged under any normal circumstance—but she was not in a normal state of mind.
I can’t keep my head straight right now.
“…Ahh.”
Wormgandr said that he wanted to neutralize me—and this is an effective way to do that…
As Ayaka fought Agit, a solution occurred to her.
That’s right… I can just neutralize him, can’t I?
“Before the showdown with Vicius is over… If I can just s-stop him from moving around!”
Then suddenly, Agit stopped moving completely. His attacks ceased.
“Eh?”
“…aka”
What did he just say?
“Aya…ka…”
“…!”
Focus had returned to his eyes.
“A…Agit-san?!”
“Ah… R-right on the edge o-of my consciousness… J-just a little of m-me remains… I…I can talk with you…for just a little while…”
Ayaka made to run toward him, but Agit stopped her.
“No… I’m using my will to stop this body from striking you… But it might disobey me and attack you anyway… Please… Stay where you are…”
“Agit-san… I-I…”
The half of Agit’s face that remained intact, smiled at her.
“You’ve gotten so strong…haven’t you…? I can see it…”
“It’s all thanks to you and your siblings… Y-you’re the ones that guided me!”
Ayaka couldn’t keep herself from crying. She no longer even stopped to wipe the tears away.
“Sorry! I’m so sorry! After the battle, I…I should have gone to see you first. I should never have left you in Vicius’s hands! I never thought… N-never dreamed that she would do this to you!”
“Heh… You haven’t changed a bit… Still as…sensible as ever…aren’t you…”
“W-wait! If you can stop yourself from moving, then…Agit-san, once this fight is over, I’m sure we can find a way to—”
“Kind, too,” he said, cutting her off. “You always were…Brown used to worry about that… That you might be dangerously kind…” Agit smiled—but shook his head. “I think that when Vicius dies… I’ll disappear too…”
“B-but you don’t know that for certain… I’m sure there’s a way for us to—”
“That’s not all, Ayaka,” said Agit, gentle but firm as he cut her off. He sounded a little sad, and a different sort of smile passed over his face. “My siblings are no longer with me—no longer a part of this world.”
“Ah—”
“So please…” he continued. “Abis, Brown, White…won’t you send me to be with them again…? Me…and everything else they left behind…”
Everything they left behind. He must mean those fragments of his siblings that are attached to his body.
“I want to stay and talk to you a little longer…but we don’t have time. I can feel it… My consciousness is fading, even now… I… I can only keep hold of my ego…for just a little longer…” Agit gave a short laugh, sounding remorseful. “Sorry… I’m sorry for f-forcing this on you… I know you don’t like all this…killing…”
“Ahh…” Ayaka shut her eyes, and squeezed the handle of her unique skill sword, as if trying to endure. Her tears just wouldn’t stop. “Let me say this…at least. Y-you protected us all, Agit-san… Murota-san…everyone who was there that day. Almost all of us made it out safe and sound, and so… Th-thank you so much! Th-thank you! Ahh… Ahh…!”
“I’m glad to hear that,” said Agit. “You made it out of the battle safely…and you’re here now… So that must mean you won… Good. To be honest my consciousness has been faded for so long… I only half-awoke when…she was making me like this… After that, I…I don’t know what happened…”
“Ahh… I’m sorry… I’m sorry, I…”
“Ayaka,” said Agit, fading away. “If that is truly how you feel—then at the very end… Allow me to thank you.”
“…!”
He wants me to kill him. That’s what Agit is asking.
“…O-okay.” Ayaka readied her sword.
“If you cut me into enough pieces…I think I’ll die… My regenerative abilities won’t be able to keep up…”
“…Agit-san.”
“Yes.”
Agit-san… The Four Holy Elders…
Goodbye.
Whoosh—
There was the sound of a blade slicing through air, and then it was repeated—again and again and again in a wild flurry of blows. Ayaka cut Agit into pieces, tears flying from her eyes as she moved.
She cut just as Agit had told her to do without stopping.
“…”
As the attacks rained down upon him, Agit spoke only two words—his tone filled with kindness.
“Thank you.”
“…”
After a time, Ayaka noticed that the chunks of flesh were no longer even trying to regenerate. They began to dissolve…slowly fading away. Then everything was over. All that remained in that white room was the strongest hero in the world, her wails echoing off the labyrinth walls.
***
“In this world there’s evil that we just can’t change,” said Ayaka’s grandmother, calling her out to the dojo one day. “I’ve lived through terrible times in this world… So when I moved to this house, I was filled with hatred for a time. I hated that this peaceful and idle place could exist in a country like this. At first I didn’t get it. I was offended by the people who lived here.”
Ayaka’s grandmother was sitting cross-legged on the floor. She passed her right hand into the sleeve of her martial arts uniform, then continued, “But well…after a while, I realized there’s a different sort of evil here in the world you live in. The evil of your world is what that boy Holden was talking about, the worst sort of liars—though it’s better than the evil of the world that I came from, I suppose.”
“Ahem… I haven’t read the book myself, but is the Holden you’re referring to the protagonist of The Catcher in the Rye?”
“Hmph,” Ayaka’s grandmother snorted at her. “Surprised that I’ve read a few novels, are you?”
“Ah, it’s not that…”
Ayaka’s grandmother grinned at her.
“Well, I have. In all my life I’ve only ever read Salinger, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Shoji Kaoru. I’ve never been much for reading, unlike your grandfather. I’m much better with manga—the ones with sword fighting, martial arts, and the yakuza stories… Ah, I suppose we’re getting off topic. We were talking about evil.”
Yes… My grandmother was telling me something about evil that day. But what was it that she said to me?
The memories she had of that day felt so fresh in her mind—it was like they were replaying themselves in real time.
“The problem—setting aside that the existence of such evil is a problem in and of itself—is people like you, Ayaka.”
I think grandmother looked a little concerned about me back then…
“Huh? Me? Do you mean that I—”
“You aren’t evil, that’s not what I’m saying.” Ayaka’s grandmother took a pack of cigarettes from her pocket, but then seemed to think better of smoking one, and placed them back in her uniform. “There are ‘good people’ in this world. But at times these so-called good ones can be a real pain in the ass. They’ve got all these fine ideals and spiritual minds, sure… But it’s these fine idealists that don’t know a damn thing about the sort of world that I came from. No, they’re actively trying to avoid confronting it.”
“…”
“They act like evil doesn’t exist in this world any more. I guess they hate talking about it, or it’s just something they’d rather not admit. Maybe that’s the real sticking point for those idealists… Evil goes against all of their high-minded thinking, their natural enemy. One of those inconvenient truths, eh?”
“…”
“They treat evil like it doesn’t exist…so when they’re unlucky enough to stumble upon it themselves, they close their eyes, shut their ears, and start talking about completely irrelevant things instead. When that happens it’s just impossible to have a conversation with them anymore.”
I…I think I could only understand half of what grandmother was saying.
“Well, it’s not like any of this can get fixed, if I’m being honest. They’ve got this sort of clean-freak mentality. They’re stubborn, I guess you could say. Whenever they get confronted by some big contradiction, they panic more than the average person would—it makes them sick, I reckon. I think the way that they pretend these inconvenient truths don’t exist is a defense mechanism. They treat things like they don’t exist so that they never have to actually confront anything. The inconvenient contradictions aren’t really there, and it’s all in self defense. But you see, Ayaka…” Ayaka’s grandmother looked down at the floor. “Sometimes I think the fine ideals and the spiritual mindfulness they are always talking about might not be so bad. Nah…I think I’ve come around to it over time. Ever since I met your grandfather…I started thinking they might not be so bad after all. Hmph… I mean, a man of a fine and venerable house decided to take a delinquent girl like me as a wife. The whole Sogou house was scandalized.”
Ayaka’s grandmother looked lost in nostalgia as she continued.
“You’re just like he was. But…that makes you a little dangerous. Heck, I think I might be doing a lot of worrying about nothing. You’re a daughter of this family, so long as you continue to live under their protection, I’m sure you’ll be fine. You’re straightforward, honest, good-natured—smart and kind. A good kid. You’re beautiful too…just like I was at your age. It’s just that you’ve got the sort of tendencies that I mentioned…those are all inside of you.”
“…”
“If you ever get faced with contradictions like those and there comes a time when you just can’t run from them any longer… I’m worried about you. Scared you might break apart…”
Just like your grandfather, she added.
“Maybe that’s why he needed a troublesome girl like me. My mind is rotten, as you well know—I’m just a worthless old hag with an irresponsible streak. My mind’s a bit more flexible though, so I don’t stress over the little things. Makes me even laugh at other people, gettin’ so worked up by the nitpicking of others. But hey…I reckon there are people in this world that are saved by having their complete opposites living right alongside them.”
“…”
“You ain’t a delinquent like I was, but I hope someday you’ll find yourself a good partner—before any damn evil gets to you, at least.”
“…”
Ayaka’s grandmother laughed in self-reproach. “Heck… Maybe I’m a sort of evil of my own, smoking tar cigarettes in front of my precious granddaughter…”
“But…I like you.”
“…”
“I love you—grandmother.”
Ayaka’s grandmother closed her eyes, and smiled. “Thanks.”
She looked over to the dojo window.
“…I don’t want to scold you too much.”
It sounded to Ayaka like there was something complex going on inside her grandmother’s head as she spoke those words.
“All that stuff I said about evil… Maybe someday you’ll choose to just forget it all. Forget everything I told you today, but…that’s fine too, I s’pose. Best thing in the world for you would be to never have to face true evil like that. To never have to know about the filth of this world. I hope you live an honest life, and you don’t ever have to interact with any of that darkness. I want you to stay as you are forever. Part of me feels that way too. So…it’s complicated, if I’m being honest.”
The spring sun was shining in through the dojo window, spilling out all over the floorboards. A spring breeze was blowing in too, bringing with it the smell of the outside air.
What was she thinking about in that moment, I wonder?
Ayaka’s grandmother squinted as she turned her eyes to the sunlight.
“Ayaka… Let’s go and see the cherry blossoms together sometime, eh? Just the two of us.”
***
“…”
I’d completely forgotten. That memory was so important to me. That’s just what I’ve been doing all this time—pretending not to see the things in my world that are inconvenient to me. That’s how I’ve lived my life. I bore such contradictions within me, that it broke me. She was so…
Grandmother was so worried for me.
When I get back to the old world… I have to thank her again… Thank my beloved grandmother.
“…”
Ayaka realized something.
I…
I was there at the ceremony. I attended her funeral.
Tears overflowed as she realized her own foolishness.
Ah… That’s right… I loved my grandmother so much that I couldn’t accept her death. She was so important to me, but I tried to pretend that it never happened. I averted my eyes; I shut my ears. I’ve done the exact same thing in this world. I’ve pretended that things aren’t happening so that I’m not crushed under the weight of the contradictions inside of me. I’ve made it so that I don’t see them and I don’t hear. And in the end, that’s what’s broken me. I’ve caused so much trouble for so many people.
“…”
Ayaka remembered the way that Agit had looked in the end—transformed.
He was such a good person. How could they do something like that to him? How are they capable of doing such things? What was it that grandmother said? She was talking about evil, but my heart was closed off and I wasn’t listening. What did she tell me?
Remember.
You have to confront it now.
Evil…evil can only be evil.
It can never reform.
True evil can never turn to good.
What did grandmother say?
“Seems like you believe that bad people can have a change of heart. But y’know, there’s a sort of evil in this world that just can’t be saved. True evil has caused disaster all over the world. It still does. Same goes for this country too. Showa, Heisei… Even in the current era there are things going on. I’ve got a lot of terrible stories for you. There really are people out there capable of doing awful things. Humans can be so cruel… There are things that you and I can conceive of, but would never dream of doing if we had a shred of humanity left in us. But there are people who do such awful things, it just makes you want to look away. There’s no path to salvation for those people. Nothing to do with evil like that but to eliminate it. It’s here, Ayaka… It’s a part of this world.”
What did she say to me?
Ah… Now I remember.
“You see, I don’t think of those who can commit such incurable evil as human. They aren’t people. They’re human shaped, but they’re something else…”
In Ayaka’s memory, her own voice overlapped with the voice of her grandmother.
“‘Damn it.’”
Ayaka remembered something else she said too.
“I know you won’t like this. You’ll think badly of doing it. But there are times when your negativity, anger, and hatred can be weapons—and damn powerful ones at that, Ayaka.”
Ayaka just stood there in the middle of the labyrinth, her unique skill disabled.
I’ve never felt this way. Never hated anyone like this before. I have never thought something so unforgivable… Never felt such loathing for another. I never thought that such black emotions would ever arise within me.
“…”
Agit had completely dissolved, faded away completely. Ayaka was all that remained in the room. She clenched her fists stronger than she ever had before. Her nails dug hard into her palms, and blood began to ooze out from the gaps between her fingers, but she paid that no mind. Ayaka ran.
Then there was a voice in her ears—a terrifying voice. She couldn’t believe it.
“That damn Vicius.”
Only once the sound left her lips did Ayaka recognize that the voice was her own.
Chapter 4: Game Changer
Chapter 4:
Game Changer
THE FIRST PERSON that Kashima Kobato had come across when she entered the labyrinth was Ikusaba Asagi. Asagi had looked fairly ambivalent when she came across her.
“Ah… Pidgey, huh?”
“S-sorry.”
All she could do at the moment was apologize. Kobato was the weakest of all the entrants in the first group—a fact that she knew well enough. Kobato could hardly blame Asagi for being unenthusiastic that she was her first ally in the labyrinth. But soon after, the two of them found the Wildly Beautiful Emperor, who had already located one of his allies from Mira, Chester Ord. It was speculated that those who entered close in the order to each other would have higher odds of meeting up inside the labyrinth—and that had turned out to be true.
“Ehh… An SR, huh? I mean I ain’t gonna ask for some UR or anything, but I’d rather have an SSR to be honest, meow. But heck, it ain’t like in this game the top rares are the only ones that have human rights or anything, yeah? We’re all good!”
Kobato saw the dubious look on her face.
What do all those alphabet letters mean? And what did she mean about human rights? Based on the context, I suppose she’s saying that she’d rather have found stronger people in here.
Kobato, on the other hand, was incredibly relieved.
The Wildly Beautiful Emperor is strong… Even Touka thinks he’s one of our strongest fighters. Most importantly, he’s someone that I know.
There had been many among the first group of entrants that Kobato had never really met before.
Even if I did manage to find them in here—what would we talk about?
Kobato flinched a little at the thought—that she was worried about her own shyness, even in a situation like this one. The newly assembled companions headed toward the castle, just as Touka had ordered. Kobato had lived in Eno for some time and the Wildly Beautiful Emperor had a map of the city almost memorized. The streets had been transformed into a labyrinth, but they had little fear of getting lost. The Wildly Beautiful Emperor and Chester handled all of the eucharists that stood in their way. They didn’t encounter any new allies on their journey toward the castle, though the Wildly Beautiful Emperor didn’t seem all that worried by that.
“If we continue on this path, we will surely encounter others closer to the castle itself.”
Their entry into the labyrinth had been split into two groups. Asagi had her own…analysis of the situation.
“Y’know, the better our first group does in here, the less space there is for the second, yeah? Given how big this city is, maybe it’s already a total miracle that the four of us have found each other, y’know? Just like that Heisei Japan POP song I heard so many times, it made me wanna kill mewself! ‘It’s a Miracle I Found You’ yeah?!”
Kobato was out of breath as they ran, and Asagi suggested that their group rest to recover.
“Pidgey’s draggin’ on us, let’s go take a break in that building over there, eh? Looks like the inside of that one hasn’t been so badly eaten up by the white stuff. Hah… It’s that pointlessly massive chest you’re carryin’ around with you that’s the problem. Can’t be helped! You’re a super bad runner in more ways than one, eh Pidgey-chan?”
“S-sorry…”Kobato apologized.
The Wildly Beautiful Emperor and Chester raised no objections, and didn’t seem to mind allowing Kobato to rest.
“There is no need to apologize. We might encounter other allies simply by waiting here, after all.”
“Here’ya go, delicious sweet tea~!”
Asagi brought out a water bottle. It looked as if she had enough little cups for everyone.
She came prepared. But drinking sweet tea in a place like this…? Kobato drank, feeling a distinct sense of dissonance given the situation they were in. I suppose Asagi has always been like this…laid back, no matter the situation, ever since we came to this world. She doesn’t get panicked by anything. She seems to be having more fun here as the days go by.
Kobato looked down at her cup of tea, holding it before her with both hands. She could see her own anxious face reflected in the liquid’s surface.
…I suppose she’s carefree, in a way. I can’t believe she put tea into a water bottle to bring it in here. It’s like she thinks we’re here for a picnic or something.
“Aren’t you scared, Asagi-san…?”
“Hmm? Of course I’m scared. Scared by how freakin’ talented I am.”
“Th-that’s not what I mean…”
Asagi’s eyes filled with darkness. Her mouth softened a little, pulled into a thin grimace.
She’s not panicking, but…I guess even Ikusaba Asagi makes faces like this sometimes.
“What I’m scared of ain’t the enemies, but the half-assed incompetence of the guys on our side, y’know? In every world, every time, there ain’t nothing scarier than having bad allies in a fight, yeah? Mind you, the problem is they’re half-assing it… They ain’t all bad. That’s why I just can’t shake ’em off completely.”
“S…sorry…”
“Huh? Ah… I guess you’re also kinda like that, Kobato-chan.”
“Eh?”
I thought she was talking about me, but…she must have been speaking about someone else.
“But hey… You’re self-aware enough that you ain’t so bad, I s’pose…”
With their short rest over, the four companions began to head toward the castle once more.
***
Kashima Kobato and her three companions stepped into a room within the labyrinth. The ceiling was high, and Kobato could see several passageways that were higher up on the walls, with staircases leading up to them. It was in that room that they came upon another—a woman who smiled at them as they entered.
“My my. It has been too long.”
“Mornin’. Long time no see!” said Asagi casually, opening her arms wide in greeting.
…Eh?
The individual that Kobato and the others had stumbled upon…was Vicius.
“Well then…” began the Goddess of Alion, slowly opening her narrowed eyes. “I suppose I will begin by slaughtering these ingrate traitors.”
The Wildly Beautiful Emperor and Chester quickly adopted their battle stances.
“Ah, wait a minute, will ya?” Asagi stopped her. Vicius paused for just a moment.
“Ohh? Whatever is the matter, Asagi? Eh? Don’t tell me…are you all going to beg for your lives?! All four of you on your knees, heads bowed begging for mercy?! Hmm?! Will you fully prostrate yourselves?! Hmm, hmm…♪… ♪ How marvellous that would be! Should I get my hopes up for a groveling session?!”
“Nah…” Asagi smirked at her. “Are you really that scared?”
“Eh? Excuse me? Whatever do you mean? You do know that is not what I was saying, of course? Are you quite all right? Quite rude of you as well, is it not? In any case, aren’t you the ones who are scared? Huh?”
“Well, y’know…of Mimori-kun.”
“Hmm? Who on earth is that?!”
“He’s the big unknown I guess, ain’t he? Hm-hm-hm, I suppose even gods are scared of the stuff they don’t understand? Makes sense you’d be terrified of him though… Like, he’s so totally outta your comprehension, yeah! First step’s admitting that you’ve got a problem.”
“Hmm…are you that desperate to be saved, Asagi? Ah, keep your distance now. You aren’t planning on using that unique skill of yours against me, are you? Oh, how terrifying. You heroes are all such traitorous scum.”
Kobato was shocked.
Does Vicius know about Ikusaba Asagi’s unique skill?
Asagi cocked her head at Vicius.
“Eh? You know about my unique skill…which must mean…you read all those letters I secretly sent you by magical war pigeon, didn’t you Vicius-chan?! Asagi-chan’s over the moon!”
Kobato was confused.
Asagi-san… Eh? She’s been sending letters to Vicius? What has she been telling her? When did this happen?
“But y’know, it ain’t like I put everything in the letters, see? Drip feedin’ was my strategy! I mean, if I just told you everything all at once, you’d have no more need for little old Asagi-san!”
“Look here, Asagi… You can’t possibly have been serious about everything you told me? Those letters were just part of some plan to deceive me, of course?”
“No way! I’d never’ve given you so many valuable deets about our side if I wasn’t serious! There was a bunch of things in there you didn’t know, right Vicius-chin? Had a bit of a chance to confirm my intel now that those traitors are here in your labyrinth?!”
“…”
Vicius didn’t answer, staring at Asagi in silence instead…sizing her up.
“A…Asagi-san…It can’t be…right?” stammered Kobato.
It seemed that the Wildly Beautiful Emperor was caught completely off guard as well. “What is the meaning of this, Asagi? It can’t be true—”
“It can. It is,” Asagi laughed. “I think I’m gonna go over to Vicius-chin’s side.”
“No! Asagi-san—but why?! Why would you…”
“Eh? ’Cause I want to fight.”
“Fight… Huh?!”
“I guess also, hmm…I’ve been captivated by her!” Asagi folded her arms and nodded to herself, as if affirming the decision to herself. “She’s the real deal. I mighta been able to put up with Hijirin, but…in the end, I couldn’t make it work. I watched her, and I just knew she’d be no good. He’s the one. He’s so good. This is the stage I want… This is the game I want to play. To see who’s really the strongest—Mimori Touka or me.”
To see who’s the strongest…? What is she saying?
Kobato could hardly understand—or her brain was refusing to comprehend. Asagi slowly began to back toward Vicius, facing Kobato, Chester, and the Wildly Beautiful Emperor. Kobato could see the confusion in the emperor’s eyes too.
I think he’s not sure whether to attack Asagi or not, and Vicius is thinking the exact same thing.
The latter concerned Kobato most of all. She still worried that Vicius would just kill Asagi while her back was turned.
“Excuse me Asagi, but will you stay away from me? You’re filthy.” Vicius pulled away, like she was avoiding something germy.
Asagi turned around on the spot and faced her. “That’s so mean. I’m surprised you have the whole cooties thing in this world—. That’s such an old bullying trick! Did the traditions of our world make it over here or somethin’? ♪? ♪Sniff, sniff… That was way too mean, Vicius-san… Waaahhh.”
She began to pretend cry—a performance worthy of Vicius herself.
“Excuse me, but are you mocking me?”
“Oh, my my? I wouldn’t go around implying that things you’ve done in the past are foolish, Goddess… Y’know that could really come back to bite you in the end, right?”
“…What do you want?” asked Vicius.
“I told you, I’m willing to come over to your side, Vicius-chan! Can I?”
“Hmmm, I fail to understand. You’ve been betraying me and then betraying them for some time now. And to be frank I don’t comprehend any of what you’re doing.”
“My main objective’s always been to finish this game by betting on the winnin’ horse. But since I got here, that objective’s dropped in my priorities. I’ve got a new main objective now, y’know?”
“Main ob…excuse me? Well, never mind. Hmm… I will at least hear you out, I suppose… What is your objective? What do you want?”
“I~ keep~ telling~ you~! Once I’ve got a few pawns, I want to go fight Mimori-kun.”
“You have some grudge against him, I take it?”
“Nah,” Asagi shrugged, then answered calmly. “Nope, nothing like that.”
“Huh?”
“I kinda respect Mimori-kun a bit, yeah! He’s young, but he’s a pretty outstanding sorta guy.”
“Then you have no reason whatsoever to oppose that foul fly. I will kill you now.”
“Heh heh… You shouldn’t be throwin’ around strong words like those all the time. Makes you look weak, to be honest. Just like a certain captain said once…”
Vicius looked at Asagi with ice in her eyes. Her voice was deadly calm and freezing too. “You are mocking me, aren’t you…? Excuse me, but what is your real aim? Answer me already, you impudent brat.”
“Hm-hmm… Y’know Vicius-chan…” Asagi smiled under the Goddess’s cool, icy glare. “If you really thought that I was trying to set you up, then you could have killed me already a hundred times by now, no?”
“…”
“Getting a bit worried, are you? He surprised you—Mimori Touka-kun’s just a bit crazier than you expected and you’re wondering whether it might actually be worth having little ol’ Asagi-san on your side just in case… Am I right?”
“…”
“You call them disciples, yeah? I reckon you put a lot of faith in them, but they’re gettin’ taken out by the labyrinth entrants pretty quick, eh~? They’ve all got your essence inside of ’em, so you feel it the moment they drop, right Vicius-chan? So like…now you know they’re being taken out, you’re startin’ to feel like things might be getting dicey in here. How’d I do? Bingo?”
“…”
“Heh heh… Not to mention Mimori-kun’s got his super strong, obedient, big-titty blonde elf knight by his side. And there’s Ayaka-paisen, who’s basically a god of war at this point. They’ve sure got a lot of strong pieces on their side of the board. Vicius-chan… In my country there’s this thing called first response that’s basically a traditional art at this point, but you really messed up with that, eh? I don’t know what was goin’ on in your head at the time—but you really shouldn’t have disposed of Mimori-kun the way you did.”
“…”
“You should’a kept him close and finished him off for good as soon as you got the chance.”
“…”
“But that said, y’know…not even little old Asagi-san saw how mental Mimori-kun was gonna get right at the start. I guess he really was well camouflaged back in the old world, real chameleon stuff. Hijirin and Kiri-chan don’t even compare to that guy, I can’t freakin’ believe someone like him was just lurking in our class this whole time. Like, not even I sniffed him out!”
“…Are you trying to buy time?”
“Eh? Ahh… You think I might be chatting to stall you out, so Mimori-kun or Ayaka or someone can come rushing in to save me? Hm? Vicius-chan, you seriously think that? But you’re totes the one that’s doubting my sincerity and making me waste all this time try’na convince you!”
Vicius let out an exasperated sigh but didn’t otherwise move a muscle.
“I go left, you go right… I suppose I really will kill you.”
“Anyway, if you’re so scared of my unique skill or whatever…” Asagi held out both of her arms toward Vicius. “G’head and cut off my arms, why don’tcha?”
“…”
“I got my unique skill to dull the pain, after all. You’ve got that divine healy thing too, right Vicius-chin? The one you used to stick Sakura-chan’s hand back on. You could totes use that to regenerate my arms later, yeah? Cut these off and I can’t touch you any more… So like, what are you waiting for? C’mon, quick! Ah, but I’ll need you to stop the bleeding for me, I won’t be able to do that on my own.”
A change seemed to come over Vicius—something in her eyes.
“For my part, I have been deceived by so many worthless motes of detritus that I believe I am more observant of others now. I will not be tricked again. Asagi-san, you truly do wish to be allied to my cause, don’t you? It unsettles me, but I am quite convinced that you are not lying to me at present. If this is some performance, then it is quite the act. Am I to be hoodwinked once again?”
“I keep telling you~! Like, over and over again! I’m super cereal about this! We don’t have time to be standing around chatting, so hurry up and cut off my freakin’ a—”
“A-Asagi-san!”
Kobato had been listening to the two of them speak but now interjected.
This is Asagi we’re talking about… This must be some kind of trick meant to deceive Vicius.
That was what Kobato had been telling herself—and it was also the reason that she had not spoken up. She hadn’t been told anything, and neither had the Wildly Beautiful Emperor, it appeared.
So, deceiving her enemies also means deceiving her allies. Is the Wildly Beautiful Emperor in the same boat as I am?
That was the reason that the two of them had stayed silent, listening to Asagi and Vicius talk.
“Are you serious about this?! Asagi-san, are you really siding with her?! I know you want to fight Mimori-kun…but does it have to be right now?! There must be another way! Once this war is over…you can game with him once we’re all back in the old world! Isn’t that enough?! I…I trusted you, Asagi-san… I really…t-trusted you!”
Kobato suddenly realized that she was sobbing.
I believed in her. I wanted to believe.
Vicius smiled.
“The slow-looking hero over there, ahem…Kashima, was it? I have no idea what such a low-level hero is doing in a place like this, but never mind. Asagi-san—are you serious about this?”
“Reportin’ for duty, Miss Goddess!”
“…”
“I do have a few conditions for joinin’ your team though, if you’ll hear me-owt!”
“…Well, I will at least listen to these requests of yours.”
“Kobato-chan, the rest of my group—Zine-chin and the other people of Mira—will you just let them off the hook?”
Kobato was stunned after hearing Asagi’s conditions.
Then…she really is going to join Vicius’s side?
The Wildly Beautiful Emperor also appeared unable to hide his shock. Vicius paused for a few brief moments, then spoke again.
“The members of your group didn’t rebel against me in any particularly irritating ways, so I suppose I can stomach sparing them… But why the Wildly Beautiful Emperor? Don’t tell me you’ve fallen for his beauty or some other tripe, have you? He was the one chiefly responsible for the rebellion against my cause, and I would rather like to teach him a lesson…”
“Zine-chin really looked after us when we were in Mira, y’see… Just leaves a bad taste in my mouth seeing people like him gettin’ all brutalized? Also like, if we’re gonna stay in this world then we need a place of our own, yeah? Mira’s like a home away from home for us, and we’re super used to it now. S’like…I figured we’d stay there.”
“Hmm.” Vicius placed a hand to her chin, looking concerned about something. “But the Wildly Beautiful Emperor appears so intent on opposing me, you see? If he attempts to resist my capture, I’m afraid I might get so irritated that I won’t be able to restrain myself from simply killing him outright…”
“Ah, don’t worry about that,” Asagi responded.
She turned around, now standing by Vicius’s side, though the Goddess still looked wary of her and was keeping her distance from Asagi just in case.
“I had those three drink some’a that slow-acting numbing poison stuff!”
Kobato was stunned.
“…Eh?”
“Leave ’em be, and pretty soon they’ll collapse all on their own.”
The Wildly Beautiful Emperor’s beautiful face twisted up, as if he knew he’d been caught in a trap. “The tea.”
“Ding ding ding.” Asagi pointed a finger gun at the emperor and fired.
Chester looked to the Wildly Beautiful Emperor. “Your Majesty…”
The Wildly Beautiful Emperor bit his lip, and glared back at Asagi. “Tsk… But where did you acquire such a poison…?”
“We stopped in Monroy for a bit on the march, remember?”
“Monroy?”
“Yeah! I’d heard about this place they got there, the bloodsport colosseum… Asagi-san’s the studious type, y’know? I’ve been studying about all the countries of the continent! I heard this interesting rumor… Something about a numbing poison that gets delivered to bloodsport gladiators right before their last fights.” Asagi blew out the imaginary smoke from the end of her finger gun. “Like, once a gladiator who brings in the big bucks retires, it sorta cools the whole colosseum down, right? It means management has to go and find themselves a new hero, yeah? That’s why they secretly make the strong gladiators drink this numbing poison right before their final fight in the arena—pretend it’s a kinda ceremony or something. They make ’em lose. Kill them in the arena, so the guy that kills ’em can take all their honor and prestige to turn ’em into the next big moneymaker for those colosseum bigwigs! The important thing is that the not-so-popular gladiators get to retire, so it’s not like all of ’em die in their last fight. I reckon the management is pretty smart to be doin’ what they’re doin’. Hah…I sure wish the games I’d played back in the old world were managed half as well as that colosseum, y’know? Seriously, there are just some real talented guys over here. Ah, but I s’pose if I go on too many tangents you’ll think I’m trying to buy time again, Goddess-chin!”
Asagi got back on track.
“Apparently there’s a bit of a time lag as to when the effects of the numbing show up though, dependin’ on how you mix it. The blend I made is gonna take a while to come on…and I drank the same tea as everyone else did, so I’ll get so numb I can’t move any more eventually, too. I’ve had some antidote in my pocket this whole time, but I figured it’d be real sus if I started drinking from a weird bottle all the sudden.”
Kobato began to tremble.
“Wh-why… Why did you do that… Y-you had no idea who we might encounter in here…”
“Well, like…I’d already got my mind set on fighting Mimori-kun and we were gettin’ close to the castle where Vicius is meant to be, so I just figured it was about time to put my plan into action. I went back and forth on this for a while, y’know? I was gonna apologize and take it all back if I changed my mind. I figure then, even if you all did find out that I’d planned on betraying you, that class rep’d never let you kill me. It’s just like it was back home, yeah? You commit a crime, and all you get is some weak-ass punishment. In the end it just pays to just do it.”
“Asagi,” The Wildly Beautiful Emperor spoke, his tone one of self-reproach. “When I shared that tea with you, it was intended as a gesture of trust, on my part.”
“Pretty naïve then, eh…Zine-chin? You’re as sweet as the tea was. You play it cool, but you’re a damn good person, eh Wildly Beautiful Emperor-san?”
The Wildly Beautiful Emperor smiled—a smile of acceptance, it seemed. “Too-ka… He said that you were not likely to betray us. I believed in him… In the words of the first friend I have ever had. And so I have no choice but to accept this as the result.”
“Dignified. Great stuff, Zine-chin.”
“However—I do not agree to accept your proposal. I am responsible for what has happened here and I was wrong in trusting you. I will admit that, but that is all.”
“Sure, okaaay. Keep runnin’ your mouth and scary Vicius-chan over here might just kill you though, y’know? I’m stretchin’ out my hand to save you, but I ain’t gonna keep it there forever if you wanna do the whole self-destructive thing. Up to you.”
The Wildly Beautiful Emperor and Chester were both still in their stances, ready to fight—but neither made any move to attack.
I think they must know… Even if they do attack Vicius, they won’t be able to defeat her. Those two are strong warriors, but that just makes it all the more obvious to them that Vicius is more powerful than they can handle.
Asagi tilted her head to the side, and grinned.
“Ah, but you totes accept, right Kobato—?”
“Eh…?”
“Just stay still until this whole situation’s over, and you’ll be fine, Pidgey—’kay?”
“Asagi-san…”
“Zine-chin, Chester-san… If you wanna die that bad, then I ain’t stopping you. You take the red pill or the blue pill, that’s up to you. Ah—but I guess you’ve already took somethin’ with that tea earlier!♪Sorry, I was try’na play it cool but it didn’t work out!♪! ♪Heh heh, roflmao.”
Chester glared at Asagi.
“Gah… A…Asagi…”
Just then, Vicius said, “The others, then…”
It appeared that the Goddess had been mulling something over as Asagi and the others spoke.
“I can kill the others…you’ve no complaints about that?”
“Nah. Go right ahead.”
Kobato gasped, her cheeks still wet with tears.
Hijiri-san…Itsuki-san…Mimori-kun…everyone else outside of our group…our classmates… All the people who came into this labyrinth to fight with us, and everyone waiting outside… Even Sogou-san…?
“Asagi-san… N-no, you can’t… Th-this is… What you’re doing is wrong!”
“Heh heh… You shouldn’t be sayin’ stuff like that, Pidgey-chan? That’s out of line.”
“Huh?”
“You think I’m gonna win—that’s why you’re so desperate to stop me now… Ain’t that right, Pidgey-chan?”
“…!”
“Heh… Anyway, that’s how it is, Vicius-chan.” Asagi turned to look back at the Goddess. “Seems like on an unconscious level, even Kobato-chan reckons I could take down that Lord of the Flies Brigade, eh? I actually think I’m the only one who can, see? At this point, I’m the one with the best chance of taking down Mimori Touka.”
“Hmm… Where exactly does that confidence come from? My apologies, but I did not take you for a grand strategist.”
“Yeah, I’m not a strategist exactly… But I sorta sail in the same waters, I guess. If I were to phrase it in a real chuunibyou way? I think I’m the only one in this other world that can dive down to the kind of depths that he can. Might seem like there are a load of grimdark people in the world—but me and Mimori-kun? Just a little grimmer and darker than the rest.”
“Ahh… I’m not sure I quite understand the metaphor.”
“It’s ’cause you don’t understand that I’m the one that can come up with plans that you wouldn’t even think of try’na pull off, Vicius-chan.”
“Hmm, I feel as if you’re trying to bewitch me again…”
“What? Don’t tell me you still think I’m gonna betray you? Lame…” Asagi sounded a little annoyed. “You’re not some kid—grow up already, Vicius-chan.”
A vein popped in Vicius’s temple, and she turned to Asagi—quietly glaring down at her with murder in her eyes.
“So why exactly should I trust you? You’ve also been taking far too many liberties in your attitude toward me, you detestable brat.”
“I told you! Hurry up and cut off my arms as an insurance policy, you detestable old hag.”
Asagi returned Vicius’s words in kind, her eyes just as cold, cruel, and sharp as the Goddess’s.
“…”
But the next moment Asagi was smiling again. “Heh heh, c’mon! Do it quick, or the Lord of the Flies you’re so scaredy about is gonna get you! We don’t have much time! Do~ it~!”
“…pfft.”
“Ohyo?”
“Pfhah hah hah hah hah!” Vicius burst out into laughter. “I see…I get it now… It seems I rather underestimated you, Asagi Ikusaba. I had no idea that you would become such a useful hero… I do somewhat regret overlooking you.”
“Oh ho, I feel like we’re gettin’ somewhere?”
Vicius reached out with her left hand, taking Asagi’s right hand in hers.
“I think—the two of us are similar, in a fashion.”
“Whoa… The older, super strong character’s admitting the strength of the protag now… Eh?”
Vicius pressed Asagi’s hand into the left side of her chest.
Asagi didn’t reach out toward her… Vicius guided her hand.
“Come now, Asagi Ikusaba… Try it.” Vicius glared at her and laughed. “Now that you are touching me, you can activate it, no? You can use that unique skill of yours to affect an incredible comeback. Come now—this is the perfect chance.”
Asagi narrowed her eyes and looked at Vicius in puzzlement. “I keep telling you, that’s not what I’m here to do.”
Then there was the sharp sound of a blade passing through air, as Vicius transformed her right arm into a weapon and made a shallow gash in Asagi’s cheek. Asagi didn’t move a muscle—didn’t even flinch or blink as the blade nicked her face.
“I am surprised, Asagi-san. You—do not fear death.”
“It ain’t death. To me, it’s just game over.” Asagi flashed the Goddess a fearless grin. “I’ve already got it running… Queen Bee: Pain Block is the perfect skill! I’m not scared of dying, but I don’t like it when stuff hurts. I reckon most of the people that wanna kill themselves but don’t feel just the same as I do. They wanna die…but they don’t want the pain, the suffering, and all that jazz. That stuff’s the biggest obstacle standing between them and their goal of a happy little death. This skill takes care of that for me. I ain’t scared.”
“Asagi-san,” said Vicius. “Are you quite sure you don’t want to use that unique skill of yours? The one that could overturn this whole situation in an instant?”
“Nah… I mean, how am I supposed to game against Mimori-kun without your power to help me out, Vicius-chin?”
“…”
Asagi pulled her hand away from the Goddess and pointed to the side of her own head.
“I want to fight Mimori-kun with this. I’m piss-poor at fighting, as you can see… So I’m gonna need your disciples and your eucharist army to help me out.”
“…Do you truly believe that you can defeat him?”
“Hmm, lemme see… I think I’ve got a…sixty percent chance. Nah. More like high fifties, maybe?”
“My my, those are some rather dubious odds, aren’t they? Well…though I suppose your refusal to make some grand claim of certain victory does lend an air of credibility to your assertion.”
“I ain’t overestimating myself and that Lord of the Flies-san ain’t no regular opponent. Depends on the sort of pawns I’ve got and how many I get… So like, be straight with me for a sec—how many guys are you working with here?”
Vicius returned her right arm to its normal state and restored her posture.
“Do you require that information right now, I wonder?”
“Yeah? Later works too, I guess. No sweat.”
“…” Vicius was silent for a few moments, then spoke again. “…Of my three disciples, Yomibito is finished. Ars appears to have completely stopped moving, so I believe that he can no longer be relied upon either. Unfortunately, it seems that Wormgandr is the only disciple still active. …And as a pawn, he presents a number of issues, one might say.”
“Huh? What so…like two of your disciples are already out of the game?! Oof… That Lord of the Flies Brigade sure are somethin’! Makes sense that you’re considering relying on my strength a bit for the rest of this battle!”
“There are also…”
“You’ve got a few eucharists wandering the labyrinth, right? Rest of ’em are dormant, a special army of dudes waitin’ to be shipped up to the heavens, amirite?”
“…Yes. That is correct—though the accuracy of your understanding of my situation is a little frightening.”
Asagi tapped at her temple with her little finger.
“Gotta have smarts! Ain’t ever gonna outwit that Lord of the Flies without a big imagination. But hey, if you and that Wormgandr guy can handle yourselves in a fight, all that’s left is to figure out how much them eucharists can do!”
“Ahem… I am rather interested in how you plan on beating him, you know?”
“Oh, yeah? Well, I haven’t like, actually worked out the details yet.”
“Huh?”
“Like, we gotta bob and weave and like, adapt to the situation we get faced with, yeah? Ain’t it those flexible tactics of the Lord of the Flies-san that scare you so much to begin with? That’s the deal! We did an extensive investigative report into the matter, and revealed some shocking truths about the guy! Lord of the Flies-san seems like he’s lookin’ super far ahead, big picture stuff…but the reality is he’s just real good at dealing with every new situation that life throws his way! Funny, yeah? Guess this is what it means to have no weaknesses, eh?”
“This is not the time for complimenting him… I am asking about your plans for his defeat, you understand?”
“It’s gonna be pretty easy to crush ’em.”
“Oh?”
“Once Mimori Touka has been taken out—Takao Hijiri’s the only one that might cause us any trouble. The rest’ll be fine.”
“…Are you quite sure?”
“That girl Seras can’t function without Mimori-kun, y’know? It’s like a gross dependency thing she’s got going on. Once Mimori Touka’s gone I don’t think she’ll even be able to move to be honest. Then there’s Mommy Munin try’na use her forbidden magic, but it all depends on Mimori-kun to work. The cheater slime familiar thing ain’t a threat without its master, either. I’m one of Ayaka’s classmates, so I’m pretty sure she’ll just roll over for me… And I’ve always got Kobato to use as leverage against her. The Wildly Beautiful Emperor’s been taken care of, as y’can see. And the Princess of Neah waitin’ outside the labyrinth ain’t gonna be anything close to as big a threat as Mimori-kun. Seems like that Lokiella-chan is a teeny tiny divine now and lost most of her power, so she’s just here as an advisor or somethin’… She ain’t got any strength to lend to Mimori-kun’s side to begin with.”
“—Huh?” Vicius said with a start. It looked as if she had been struck by something completely unexpected. “L…Lokiella? Did you just say Lokiella? Asagi-san…there was no mention of this in your letters.”
“Nope. Told’ya, right? I didn’t put eeeeverything in those letters. It was an insurance policy!”
“Hmm…” Vicius frowned at Asagi in mild discontent, but her expression quickly turned to contemplation instead. “…I see. Now everything is starting to make sense. There is no other divine that has come to this world. That Shitella has found some way to divide her body of which I am not aware… She must have secreted herself away from Eno when Nyantan betrayed me. I see. So that is how this was done… That damned white weasel!”
“Well, anyway…!” Asagi continued. “Might look like they’ve got the upper hand, but all their strength totally depends on Mimori Touka! They’ll fall to pieces without him.”
“Won’t Hijiri-san pose an issue?”
“She’ll be a piece of cake compared to Mimori-kun. Hijirin can’t be the sorta villain that Mimori-kun can, y’see? She knows what evil is, and she can’t let herself fall into the mud like that. So long as she thinks I’m walkin’ the straight and narrow, she’ll be no problem. There’s all sorts’a ways we can deal with her.”
“…Asagi-san.”
“Yup?”
“I wish you had shown your true colors to me sooner.”
“But you were always so scary, Vicius-chin! It’s like you’ve got a personality disorder or something! You’re so strong that it makes you bad at using other people.”
“…”
“The way that you smile and pressure me without even saying a word—just magical! ♪! ♪ Oh my my my… Are you quite all right?” said Asagi.
“Provoking me, eh? ♪? ♪ Perhaps you and I are similar in that respect too, no? ♪?”
“Oh, how wonderful! ♪! ♪ I guess we’re a bit alike in the way we brainwash people, eh? ♪? ♪ Anyways…will’ya stop crying already, Kobato-chan~? That sobbin’ and sniffin’ over there is really grinding my gears, gurl…”
Kobato was helpless. She felt powerless—as if all the strength had left her body.
“A…Asagi-san…hic…wh-why…hic…are y-you…d-doing…this…?”
Kobato thought herself pathetic—all she could do was stand there and listen to Asagi and Vicius chat, crying all the while. But in that moment, sobbing was all that she was capable of.
Vicius shot her a wry smile.
“My my… I suppose you have always been a bit like this, Kashima-san. ♪. ♪ You aren’t capable of much at all… Heh heh, well what does that matter now? ♪? ♪ I’ll besure to leave you alive, just as requested. ♪”
“—Asagi-san…”
“Eh? What’s up, Pidgey?”
Kobato had her arms crossed over her chest—as if trying to protect herself. She was not crying as heavily now, but was sobbing quietly instead.
“Asagi-san…d-don’t you want to go back…to the old world…?”
“Huh… You’re still talking about that? C’mon, like… What’d even be the point of goin’ back to a world like that?”
“…”
“Ain’t much point in like, just going over all the examples and moaning forever about this stuff, so I’ll spare ya… But settin’ aside the folks who won the gacha game and got born to the best parents…that country’s hell. There are some idiots who say we’re blessed when you look at the big picture—all that international stuff—but they’re dead wrong. It’s like when someone really loves their pet and they die, but then you’re like ‘but compared to war having your pet die isn’t really a big deal!’ or somethin’. It’s like apples and hand grenades, yeah? People just don’t get it,” Asagi sighed, then continued. “Pretty interestin’ country for people like me though, I guess. Fun… Sure, but…damn, it was hard to breathe in that place. It ain’t like there were any big natural disaster changes or anythin’ like that, but it just felt like gettin’ slowly choked by a silk cord till all my oxygen ran out. Like, before you know it, you’re just totally out of air and you die. I mean, I’m just a teenager, and even I knew there wasn’t a future there. I figure it was a pretty tough country for you to live in too, right Pidgey-chan? Ah…but you won the genetic lottery with that face and that body, so I guess you could get by, eh? While your youth is still a weapon, anyway.”
“Asagi-san…”
“Yeah? Go right ahead, Kashima Kobato-san.”
“L-let’s hang out together.”
“Huh? What’s up, Pidgey-chan… You lost the plot?”
“I…I liked…the old world…”
“Really got your head in the clouds, huh? What’cha mean hang out, anyway? Lol.”
“I…I don’t know about the world, or any of the other difficult stuff like that… But when we get back to where we used to live…let’s go have fun… Let’s find things to enjoy together. I—I want to be friends with you, Asagi-san! I want to know more about you!”
“What the heck? What is this, some sob story? You appealin’ to my emotions or something? …Jeez, you’re irritating.”
“I know I’m irritating—but I still want to be friends with you! I want to try, Asagi-san, even if you do say stuff like this sometimes! I’ve made up my mind. The two of us are going to find things that we like together! It’s not so bad…the old world…it’s not all bad…so… Waaah…” Kobato broke down crying again, open and unreserved.
“You’ve lived in a happy little world, didn’t you Pidgey-chan?”
“That’s why I want to know! I want to know the world that you’ve been living in, Asagi-san! I…I…”
“You don’t know the first damn thing about me,” said Asagi with a smirk.
“I don’t, so… I want to learn…!”
“Jeez, you’re seriously so tedious right now. I figure I’ll just never return to the old world, tbh… Seems like I’ll be freer in this one. I had my fill of bondage play back home. I’ll make sure you survive, so let’s live out our days together in this world, eh Kobato-chan? …Copy that?”
“My my… How cold of you, Asagi-san,” Vicius interjected with a smile.
“Eh? For real? I totally sorta take pride in how kind and responsible I am, y’know? …Eh?” Asagi turned her head, suddenly, as if she had just noticed something. “Huh?”
“Oh? Whatever is the matter, Asagi-san…?”
“…Cat?”
“Excuse me? Eh? What do you mean? Cat? Where, exactly…?”
Asagi stopped for a moment, appearing to consider something.
“Hmm? What was it, then…?”
Through the tears, Kobato noticed that there was something strange about Asagi’s movements.
She has her hand over her mouth… Like she suspects something? I wonder what happened…
“Turns out there wasn’t a cat… I saw it, but… Nope… No cat. Right…?”
“?”
Vicius tilted her head. Kobato was confused as well. It didn’t seem like Asagi was communicating with anyone—but based on her words, it was hard to understand what she was trying to say.
Where did all of this come from?
“There’s no more cat. It’s gone… All gone, I’ve confirmed it… It’s gone so that means I’m free… Huh? Why? It’s gone, but…” Asagi appeared deeply concerned about something. “My eyes… I can still see…”
She squinted.
“I can still see the cat?”
Kobato also had no idea what Asagi was saying.
I…don’t understand what she’s saying. Without any context, I can’t have any hope of finding secret meaning in those sentences or understanding what Asagi’s words might mean. I suppose they must mean something to her…
Asagi-san…? What do you mean…?
“Hmm… What’s this?”
“Excuse me… Are you quite well?”
“…Ah, sorry, it’s nothin’. By the way, Vicius-chan.”
“Yes?”
“That Wormgandr disciple of yours. Is he gonna come in handy?”
“He is strong, I assure you. Worm… I believe he might be better at dealing with you than I am, even.”
“Let’s go, like, meet up with him for now then, eh? Wait… Is the whole reason you were hangin’ out here because you know he’s somewhere nearby or somethin’?”
“How did you know that? It really is almost disturbing how astute you are.”
“Called it! So you’ve got a way of knowin’ when they’re nearby, huh Vicius-chin? Well, I guess they do say when you get in trouble, it’s best not to run around like a headless chicken. Right… Let’s wait here a while longer if Worm-san’s on the way. How ’bout a little strategy meeting to kill time?”
“Very well… I suppose I would like to discuss a little more about how we should defeat dear Mimori, as that will be the key to all of this. In addition… I am quite interested in the world from which you all came, Asagi-san. I would like to talk a little more about that once this battle is over.”
“Mimori-kun, eh? I mean, how we take him on really depends on the situation, right? But in his case, somethin’ like Queen Bee… Well, could be that his habit to always make the best move actually turns out to be a bit of a weakness instead…”
“Huh?”
“…Eh? …Huh?”
…Eh?
Kobato couldn’t comprehend what she was seeing.
Asagi had touched Vicius on the arm—and activated something.
Her unique skill…
The hand of Queen Bee reached out and touched divinity. In doing so she invited Vicius in—pulling the Goddess down to her level. What was harder to comprehend was that even Asagi herself seemed surprised that she had just used her skill.
“…Aaahhhh…” Vicius let out a long, drawn-out sigh. “Asagi-san…what is the meaning of this, exactly? From what I can see…you appear to have made some kind of mistake? Would you mind explaining yourself?”
“B-but why…? Huh…?” Asagi looked down at the palms of her hands, stunned. “Gah—so that’s it, then…?! Damn it!”
She turned on her heels, her back to Vicius, and ran toward Kobato—screaming as she went.
“If that numbing poison hasn’t kicked in yet—then do it, Wildly Beautiful Emperor! Get Vicius!”
Ikusaba Asagi’s expression was filled with a regret that Kobato had never seen in her before.
“Damn it—the cat’s still here! What the heck have I done?! You were a freakin’ phantom! Ah, damn it! It’s all gone to waste now! Everything’s ruined!” Asagi glared at Kobato, her eyes suddenly overtaken by a newfound murderous intent. “It’s all your damn fault, Kobato!”
The Wildly Beautiful Emperor hesitated for a few brief moments—then activated Exbringer’s ability and charged forward. As he passed Asagi by, he glanced over at her.
“Chester! Protect them!” The emperor called out, then fixed his eyes dead ahead. The Wildly Beautiful Emperor commanded dozens and dozens of feather-like blades of light—sending them out to slice at Vicius.
“I see. This is far too weak. There’s only one power that can drag down a god…only the forbidden magic of the Forbidden Words Clan and Too-ka Mimori’s status effect skills. They are the only ones that pose a threat to me.”
Vicius transformed her arm into a blade and launched into a counterattack—but the Wildly Beautiful Emperor severed the weapon from her arm as she charged. Exbringer’s formation of flying blades rushed past Vicius, slicing open the Goddess’s sides and triggering spurts of white blood.
Vicius clicked her tongue. “To think I cannot even dodge such trivial attacks and that my skin tears so easily…”
She appeared to accept the attacks of the flying light blades, pouring her energy into defending against the strikes of the divine sword itself, which might have been capable of dealing her a fatal blow. She regenerated her severed arm, transformed it back into a blade, then went on the attack again. There was the sound of swords clashing. Asagi had just arrived by Kobato’s side, and her shoulders were heaving as they watched the emperor and the Goddess fight.
“Asagi-san…”
“Ah… I guess this makes sense, huh,” It seemed as if Asagi hadn’t even noticed that Kobato was there. “According to Hijirin’s intel, Vicius’s blood should be red.”
“Eh?”
“I can’t believe I slipped up like this—I should’a noticed. It ain’t much of an excuse… But I was so happy, thinkin’ I might get to fight Mimori Touka, that I let my guard slip. Anyways… That Dispel Bubble of hers didn’t block the effects of my unique skill…so I suppose that’s a thing.” Asagi sighed to herself quietly. “The way she didn’t cut off my arms… The way she pushed my hand into her chest, even if that was to test me… She just didn’t seem scared enough. That’s a Vicius clone, with the white blood. If that’s just a spare, then this all makes sense. Of course she ain’t that scared of me. She’s not playing on hardcore mode. She’ll just drop her items and respawn if she dies in here.”
I don’t understand the gaming talk… But does she mean that the Vicius over there is a fake?
But there was something else—something much more important on Kobato’s mind.
“Ah… Asagi-san…”
“If only you hadn’t been here,” Asagi interrupted, pressing her thumb to the area just below her nose. “That’s the reason why Mimori Touka and Wildly Beautiful Emperor said I wouldn’t betray you all, huh? Did they already see this far ahead? Come to think of it, they left me a few hints… But to plant an unconscious desire in me like this—Mimori Touka’s freakin’ incredible, seriously! Damn it… I really wanted to use Vicius’s pawns to go fight the guy. Heh… So, what was that? You were gonna say something?”
“Ah…you planned this all along, right?” asked Kobato.
“Who knows?” said Asagi with a shrug, evading the question. “I’m gonna leave that up to yOuR iMaGiNaTiOn.”
“…”
She said earlier that the Wildly Beautiful Emperor should attack if his numbing poison hasn’t kicked in yet… I think she really did poison us. Was she going to hand us all her antidote once she ambushed Vicius with her skill?
I don’t think so. I think that betrayal of Vicius just now really was an accident—something Asagi didn’t anticipate.
Kobato couldn’t help but draw that conclusion—but didn’t pry any further. She couldn’t bring herself to ask.
And…when she said that this was all my fault? What did she mean?
“Oh?” mused Asagi, raising an eyebrow. “Zine-chin’s doin’ work out there.”
A diagonal slash from the Wildly Beautiful Emperor lacerated the false Vicius’s body, and her defenses crumbled at once. The emperor’s attacks were relentless and the false Vicius’s regenerative abilities couldn’t keep up.
“Heh, heh heh heh… You brats… It’s a shame I couldn’t be here in person…”
The false Vicius flashed them an unsettling smile as her regenerative abilities faltered and she began to disappear. The Wildly Beautiful Emperor looked down at what remained of her slowly fading body.
“If only this were the real Vicius.” He turned to Asagi. “Asagi. Do you truly have an antido—”
“Figures.” Asagi’s eyes were fixed on a point in the white labyrinth room.
Kobato followed her gaze. “Ah.”
It was then that she saw it too. He was standing in the entrance, with pieces of rubble in his hands—no…are those pieces of metal?
Wormgandr.
Kobato recognized him at once from the description she’d been given.
The false Vicius did say he was approaching. But I…I felt nothing of his presence at all.
Kashima Kobato thought that she might have been the only one to fail to notice Wormgandr, but it seemed that Asagi, Chester, and the Wildly Beautiful Emperor hadn’t seen him either. The emperor tried to take up a stance against him. Chester moved too, aiming to put himself between Asagi, Kobato, and the disciple.
But he’s so fast. Incredibly fast. So fast—nothing will make it in time.
—Whoosh—
Wormgandr had thrown the things that he’d been holding in his hands. The white disciple’s projectiles looked like pebbles with the speed of bullets, bearing down upon those in the center of the room.
Ah—! Kobato had a premonition. I’m going to die. This is it. I didn’t know it would be so obvious to me when the time came. I had no idea it could be this clear.
—Thud—
Something pushed up against Kobato’s side.
“Huh…?”
She felt herself shoved aside, and then Asagi was there—suddenly right in front of her. Asagi’s eyes opened wide in shock, just like they had when she struck Vicius with her skill, as if she were surprised by her own actions.
“Eh?! A-Asagi-san—”
—Thk—
There was a strange sound.
An impact…? Did someone get hit—?
It took a few moments for a realization to come. Kobato’s heart pounded. She felt like she was watching a terrible, shocking scene in a film.
“Asagi…san?”
Something had passed through her body. The piece of rubble that Wormgandr had launched at them was now buried in the labyrinth wall.
Did she just push me aside…?
Chester had been knocked away too, but it looked as if the projectiles hit part of his armor. He had avoided any fatal injury.
As for the Wildly Beautiful Emperor—
“Aah-gh…”
His right leg was shredded from the thigh on down, opened up by a piece of flying rubble. Despite his injuries, the emperor was clearly intent on fighting. He activated the ability of his divine sword, and more flying blades of light appeared in the air.
“Chester… Pick Asagi up and take her out of here! Kobato, help him…!”
—Crack—
“Gahh…?!”
Wormgandr stamped on the Wildly Beautiful Emperor’s arm with his heel. It looked as if the bones of his wrist—the hand that had been holding his sword—were completely crushed. The Wildly Beautiful Emperor sent out his light blades, but Wormgandr didn’t even attempt to dodge them. The flying blades didn’t even injure the white disciple.
“Your majesty!” Chester cried, his face pale.
“Fool! Leave me and run! You are one of mine! I give my life to your service! I order you, Chester! As your emperor—run!”
“Ah!” Chester grit his teeth, looking like he might falter at any moment—then made to run to Asagi’s side.
Kobato felt desperate.
Asagi-san… W-we need to get her out of here… She’s still alive, right? You’re still there—aren’t you Asagi-san? I’ve got healing skills! They’re low level, but I can use them now. All they can really do is dull the pain and stop the bleeding, but—
“Gah…”
In a flash, Wormgandr was standing in Chester’s path—blocking his way. The emperor’s divine sword had been kicked away across the room, leaving the Wildly Beautiful Emperor both immobile and defenseless. The disciple hit Chester and sent him flying across the labyrinth. He slammed into the wall, falling face forward onto his knees with his elbows to the dirt.
“Pfeh…” He spit up blood.
Kobato never even saw the hit that sent Chester flying. That was just how fast the giant disciple was moving.
“Ah!” She collapsed to her knees.
We can’t escape. This disciple… Even someone as weak as me can see it. He isn’t going to let us fight back—he’s come to kill us all.
Kobato crouched over Asagi, hugging her close as if to shield her from harm. She didn’t even realize she was doing it.
I can’t protect her. I know that. But I have to… she thought to herself. I—
“Asagi-san.”
Asagi didn’t seem to be conscious—but her heart was still beating.
She’s alive.
“I don’t know why, but…even after everything you said… This is my fault, I…” There was so much kindness in Kobato’s eyes. “I was so happy when you came back… When you came back over to our side. Thank you.”
Then Kashima Kobato raised her head and looked up at Wormgandr—her eyes as clear as a cloudless sky. She still held Asagi in her arms. She thought for certain that she would be trembling, but in that moment Kobato realized she wasn’t. She didn’t know why, but she wasn’t scared.
Maybe this isn’t such a bad way to go.
“Also, I…I’m sorry I’ve been such a burden. I’m such a slow, clumsy Pidgey… That’s why you had to push me out of the way. I’m so, so sorry…I know it doesn’t help to say that now…”
I…
“I’m going to stay here with you, Asagi-san…right here…until this is over.” Kobato squeezed Asagi’s hand in hers.
I’m right here. So let’s be together…at the end, at least.
Okay?
“…Tch.” Wormgandr clicked his tongue as he looked down at the two girls “You might’a chosen to come in here, but I’ve really gotta kill you two, huh…? Jeez, ain’t no joy in this…” Wormgandr readied himself to attack. “But I can’t fight that element of Vicius inside of me. I’ll make it quick at least, so it doesn’t hurt, yeah? A clean bl—”
Something stuck to the wall behind Wormgandr’s head. It looked almost like a thick strand of spider’s thread, or perhaps a rope of some kind.
Almost like… Kobato searched her memory. Like a tightrope that you’d see at the circus, way up high for a performer to walk across.
The opaque tightrope wasn’t all that high up. It stretched down from above. The room’s ceiling was high, she remembered. There were passageways atop stairways in the upper reaches. It was from one of those upper passageways that three people emerged. They leaped out as if they were being pulled by the tightrope threads toward the wall—or as if they had yanked themselves forward using it.
“Wha—?” Wormgandr seemed surprised to sense something behind him.
Ah! Kobato’s face twisted up as she cried.
Mimori-kun!
“Binding Curse…”
The Lord of the Flies appeared, with Seras Ashrain and Munin clinging to his side.
The three of them sailed through the air, as if pulled by their momentum. Wormgandr acted quickly in response. Kobato didn’t even see him turn his head, but by the time she registered what was happening, he had launched himself into the air in attack.
“Dark—”
Seras Ashrain raised her sword of light, as her prime armor fully deployed. She swept away Wormgandr’s attacks with swift but heavy swings—
“Release!”
The three of them crashed into the wall. Wormgandr landed a little way from their position and began sprinting toward them—a terrifying murderous intent radiated from every part of his being. As the chains that were fired toward him were absorbed into his body, the white disciple charged like a demon at his foes.
***
Eliminate all that is unnecessary.
Wormgandr no longer spoke. The white disciple focused all his energy on eliminating the obstacles that stood before him, and nothing else. It was as if he had completely switched gears.
“Para—lyze!”
Red blood spurted from his body—but Wormgandr didn’t stop.
“…Seras!” The lord called his knight’s name. His tone revealed an absolute confidence in her abilities.
“Yes!” She called back to him in reply.
A white roar…
The final disciple and the complete prime armor. The strongest warrior and the strongest swordswoman launched their attacks upon each other. The white disciple’s great arm swung like a battering ram through blood red mist. The elven princess knight’s blade of light countered, slicing through the air and then flesh, splitting it in twain.
Chapter 5: A Final Discussion
Chapter 5:
A Final Discussion
AS WE RAN THROUGH the passageways, it was Eve who was the first to notice the sound. Even in the labyrinth, where most noise was absorbed by the white walls surrounding us, she was capable of hearing distant sounds. She realized before even Piggymaru did that we were heading straight for something—a voice, which Eve identified as belonging to Kashima.
“I do not know which one, but I also sense a disciple.”
Lokiella asked about his manner of speaking. After Eve explained his verbal tics, she identified him immediately.
“It’s Wormgandr… And based on their conversation, I believe Kashima and Asagi are in mortal danger.”
I asked Eve and Geo to remain on standby and set out on a counterattack. I knew it would be a real blow to lose Asagi’s unique skill—and Kashima was in danger, too. I explained to everyone how I wanted them to move once we were inside the room with Wormgandr.
“I’m going to be putting you two at risk,”I added before we dove in.
Seras responded at once, simple and resolute,“Let us go.”
Nobody else raised any objections and Seras had the last word before we jumped into the fight.
“I will protect you. No matter what.”
I activated Slow before we entered the room, given the risk that our enemy might be waiting for us. The moment we exited the passageway, I saw a figure below us who looked like Wormgandr and disabled Slow immediately. Before Munin cast her forbidden magic, I decided to cast Dark, considering that Wormgandr was likely protected by the Goddess’s Dispel Bubble. We knew that Wormgandr was a former divine, and Lokiella had informed me that all divines had Dispel Bubble protection. That would result in one cast of my status effect skills going to waste. And if stacking would prevent a second attempt, I would need to use a different skill for the second cast. I chose a skill that I didn’t much mind being disabled, and for which stacking wasn’t much of an issue in the first place—Dark.
Dark is only capable of taking an enemy’s sight. It wasn’t any use against Ars, but it could be an effective tool against other opponents.
In the end, Wormgandr wasn’t protected by a Dispel Bubble. It seemed that by being turned into one of Vicius’s disciples, Wormgandr had lost his divine status. Regardless of how that worked, the disciple seemed to be missing any Dispel Bubble protection.
I suppose there are advantages to being overcautious.
Pulled by Piggymaru’s ropes into the room, we crashed into the far wall of the labyrinth; the slime cushioned the impact and fall. We immediately assumed our combat stances and Wormgandr began to close in. I cast Paralyze, but the disciple didn’t stop. He continued his charge, gushing red blood as he came. Seras charged out to meet him, putting me, Munin, Lokiella, and Piggymaru—now in my pocket—at her back. Seras’s blade of light met Wormgandr’s fist, and their two blows rebounded off each other.
“Berserk!”
With no Dispel Bubble, Wormgandr shouldn’t be able to see anything right now. But to be honest, I bet he can detect where his enemies are without relying on sight at all. Just like Ars could.
“Poison…!”
Wormgandr looks like he’s already berserking—maybe there’s no point in casting that skill on him. It’s more than that though—his movements are incredibly efficient. Even a regular strength human like me can see that. Supposing that Berserk has taken away his sanity, Wormgandr’s movements are so lean that he leaves nothing to waste.
I felt a slight chill on my spine.
He’s a monster designed for combat alone. Lokiella did say that he might be the strongest of Vicius’s disciples. The buffs that Asagi gave us before we entered have faded now, but Wormgandr can’t make use of his anti-divine enhancements either. Erika’s anti-divine device should also be weakening him, and he’s under the influence of my status effect skills… But he still has such raw power.
I quickly calculated how close I would need to get to cast Sleep.
I’m not quite near enough… But Seras seems to have realized that already, and she’s trying to create the right distance. That’s why I’m not giving her the order. What’s really sending a chill down my spine is the fight that’s unfolding in front of me. A momentary slip, and any opening could be fatal. Both of these warriors have honed their fighting instincts to their very limits, and now they’re facing off.
Seras’s prime armor is fully deployed. She has no room to hold back any longer. That was her judgment. Without her armor, she wouldn’t be capable of countering Wormgandr’s blows.
There was little that I could do—regrettably little. It seemed that Munin no longer had the option to move behind me. I couldn’t see Lokiella’s expression, but when she spoke, I sensed the complex emotions in her voice.
“Wormgandr…”
She sounded like she was speaking to a friend—someone she once knew, who now appeared changed beyond recognition. I sensed another emotion in her voice too—pity.
There’s one major difference between this fight, and the one against Ars… Freeze is no longer an option. If it turns out that Wormgandr is similar to Ars, then…
“…”
Now!
“Sleep.”
The disciple came within range, and I activated my secret weapon—Sleep. And yet…
“…!”
Wormgandr kept going.
No… It’s more than that…
“Is he…evolving?” asked Lokiella. “During this fight…as he takes more and more damage…he’s adapting…”
I looked and saw that blood was no longer spurting from the disciple’s body. He had sealed up his wounds with some kind of scar, and it appeared the blood was now raging inside of him instead. Parts of his body would pop and swell, bulging out before getting sucked back in again. It looked like there were people inside of him trying to kick their way out. Bulges like horns were protruding from all over Wormgandr’s body. It looked almost like he was trying to turn himself into an oni. Seras was being pushed back. Even with her prime armor fully deployed, Wormgandr had the upper hand.
“Gah…”
He’s evolving. If he’s capable of surpassing us during this fight, just as Ars was…then we need to try a new tactic… Did I misread this situation?
I remembered the conversation that I’d had with Lokiella about Wormgandr—she had been responding to Asagi’s theory about the Goddess’s Dispel Bubble.
“You’re correct that the link between the Goddess’s Dispel Bubble and these status effects is rather strange. I’ve been thinking much the same thing. Status effect skills are terrible abilities…so awful that it makes you wonder why they even exist. And that description isn’t limited only to this world, but to all those that we divines travel through. Yet there’s this Dispel Bubble ability that we divines possess, officially known as a ‘Special Autonomous Dispelling Field.’ It specifically prevents the application of status effect skills… These abilities are worthless, the lowest in all our worlds, yet we divines have protection measures specifically set up against them for some reason. I don’t know why, personally. The only one I can think who might know would be Origin…”
“Of all the disciples, Wormgandr’s the only former divine, right?” I had asked Lokiella.
“Yeah.”
“Then if status effect skills do turn out to be some kind of super effective weapon against divines …”
“Ah!”
“…There’s a chance that my abilities might be more effective against Wormgandr than they were against Ars. What do you think of that theory?”
“I think it’s possible.”
“That would put us at an advantage, compared to what we faced during the fight with Ars. I sure hope it works out that way.”
“Just in case you were considering it… Given how weak and teeny I am right now, I don’t think testing your abilities on me would do us much good…”
“I know that.”
It had seemed Lokiella was genuinely scared that I might use my abilities on her for a moment.
“…”
Even if my status effect skills are particularly suited to taking down divines… Turning Wormgandr into a disciple took away his Dispel Bubble protection, but it might have also removed his vulnerability to my attacks. That’s a possibility… Am I misunderstanding this situation then? Has this all just been wishful thinking on my part? I…
Suddenly, I heard a voice.
“…off.”
Lokiella was transfixed by the fight happening before her—speaking in a low voice, as if mumbling to herself.
“It’s coming off.”
I felt my heartbeat quicken…something I wasn’t used to.
Could it be that I didn’t misunderstand this after all?
—Crack, crack—
Fissures.
There had been black lines running across Wormgandr’s body from the first moment I laid eyes on him. They had looked like ridges of some sort…
But now those are clearly fissures… Cracks running through his body.
I had been silent to allow Seras to concentrate on her fight, but now I quietly spoke.
“Lokiella.”
“Yeah?”
“It looks like Wormgandr is missing with some of his attacks… Or is that just my imagination?”
“…No. I see it too.”
Then…
“Sleep… It’s working.”
It was so out of the realm of possibility, I didn’t even consider it. I never imagined it could be true. He looks like he’s fighting so normally—but right now, Wormgandr is actually asleep. He’s asleep with his eyes open and fighting in his dreams. It could be that his instincts for combat are what’s keeping him moving, driving him to keep going.
“I think the damage from Paralyze is going through…and…it’s possible that he used a lot of his regenerative power before coming here,” speculated Lokiella. “Compared to the way he looked when he fought Vanargadia, it’s almost as if he’s weaker now.”
Who could he have fought? Sogou? The Takao Sisters, maybe? What happened to whoever was fighting Wormgandr? If he’s here and still alive, that must mean…
“…”
No. I’ll think about that later. Right now, my top priority needs to be getting through this battle.
Seras.
From here on out—I’m going to have to leave all this up to you. Is Seras going to run out of stamina first or is Wormgandr? Even more than during the Ars fight, I can see that this battle is no place for me, a human of my level. I have to stake everything on her and bet everything that my sword—Seras Ashrain—will emerge victorious.
Seras was still slightly on the defensive, but showed no signs that her emotions were shaken by the fighting.
She’s been like that since the start of this battle. It’s like she never falters. She’s focusing on defense, never going out on the attack… But she moves like a machine in battle, handling his attacks with supreme accuracy. The simplicity of her moves makes her remarkable. She’s far more efficient than Wormgandr. I know how hard she’s worked to eliminate every superfluous motion from her swordplay—and now she’s fighting almost toe to toe with that disciple.
I found that I was holding my breath. Seras was as sharp as sharp could be—honed to the absolute limit of what was possible. Her focus was astonishing.
She looks so fragile, but I’m so reassured to have her here—so relieved that she’s on my side.
Her heart and her mind…
She’s so much stronger now.
Seras Ashrain
MANY PEOPLE HAVE CALLED me beautiful, but recently, I’ve come to think that a person’s beauty might lie in their own emotions—In feeling that a thing is beautiful instead.
I have thought of my own beauty as a shortcoming, many times. This beauty of mine has caused problems for those important to me. Given that my beauty is a thing that brings about such disaster—causing such problems for those I love—it could hardly be considered a virtue. I have felt that way at other times, too. Thinking of something as beautiful… Feeling that a person has beauty… I think that those emotions are where true beauty lies. If one can think of a thing as beautiful, then that must be wonderful. If one can feel that the world is beautiful, then that is a marvelous thing as well.
The sky, the sea, the flowers…family, friends…the kindness of others…
If one can think of such things as beautiful, then perhaps that is a way that we can all find happiness. That is the conclusion that I have reached. I want to see things as beautiful, too. I have encountered so much evil on my journey, but I met with much beauty, as well. Most beautiful of all…
I met my love.
He stands behind me now, the one who taught me the beauty of that. He’s standing with me, so precious to me. With him by my side, I feel like I can be stronger than anyone else in the whole world.
It’s so strange. I’m sure that my mind is sharper than it has ever been before. Inside of me there is another Seras—the one who is fighting against Wormgandr and completely eliminating all noise from her mind as she does battle. Then there is me, watching all this happen from afar, taking charge of all of these feelings in her stead. That’s how the two of us exist. Perhaps the other me is the one I forgot—the girl from the nation of Hylings, the country I was banished from. Perhaps my ability to wall off my mind like this is the result of my banishment. One me is fighting, and another me is feeling…but it’s not as if we have been torn apart. We are still tied together—we are Seras Ashrain… And both of us love him. That is how we can fight as the two. I leave all the noise in my mind to someone else and completely empty my head, transforming myself into a pure warrior. My body moves faster than thought.
This is the Seras Ashrain that I have built over the course of my journey. She is the new me, and he is the one who made me what I am.
Sir Too-ka.
The day I met him, he saved me. Everything changed inside. I’ll say it as many times as I have to.
I love you, Sir Too-ka.
I love you.
That is how I know that there are people that you love as well. You said that you would always be by my side… But don’t you want to go and see your beloved foster parents again?
I am ready for that. Once this battle is over, I know that you may return to your old world. That is fine with me. I will be sad, of course—incredibly sad. But I would like to make your wish come true. If I ever gave voice to these feelings, they would become like shackles upon you. They would pull you back and make you hesitate. You have given me so many things—offered me so much beauty that my looks could never hope to compete. I am so grateful to you. You told me once that I should be more selfish. But I was very selfish, until quite recently, and used up my rights on that day. And so…I cannot say any of this to you in person. But…
I love you, so I want to make your dreams come true.
This is my selfish desire—the one remaining wish of Seras Ashrain. I—
Seras parried one of Wormgandr’s attacks. The Seras watching the fight and the Seras holding the sword began to overlap. Together they held the sword. For just that moment, all of Seras’s emotions came flooding back to her.
Why?
Suddenly, she felt like she might burst into tears.
Am I happy? Sad? I don’t even know. But we’re doing this. We will fight together.
We will keep moving forward.
The next moment, Seras delivered a strike with the weight of her overflowing emotions behind it. It cut deep into Wormgandr’s torso.
Mimori Touka
“…”
Did she just falter?
Seras…her emotions. I could feel it from here, without even seeing her face. It was like she was overwhelmed with emotion for a second there… She blinked. But in that moment, she clearly took dominance over her opponent.
That last slash into Wormgandr’s chest looks like it went deep. I don’t know what thoughts and emotions are shifting inside of her right now. There’s no way for me to know what has changed. But that blow—I think it really hurt Wormgandr. They’ve switched places, now Seras is dominant and Wormgandr’s weakening. I can see it.
…Seras. If the enemy doesn’t evolve any further, then… I think if Seras can surpass him, then this fight will be hers. She’ll win it for us… And even if we do claim victory here, this one wouldn’t be mine. Seras—this would be a victory won with your own hands.
Finally, I turned to properly look over at Kashima and Asagi for the first time since entering the room.
Kashima looks okay, but Asagi…I don’t know. Chester doesn’t seem to be injured, but he’s out cold. The Wildly Beautiful Emperor has lost a leg, and it doesn’t seem like he can move. He isn’t holding his divine sword, either. He’s bleeding a lot, so that could be an issue. But…
“…Worm,” Lokiella muttered. She had been watching the fight from my pocket quietly with a trace of sadness in her eyes.
…And then, the time came.
There was a hard, cracking sound, as the largest fissure yet ran through Wormgandr’s body. Still—the giant disciple stood firm in his battle stance and launched a twisting punch at Seras. She stood ready to accept the attack—prepared to strike a counter with unshakable accuracy. But the white disciple’s fist never reached its target. Wormgandr missed, feebly swinging through empty air. There was the sound of shattering glass, as Wormgandr’s outer shell burst. Carried by the momentum of his failed attack, he tumbled past Seras and fell forward onto the labyrinth floor, his arm still outstretched. Seras changed her stance, preparing for a counter from Wormgandr as he lay by her side—but nothing came. All she saw was defeat, as the disciple’s body slowly began to smoke and he started to melt away.
“That is how a disciple dies. Well…” Lokiella said. “Seras did it.”
If Lokiella said that, then I think I’m sure of it… He really is gone.
“Too-ka… Do you mind if I stay here for a few moments?” asked Lokiella.
“Will you be okay?”
“Trust me.”
“All right then.”
Lokiella burst from my pocket, and I left Seras on watch just in case. The rest of us ran to Kashima’s side. We heard a voice behind us as we ran.
“…Yo… Lokiella… Hyeh, hyeh… That you? I can’t see… I feel sleepy as all heck too… Hyeh hyeh… Hard to keep a handle on my sanity, even… Only strength I got left is to speak… Under the weight of these freakin’… Status effect skills…”
There was a short pause before Lokiella responded. “Looks like you lost, Worm.”
“Hyeh, hyeh… It was a person… A mortal that beat me…”
“Yeah… You lost to a mortal.”
“Right? I told you, yeah? The right situation…and they can even beat us gods… They’ve got the damn potential inside ’em…”
“…”
“They’re so great… Mortals… Right Lokiella…? Y…y’know what I mean, right…?”
“Worm, you…”
“Ah… I’m so sleepy… Finally…finally I get to really close my eyes and r…rest… It’s like…I’ve been livin’ through some long…never-ending nightmare or somethin’…”
“…”
“Even so… I met some good ’uns… Humans, y’know…? They’re the worst and the best…all at the same time… Hyeh…”
Then, Wormgandr spoke his final words.
“Humans…they’re…p…pretty great…ain’t they…?”
Then, it seemed, he was gone.
As I spoke with Kashima, I glanced over at Lokiella. There was pity, and a hint of sorrow in her eyes as she silently looked down upon the slowly dissolving corpse of someone who had once been her brethren.
“Could it be that you never agreed with Vicius, right from the start? Did you ever want to be turned into her disciple? But…with her essence within you, you had no choice. Hey Worm… You couldn’t disobey Vicius’s orders, but were you running around in here looking for someone capable of killing you? I know it’s not fair…but let me see it like that, okay? Heh… To be honest I was scared of asking you while you were still alive—scared how you might answer. I’m a coward, remember? I could never rebel against the chief deity…and you saw that in me, didn’t you? No… Maybe it’s all the divines. All but Vicius and Skoalbanger… I mean…you’re such a hard worker. Always pushing yourself way too hard.”
Lokiella knelt down beside him.
“Goodbye, Wormgandr.”
His body was almost completely gone as Lokiella laid a hand upon him for the last time.
“Sleep, now—incarnation of the once noble Serpent God, Jörmungandr.”
“Eve, Geo! Take care of Zine and Chester!” I called out, as I sprinted for Kashima and Asagi, not waiting to see whether the battle was over or not. The two leopardmen began making their way down the stairs upon hearing my voice, as Seras, Munin, and I reached Kashima and Asagi’s side.
“Mimori-kun.” Kashima had her healing skill pressed to Asagi’s wound.
I don’t think that’s just a wound. It’s a hole through her torso.
“Asagi-san is still breathing… Is there no way we can save her? I can slow her bleeding and dull the pain with my healing skill, but I can’t restore her in the way that Vicius’s Heal spell could.”
I crouched with Seras and Munin by Asagi’s side to check on her. Seras was the most familiar among us with first aid techniques, but a shadow passed over her face. It looked as if she was hesitating over whether to speak the truth or not.
“For now, I will do the best that I can to treat her.”
She prepared to administer first aid.
Kashima really has changed, huh. She used to be so hesitant and scared…so timid. But the way she explained the situation just now was clear, and her voice wasn’t trembling at all.
“Seras-chan… It’s no use. Leave it,” Asagi spoke, and color rapidly returned to Kashima’s cheeks.
“Ah! Asagi-san! You’re awake! Asagi-san, I…I…”
“Ah, shut up… Why’d you gotta be so damn irritating all the time, Kobato…”
“Y-yeah…!” Kashima sobbed, despite the rebuke, clasping Asagi’s hand in her own. “Asagi-san… I’m sorry… Th-this is all because I’m so slow and clumsy. You pushed me…you… I…”
Asagi sighed. “Ain’t like I saved you, Pidgey-chan… Don’t get s’damn full of yo—uugh!” She spit up blood.
“Asagi-san!”
“Shut up… ’Course I’m gonna spit up a bit of blood. Stop screaming… It’s hurtin’ my stomach… Just kiddin’, the hole’s doin’ that.”
Kashima’s upper lip trembled as she tried to hold back her emotions, and she squeezed Asagi’s hand even harder.
“Ehm…ah. And…th-thank you!”
“…Yeah yeah.”
“…Are you using Queen Bee: Pain Block to dull the sensation?” I asked.
“Hyeh heh… That’s just like you, Mimori-kun… You’re supposed to ask if it hurts or if I’m okay y’know?”
“Ah…”
Seras had her kit in hand, ready to give Asagi first aid.
“I told you, it’s fine. I know… This is the part where I’m about to die, yeah? Dyin’ huh? Yeesh, so this is it… This is how it feels? I can really sense it coming, y’know? This is so cool… Guess the one good thing is I don’t feel the pain, huh? Hey… Seras-chan?”
“Eh? Y-yes?”
“My last wish… Lemme feel your boobs.”
“Huh?”
Seras looked at me, as if struggling to make up her mind. Asagi turned to me too.
“No good?”
“…Sorry,” I answered.
Asagi laughed.
“Hyeh heh… Yep, that’s Mimori-kun all right. Hmhmm… He really does care about you, eh Seras-chan…? Anyway, like… Why’ve I gotta see you two gettin’ the hots for each other in my last moments, eh? Guess it’s my fault for stokin’ that one though…” With another retch, Asagi coughed up more blood. “Mmph… My head’s startin’ to get all fuzzy~? Is it ’cause the love between you two’s too hot for me-ow to handle?”
Asagi narrowed her eyes at me.
“Hah… Seriously though, I wish I’d gotten ’ta fight you, Mimori Touka… Let me see your boring face just one last time…”
I took off my mask.
“Man, now that I look at you… You’re sorta just handsome, huh? Just like that character from that shojo manga, the girl in Completely Average Ordinary Me, yeah? That’s some dope ass camouflage…”
Asagi was silent for just a few moments.
“Hey. Mimori-kun.”
“Yeah?”
“Did you know I’d never betray you in the end…? Like…did’ya have my number this whole time?”
“I was never certain,” I answered.
“But it wasn’t a bad bet, huh?”
“I guess not.”
“Heh…you got me. So this is the Lord of the Flies… You ain’t just some severed pig head gatherin’ insects, I’ll tell ya that. So, like…you don’t even realize you’re doing it, huh? I reckon I was trying not to see it, to be honest… Like…I figured you weren’t here in this damn world any more… Just accepted it as fact. I saw it happen, so I really thought you were gone… Since I saw it, I made myself believe it had to have happened…but like…” Asagi turned to Kashima. “I’ve been seeing phantoms this whole time…but I unconsciously tried to keep them out of my mind, pretending they weren’t there… Hah hah… Ignoring somethin’ just ’cause it’s inconvenient, eh? Guess little old Asagi-san can hardly lecture anyone else about that. I’m so freakin’ stupid…”
Kashima looked like she couldn’t contain herself any longer.
“A-Asagi-san! We need to do first aid, or—”
“I’m dyin’, lemme talk.”
“…!”
“Hah… Like, characters in manga and anime always get super chatty right before they die, yeah…? Makes me think Ah, this dude’s done for or like Hey are they really gonna die? Why’s she talking so much? but y’know, dyin’ really makes you wanna struggle to keep speakin’ for just as long as you can hold out. I guess I can’t blame ’em for wanting to talk…not that I’m ever gonna get the chance to watch shows again.”
“Asagi-san…”
It seemed that Kashima had finally given up.
This deep wound. She’s not going to recover from that and even Asagi knows it. Like she said, I think she’s just talking until her energy runs out. I think Kashima might have realized that too. I think she’s felt it for a while now.
“I think, like…” Asagi mumbled. “Yeah… You’re just like her, Kobato… Just like my mom.”
“Eh?”
“Clumsy… Weak… Figures she’s just a little bit smarter than she actually is. But it’s really just her face and her body that she’s got goin’ for her… Heh heh… Wait a sec. Y’really are just the same, huh? I could never admit it. Kept it bottled up, pushed down inside but—yeah. Lol. Ikusaba Asagi’s so damn stupid. You really were always in my way though, jeez…” She cursed quietly. “I just couldn’t leave you alone…and that just made you even more irritating. I wanted you to die, but I couldn’t just kill you. And for some reason, I kept rescuin’ you instead. Even though all you are is background noise… I dunno… Is it ’cause you’re like, my mom? Is that what moms are like? I would’a preferred Mommy Munin, personally…”
Kashima brought her eyes level with Asagi’s.
“Asagi-san, I…”
“In the end… I couldn’t save my mom, or you, or the whole Mimori Touka brigade neither, eh? Jeez… So this is my game over? This game was hot garbage. One star, thumbs down. Hey, Kobato…?”
“Y-yes…?”
“I know I don’t got the right to ask you this…I really don’t. But once you’re back in the old world…would’ya mind checking in on my mom once a year or so? For the next five…ten years, if you could… Tell her you were the adorable Asagi-chan’s friend, back when she was still alive, and that idiot’ll let you right in… Ghhah!”
Asagi violently spit up blood.
“Asagi-san?! Are you o—”
But Asagi silenced Kashima with a wave of her hand.
“Please… Just let me talk, okay?”
Kobato did as she was told, and held it in.
“There’s someone else… A guy called Amano-san that I picked out… He’s her boyfriend…but he’s in the safe category, okay? Well… If there are any problems, go ahead and ask Takao about that. I reckon Hijirin can deal with any issues there… I reckon so, at least.”
“O-okay! Okay, Asagi-san…I’ll do it. I…I swear, I promise!” Kashima was crying.
“Ah… Everyone line up—assembly time!” Asagi called the rest of us over—Seras looked to me for approval, and I nodded.
“You mind being my lie detector?” asked Asagi. “Mimori-kun won’t believe me otherwise.”
She smiled.
“I don’t mean you, or any of these people harm, Mimori-kun.”
Seras signaled that Asagi was telling the truth, and we moved in closer.
“This really is my final one…the last ever…”
She made contact with our hands.
“Queen Bee.”
Asagi’s buff skill—the duration on our previous ones had long since run out.
“The effect might run out when I die… But just in case it doesn’t, eh? Hey, it might turn into some super powerful buff after I die too, right? Like post-mortem nen or something? That’d be cool… Gah—”
Asagi spit up a torrent of blood, and Kashima turned pale.
“Asagi-san!”
It looked like the light was fading from her eyes.
“…Asagi,” I said.
“Yeah?”
“Thanks.”
“Heh… You don’t need to thank me for this… I tried to betray you for a bit, remember?”
“Even so.”
“I guess I was always right in the palm of the Lord of the Flies’s hand, eh? Ah, that’s right… Make sure you talk to Kobato ’bout that fake Vicius… Get the intel… Ah…and Kobato… Your unique skill—”
Asagi told us something that she had realized about Kobato’s unique skill.
“I sure hope that comes in handy. If you can make some use of that intel, Mimori-kun, I know you’ll pull it off… You’re so damn annoyingly smart…”
One of Asagi’s eyes was starting to close.
“Hah… I wanted to ask more about you, Mimori-kun… ’Bout what made you that way… Hah… But heck… It ain’t like I’m…to just keep talkin’…” Asagi moved her pale lips, growing weaker by the second. “I know I didn’t mean for some of this…but if you’re the one with a handle on the big picture—win this… Beat her, Mimori… Touka…”
“Sure,” I nodded.
“And Kobato…”
“Y…yes…”
“I’m sorry… ’Bout everything.”
“…!”
Tears kept pouring from Kashima’s eyes. She held her hands to her mouth.
“Asagi-s—”
“No… At least here, at the end… Let me play the good kid… I want to go out like that… Jeez—I’m the worst, aren’t I?”
“N-no… I don’t think so! I’m not your mother… But I’m something else! I think…”
“Huh…what’s that then?”
“Y-your friend…!”
Asagi snorted. “Well hey… Let’s leave it at that, then… Huh…? My friend… Skrr…”
Kashima wept, as Asagi gazed up at the labyrinth ceiling, a faraway look in her eyes.
I don’t think she’s seeing anything anymore.
“I can cast Sleep on you… If you need it,” I said.
“Thanks for the thought… But nah, I’m fine. This feeling, right as I’m dying… There’s no pain… Heck… It ain’t as bad as I thought it’d be…”
“…Right.”
“Hah… Welp, this was fun… I guess this is it… Finally. You’re still here, huh…? Right…so this is…dying… Ehh…”
Asagi closed her left eye.
“This is it… Game over…k thx bye…see ya…”
“Asagi-san…?” Kashima noticed something was wrong.
I think the strength in Asagi’s hand—the one she’s holding—must have gone.
“Asagi-san… Asagi-san! Asagi-san!”
Kashima shook Asagi’s body as she called out to her friend, tears rolling down her cheeks. Asagi lay motionless—a puddle of red blood pooled beneath her, slowly beginning to spread. Once Kashima had calmed down enough to let go, I leaned over and softly laid a hand on Asagi’s face, gently closing her right eye for the last time.
Ikusaba Asagi
“I’LL TELL EVERYONE you freakin’ ■■■■ed me.”
I hate my family name—Ikusaba. For a cute girl of my age, there’s just something violent and gory about having the characters for “battlefield” in there… I bet that’s why most people figure I ain’t a fan. But the real reason’s something different: I hate the name Ikusaba because it’s my dead dad’s name. He was one of them ‘moral husbands’—more like ‘morally abusive and harassing’ really. He was a scumbag, straight up, always pushing his own twisted rules on his wife. He looked down on Mom and kept her bound by his own personal laws.
He loved lecturing us, too. Even as a kid, I was really shocked by the way he’d treat my Mom. He called it ‘justice choking’ when she made a mistake. He’d tie her arms behind her back and choke her out.
“I had to do this…” he’d say after she passed out. “Sorry. But I really love you, from the bottom of my heart.”
It was so fucking gross, I could hardly keep from throwing up. He had this super twisted sense of morality that he forced on us. Scumbag on parade, that’s him. He played the good husband to everyone else, putting on a good face for the outside world. But whenever anything didn’t go his way, he’d snap and get angry. He always said it was Mom’s parents’ fault that she’d grown up to be so worthless, telling her over and over again. Whenever we went to see his parents, he’d mock Mom the whole time. He was the most irritating man in the world.
That said, Mom was Mom. She wasn’t very good at the things that other people were. She couldn’t read the room or concentrate on more than one thing at a time. She’d get panicked if she tried. Sometimes she’d focus so hard on something, she couldn’t even hear what the people around her were saying. Whenever that happened, he would scream and shout and get in a rage, punching Mom in the stomach, and calling it punishment for what she’d done. The next words out of his mouth were always the same.
“Don’t ever tell anyone outside of this house about this. You’ll bring shame upon our family.”
He talked a big game, but he was just a coward. I wasn’t like Mom; I could do all sorts of things that she couldn’t. I played the good kid and I really pulled off the act. It irritated me though, seeing Mom get taken advantage of all the time. She was always so soft, never fought back. She’d always apologize to him in these grand ways. And whenever he’d blame her for something, she’d always admit that it was her fault. My father was a dirtbag, but Mom’s complete lack of autonomy was irritating as well.
I liked to read books—always the ones at the higher reading levels—in second grade elementary school, y’know? That was mostly because Dad never wanted me to have the fun that suited a kid of my age. He said I’d only get a smartphone once I had a job of my own. That one sent chills down my spine, seriously. So like, yeah…at that age I had no choice but to use my good readin’ skills to absorb as much as I could.
I went to the prefectural library. I was lucky—it was between home and my elementary school, and I read all kinds of books while I was there. Kinda made me wonder, though. There are so many useful books in this library, why’s nobody reading any of them? Some people were sleeping on the sofas in the library, or they were like, obviously just there for the HVAC during the summer. There was all this free knowledge right at their fingertips. “What the heck were they playin’ at?” I thought. “Are they all idiots, or what?”
That’s seriously how I felt at the time. Cute, right? That’s how my thirst for knowledge began to grow. When I got to third grade, I started borrowing Mom’s phone sometimes. I always deleted the browsing history when I was done, since I figured Dad would check that. I looked up how to do it online. The internet was amazing. There was all kinds of stuff on there… Different sorts of knowledge than you could get from library books. The things that really caught my interest were games and mind control.
Mind control…yeah—like brainwashing.
The cool thing was that brainwashing didn’t just happen in cults, but could happen in like, a person’s everyday life. I read about some serious incidents online—but I was a bit disappointed at that, to be honest. I mean, even if you brainwashed someone to go and kill another person, it seemed like the brainwasher would also get caught in the end.
Hmm… What a shame. “But like, wait a sec?” I thought to myself. I was an elementary schooler, right? Who in the world was going to think that an elementary schooler is capable of mind control? Wasn’t this the kind of thing that I could pull off, precisely because of my age?
It was the perfect crime.
I made new friends at school after that, so that I could go round to their houses to play games. I told my dad that we were studying together. I picked friends that were well behaved and from wealthy backgrounds so that scumbag would approve. I wanted to try out some brainwashing. I succeeded on one of my friends… Or at least, I think I did.
Ah, but the games were fun too. I liked math, because there was never any place for emotion in that subject. It was comforting that the numbers never lied to me. After a while though, I started getting way more into Japanese class instead. It all made me think…maybe manipulating a person’s emotions isn’t all that different from manipulating a set of numbers?
At first, I was really bad at answering those “write what you think the author was feeling” sort of questions. I think I was thinking a bit too deeply about those. After a while though, I realized that there was a formula for getting good marks on Japanese tests, and my grades went up.
Japanese was fun. Everything was fun. Mind control was really interesting, too.
It was when I went up to fourth grade that things changed.
I just couldn’t stand how damn annoying my dad was.
His moral harassment and all the mental attacks on my Mom had been getting worse. Ugh…I mean, Mom was Mom, but…I had this overwhelming hatred for my dad. The feeling of disgust I felt for him just hit different, y’know? Might as well kill him then?
One day I went against my father. He was shocked, and then he tried to punch me.
“I’ll tell everyone you freakin’ ■■■■ed me.”
My dad couldn’t punch me. I knew it. It was a bluff. He could hold Mom down…but he couldn’t hold me down. I had his number. To this moral guy, what mattered most was how the outside world saw him. That’s why he only administered the sort of punishments that didn’t leave much evidence… “Not the face, not the face!” sorta mentality, I guess. Mental abuse was even harder to prove, and left even less evidence than the physical stuff.
Yep, attackin’ a person’s mind doesn’t leave them much physical proof. That’s why I chose that as my weapon. What would happen to Dad if his own daughter started accusing him of ■■■■ to anyone that would listen? He’d be toast.
He was scared of that sort of social death—terrified of it. If I accused him of that—he’d be completely finished, right? He’d lose his reason for existing. He’d be worthless. All his perfect plans for life would collapse. I knew him. I knew he wasn’t the sort that could handle it when things went off the rails.
He started avoiding me after that, looking at me with terror in his eyes. Then, one night, he came into my room. He got on top of me, straddling me, and started choking me. I just laughed. I laughed right in his damn face. He was just pathetic.
“Do it,” I said.
He let out this short wail, like a little animal in fright, then he ran out of my room like a scared little rabbit. I bet he was trying to take back control, using the power that he had over me as a grown-up. He could never stand to be known as the father who killed his own daughter. Heh heh… Do it if you’ve got the guts, you coward.
It was enjoyable to watch him break, just a little, day by day. He stopped punishing Mom—didn’t have the time for it anymore. And I was mind controlling him to prevent it, either way. He was terrified of me, and that made him easier to control.
He was like my very own radio-controlled dad.
It would’ve been a risk to leave him alive, though. Also, he was so damn irritating. Luckily, my Mom’s parents had money, so we’d still be able to get by after he was dead. I went ahead with my plan, moving the mind control into its final stages. Game over for him.
One day, he hanged himself.
It would’ve been gross to have him die in the house, so I made him do it at some abandoned factory nearby. I do have to apologize to the owner of the property… Sorry about that. But I figured he wanted to get away from the house anyway. Away from the kid he’d started calling a demon child (I’m yours, remember?) all the time.
Mom was sad when he died.
“You’ve gotta be kidding me?” I thought. What’s there to be sad about? She even came up with this ridiculous crap about keeping his name. Apparently, in Japan, you can keep using your dead husband’s surname if you want. But like—she was supposed to go back to her maiden name.
…Was she stupid, or what? Don’t tell me she actually loved that scumbag? No way. We’re sticking with his name—with Ikusaba? Enough with the jokes… Stick to just being clumsy, jeez.
But like, it was weird. I could’ve used my brainwashing on Mom to make her change our last name back, but…weirdly, I didn’t want to use it on her.
…
Hah… So I’m still going to be Ikusaba…
…Huh. Come to think of it…what was that bastard’s first name, anyway?
Then I moved up into junior high and got myself a smartphone and a PC. I started reading a bunch more manga and could get all the information online that I wanted. I polished up my skills as a JC too, just in case—gotta stay fashionable, right?
That sorta stuff plays a role in your school rank—class hierarchy stuff. To be honest, I’m pretty cute (I’m biased), but that’s a weapon of mine. Mom’s been working a part time job. Not sure whether it’s because he’s dead, but we’ve been getting by pretty well since that bastard left this world. We haven’t been struggling for anything.
“You know, Asagi-chan… I want to earn money to help you, all on my own!”
Then focus a bit more on the household chores, huh? I should’ve just said that. Why didn’t I, I wonder? I could say anything I felt like to him, but I couldn’t say stuff like that to Mom.
“Really? Thanks, Mom.”
I just played the good daughter instead. I irritate myself whenever I get like this. I’ve been noticing more of how terrible Mom was at everything since he died. Why was she so useless in the first place? Ain’t she embarrassed to be alive? I bet I’d have it way easier if she’d just die… But I never think about killing her the same way I did to him. Why is that, I wonder?
I got totally sucked into the world of games. Usually I’d play social games—the sort that connect you to other online players around Japan or even around the world. It varies how much you can interact, but you can play games with people online. There are also these guild systems built into the games—like teams that you form online. The head of a guild is called a guild master. A lot of the time, I actively tried to climb to those guild master positions. It was a lot of fun to manipulate the members of my guild to win games. It also helped to be an active JC (junior high school girl). I couldn’t put much money into games, given how old I was—well, I could, but I didn’t—but there were uncles who contributed to me online. Some guys had nothing but money. They’d give it to me or they’d pour money into their own accounts instead and go attack other guilds on my behalf. Anyone who asked to meet me IRL, I blocked. Too risky to have creeps that might try and touch a JC gettin’ too close. There’s a lot of value given to youth, especially in this country. Ageism, y’know… Even more so since we’ve got so many more old farts than the other nations. Ah, looks are important too. Pretty young people get the flashing invincibility star in this country. We’ve got a massive beauty bias—what an ugly thing for a country to have. There were all kinds of opportunities presented to me online to wring money from lonely old men. I was interested in host clubs and sugar daddy stuff too—the whole underground idol business. That’s sort of like one step removed from brainwashing, right? Some of it’s even legal, which is interesting. I had a lot to learn…but before I knew it, manipulation was just a part of my everyday life. Meanwhile, my Mom’s inability to read the room was starting to really stress me out.
“Everyone at my part-time job is so lovely and kind!” she’d say, all happy and stuff. “You don’t need to try so hard, Ikusaba-san, we know what you’re like, they always say… And they let me take little breaks. They’re kind, but I feel bad that I’m the only one getting to rest, heh heh.”
Nope… That’s them making fun of you, Mom.
The thing she told me that the store manager said the other day—same deal. He just hired you because he was short and didn’t have any other choice… He’s being sarcastic. They’re mocking you, Mom. Why do you just take all these comments at face value? This is the country of puttin’ on a front and hidden opinions—why are you so dense? You’re gonna end up dead.
But I couldn’t say any of that to her.
“Really? Huh… Sounds like you’ve found a nice workplace.”
Mom wouldjust smile, not noticing a thing.
“I really have~!”
“…”
Idiot. Seriously. One day, I went to my Mom’s work in secret, on one of the days that she wasn’t working… Ah man, looked like everyone was younger than her. So these were the ones makin’ fun of her, huh?
I waited for the right time, then went up to the manager.
“Ah, excuse me… I’m Ikusaba ■■’s daughter. I wondered if…”
A few days later, Mom seemed even happier than usual.
“Y’know, recently everyone at work has been waaaay nicer to me than normal? Heh heh…maybe they’re starting to realize how hard I’ve been trying!” She did a little double fist pump. “I have to get it together…for your sake too, Asagi-chan!”
No, Mom. They haven’t seen how hard you’re working. I did this. How stupid are you? Seriously… Stop… You aren’t going to be able to get it together. I know you.
“Ah, maybe once I have more time, I can look over your homework for you, Asagi-chan? I’ve never really had the chance before, have I?”
Ah. She still thought that she’s smarter than I am. What a dunce. Listen, Mom…it hurts to see you doing all this. Just stop. Jeez, you’re so annoying.
“She’s heading for a fall at this rate,” I thought. “She’ll mess something up eventually.” I needed to find her a guy who’s understanding.
I decided to set her up with someone. Someone who wasn’t that good-looking would work best. A guy who didn’t have much self-confidence. Someone with low self-esteem. I wanted someone who could do stuff, had some talents—but also someone who ain’t likely to ever have much luck with the opposite sex.
“If I let this woman go, I’ll never have another chance at happiness again,” he’s gotta think. I wanted someone kind, too… But not some guy who thought kindness was all it took. I wanted someone who didn’t realize he’s being kind. It took a while, but I found myself someone to protect Mom, and I brainwashed him. I made sure it seemed like the two of them met by chance.
Mom seemed to like him. (Of course she did, I made sure she would).
…Seriously. She’s so high maintenance. Mom irritates me so much. I wish she’d just die already.
Then I became a high schooler and got into Okito Academy. I chose it because it was close to home. I was starting to get tired of everything at that point. Now that I was a high schooler, I wasn’t that sure whether I could get away with brainwashing someone to death or not.
I ain’t going to jail.
Or, I guess—I was kinda getting bored of the process of brainwashing people, I think. I couldn’t get much into games, either. It seemed like I was always coming up with the same results. I did try a bunch of different genres, and there was a lot of hardcore, really difficult stuff in there, too. Soon as I realized a game was impossible, I cut my losses and quit. I mean, there’s only so much time in the day, right? But then the more games I quit, the more I just got bored with gaming in general. Still enjoyed manga, though… But I sure wish they’d stop delaying releases of things I’m looking forward to, jeez.
“There’s still a bunch I don’t know and that I’ve never experienced before,” I thought. “I’ve still got a reason to live, I guess. It’s just… I guess I’m slowing down a bit. Hardly gonna be much difference between junior high and high school anyway, right? The schoolwork, the people…” First year worked out just how I’d pictured it would. I was bored by life, livin’ like a normie. But then, wouldn’t ya know it? I moved up into my second year of high school—into the fateful class 2-C.
Sogou Ayaka.
Kirihara Takuto.
Takao Hijiri.
Three of my classmates were people of a sort I’d never encountered before.
“Should I brainwash them…? Nah. I don’t want to make ’em mine, I just want to watch. Play it quiet for now.” (I also figured laying a hand on Hijiri would lose me a hand, y’know?)
“Huh? Turns out high school’s pretty interesting.”
***
…But like, I never figured there’d be some super overpowered joker hiding in the deck. Mimori Touka-kun’s just way too good at camouflage.
Ahh…man, I really wish I coulda fought him.
…
I reckon back then, in that cafeteria in the castle in Mira, when I sat across from the Lord of the Flies… I think I told him that I made my dad kill himself, right? Just sorta slipped out. It wasn’t the sort of thing I normally do, but y’know… I think it was because even back then, I recognized a player. He’s like me—we’re the same. He’s a rival. I’ve often heard that people can be their own worst enemies, but I never thought I’d find someone so similar to me so long as I lived. This is why I just could never stop living.
Well…
I guess I’m dead now, huh?
Then there’s Kobato. At first, I was going to play at making myself a new person here in this other world, and Kobato was just another pawn in that game. I didn’t really care if she lived or died. But come to think of it, now—Kobato should’ve gone right in the trash. She was just another of those pawns I should have tossed into Ayaka’s group. I didn’t need to drag her along for the ride. The cat—the phantom of my Mom.
I reckon I must’ve seen the cat even back then, huh?
I was happy in this new world, without all the background noise of the old one. I figured I was finally free. I could spread my wings without worrying about that damn cat any longer. But here she was…a classmate who was just like Mom. Come to think of it, I started to treat her differently without even realizing it. Nah…maybe I was trying not to notice it. I didn’t want to admit that the cat was still there. It pissed me off. Subconsciously, I wanted to think that she was nothing like Mom at all.
Ahh. Tch.
I was really lookin’ forward to this game, but it’s all garbage now. All thanks to Kobato. To Mom. That’s life, huh? Some people really find an appreciation for the trashiest games.
In the end…I guess I must’ve really loved her. Mom.
I’d never have ended up like this if I didn’t… Ehh… I wonder how all those manga I’ll never get to finish are gonna turn out? I sorta hate going out before I got to read all the way to the end. Well, anyway, Mom…have fun with your boyfriend. Your beloved daughter went through her own little hell try’na find him for you.
See you, Mom.
Welp, here we go. If there’s a heaven and hell, I guess I’m going to the latter. In that case…I’m guessing he’s there too. Haaah… What, there’s a chance I’m gonna have to see him again?
Well, fine. Mom’s never coming to hell. So even if I do find that bastard down there, I’ll just brainwash him and dispose of him all over again. That’s all she wrote. Now it really, truly is game over.
’Kay. See ya. Skrrr.
Mimori Touka
“WE’RE ALMOST at the castle gates.”
We had moved on from the room where we’d fought Wormgandr—the room where Ikusaba Asagi had died.
The gates of the castle are getting close.
We encountered several more people on our way through the labyrinth, almost all of them from the latter group of entrants. They were the ones who had been tasked with bringing bags of items that we might need for our alternate strategies, and had only made it so close to the castle thanks to the first group of entrants mopping up eucharists. Likewise, we saw very few eucharists remaining as we made our way toward the castle.
…I suppose the only eucharists that made it all the way here are the ones that nobody has encountered yet.
Besides the members of the second group, we also came across Nyantan Kikipat.
“I encountered nothing but eucharists on my way here. Perhaps I was lucky that I didn’t see any disciples…but I also met with no allies in my path,”she said.
Well, given how massive and complex this city is, it might be rare to come across another person in this labyrinth. This also isn’t the only way into the castle—aside from the main south gate that we’re heading toward, there’s also one on the northern side, I think. There’s a chance that another group has formed on the north side of the castle, then.
“…”
Kashima and Zine had given me some intel that the two of them had gained during their conversation with a false clone of Vicius. Zine’s bleeding had been stopped, and he was being carried by Chester, at Chester’s request.
“It is rare that my slight build is such an advantage,”the Wildly Beautiful Emperor had said when he was being shouldered. “I don’t imagine anyone could bear the weight of Luheit or Kaize for long.”
The emperor joked cheerfully, but Chester looked concerned.
“Your majesty… Even in j-jest, I…”
I supposed that Zine was just trying to be considerate, in his own way. I walked over to thank him after the Wormgandr fight was over.
“It’s a shame about Asagi…but I want to thank the two of you for doing everything you could to protect her.”
“…I am sorry. I could not defend her from harm.”
“Don’t. You have nothing to apologize for, Zine.”
He then told me about the numbing poison that Asagi had given them, acquired in secret as our army had passed through Monroy. The poison was beginning to take effect, but luckily, the antidote bottle in Asagi’s pocket was unharmed. Zine, Kashima, and Chester were cured of their poison.
“Are you okay, Kashima?” I asked, as we exchanged a few words.
“…Yes. I’m okay. I don’t know if I’ll be of any use to you in the fighting to come, though.”
“Even if you can’t help us any further—you’ve already contributed more than enough, Kashima.”
“…Asagi-san… She said she wanted to fight you, Mimori-kun…”
“That’s a scary thought.”
“Eh?”
“The idea that she might have gone over to Vicius’s side… To be honest, it scared me.”
Kashima, for whatever reason, looked a little happy to hear those words.
“I think Asagi-san would be happy to hear that…”
“I just wish we could’ve found some other way to compete. Something that didn’t involve us killing each other.”
“Yes. I think if you and Asagi-san could have had something like that… It would have been wonderful.”
“Kashima.”
“Yes?”
“Don’t die in here. You made a promise to Asagi… You better keep it.”
“…Yeah.” Kashima nodded.
“But first we have to win—beat Vicius.”
Vicius, huh? I thought, reflecting on our conversation.
Kashima’s not calling her the “Goddess” anymore. She seems stronger now.
…Right then.
Sogou and the Takao Sisters aren’t here.
Ars has been disabled with Freeze.
Wormgandr’s been defeated too.
Yomibito, the one remaining disciple, has been on my mind for a while, but…
“Seems like someone has defeated Yomibito, so there aren’t any disciples left,” I told everyone.
She might’ve been a fake, but getting to hear that piece of intel from the Goddess’s mouth was huge. Was it Sogou who beat him, or the Takao Sisters? Wormgandr, too. Lokiella said that he seemed weaker somehow, as if he’d already worn himself out fighting with someone else. It seemed like that battle consumed a lot of his strength.
It must’ve been Sogou—she’s the only one capable of going toe-to-toe with a monster like that. Since Wormgandr escaped that previous battle, whoever it was put up a good fight, but they were ultimately defeated. That’s the natural conclusion from the facts. Sogou Ayaka or the Takao Sisters…
There’s a chance that one or two of those three might have already retired from this battlefield and won’t be around for the final showdown against Vicius. I should keep that in mind. I’d rather not think about the possibility that any of them might have died…but it’s not one that I can discount, given the situation. The same goes for Amia, whose weapon and shield we found in the hands of Ars. No…in reality it’s the entirety of our group of entrants, including the later arrivals. I can’t be sure about any of them who aren’t here. How many have already dropped out? I hope the number is zero, of course—but that’s wishful thinking.
I paused and had everyone else stop for a moment too.
“We’re almost at the castle. Given the state we’re in and everything that’s led up to where we are right now, I want to talk to you all about what comes next.”
I have several different plans. I need to find the most suitable one to adapt to our current situation. Then there’s the problem of slotting in all the other things I’ve prepared into the strategy we end up going with. There’s also Vicius—how is she going to react to what’s going on? If her vision was connected to that false Vicius from earlier, then what information did that give her? I haven’t seen her since the day that she disposed of me—we haven’t exchanged a single word. I didn’t even talk with the false Vicius that was roaming around this labyrinth. So why do I feel like I can predict what she’ll do next? Why can I imagine I know what her next move will be? Maybe it’s not just an illusion. I feel like all of Vicius’s actions up until this point are showing me the way forward—even the things that have nothing to do with me. The way that Vicius has acted since she summoned us to this world…everything she’s done… Thinking it all over, my mind is full of hints as to what she might do next.
“Hmph.”
It was her mind that I could never read—Ikusaba Asagi. Just like I told her, I was never sure that she wouldn’t betray us. All I had were my instincts—a feeling that she probably wouldn’t. It seems like the biggest reason she never turned on us was Kashima. I guess you could say that’s Kashima Kobato’s greatest contribution to this war.
“But hey—can’t go letting our guard down yet.”
“Sir Too-ka, it appears we are ready.”
The latter group of entrants had finished putting on their Lord of the Flies masks. They weren’t the ones that I had been using, but the fakes that I had asked Zine to make for me some time ago.
There’s only one fully finished Lord of the Flies outfit though, I suppose.
“All that’s left is to see how this actually works out in practice, eh?”
We decided to wait for just a while longer—then make our way into the castle.
We’re on standby for the time being, then. I sure hope Sogou and Hijiri just show up soon and sweep away my concerns that they might be in danger…
“A-ahem… Sir T-Too-ka… Do you have a moment?”
“What’s up, Seras?”
Looks like she’s having trouble finding the words.
“Actually, I…I have a request.”
“Go on then. What is it?”
“Ah… Please don’t accuse me of being obsessed with affection… No, well… Y-you may do so if you like, I suppose…”
“You’re being awfully vague, even for you. What are you getting at? How long have we been traveling together now? You don’t need to be so formal.”
“Right then… Wi…”
“Wi…?”
“Will you embrace me?”
“What, right here?”
There are other people around watching. But well…the two of us just walking off somewhere on our own would be dangerous.
“…Sure. You really did a good job during the Wormgandr fight, after all.”
Small price to pay for raising Seras’s morale.
“Th-thank you!”
“Seras.”
“Y-yes?”
“You’ve gotten pretty bold, huh?”
Seras was already walking toward me but stopped at my words.
“Ah! I’m s-sorr—”
I hugged her close before she could finish apologizing.
“Ah—hmm…” Seras let her body relax into mine, and buried her face in my chest. “Sir Too-ka… This is going to be…our last battle, I suppose.”
“I reckon so, yeah.”
Those nearby reacted in several ways to our hug. Some people pretended not to notice, while others watched intently. Some people blushed (mainly Kashima), while Eve stood with her arms folded, smirking at us.
“What are they doing? We’re ready for the final showdown,” said Geo, standing beside her.
He’s not wrong there.
“It’s because this is the final showdown,” Eve objected.
“…Ah, right. I see,” Geo nodded.
“My my… How wonderful it is to be young…” smiled Munin.
Those comments about the joys of being young are getting to be a habit for her, huh? I never asked how old Munin is…but is she really that much older than us?
“Perhaps I will take my turn once Too-ka is done,” said Zine, supported by Chester.
“Y-your majesty…?” Chester looked a little panicked, unsure if the comment was a joke or not.
…Wait. He was joking, right?
“Squee!”
After reading the room (maybe), Piggymaru squealed once from atop Munin’s right shoulder, while Lokiella grinned from just above her left.
“Well…I guess this is part of the secret to human strength, in the end…” Seras seemed satisfied, and slowly pulled away from our embrace.
“Th-thank you…” she said, looking down at her feet. Her face was red right up to her ears.
She still blushes like that, huh? I suppose we are in public.
I gently put my hand on her head.
“The rest will have to wait until we’ve beaten that foul Goddess.”
Seras smiled like a fresh bud in bloom, blinking her long eyelashes.
“Yes.” Then she looked up at me. “Let us go.”
I can still see some trace of embarrassment there… But she’s back.
That’s the face of the high elf Princess Knight—the face of a warrior.
I took out my pocket watch to check the time.
We haven’t been waiting that long, but… Why does staying in one place make me feel so impatient? There’s value in staying here on stand-by—I especially hope Sogou or Hijiri will show up. But…there’s also a part of me that just wants to get moving again, and it’s clear to me why that is. The fight to defend the capital of Yonato might be taking place right at this moment… And if they’re fighting, then I want to settle this as fast as I can.
But, rushing in is out of the question. We need to focus right now to raise the odds of our strategy working out. With Yonato so far away, there’s nothing I can do directly to help the people doing battle there. So…I just have to trust in them…trust in those that I know must be fighting to defend Yonato.
Yasu Tomohiro
“IT’S NO USE! Our lines at the first wall won’t hold much longer!” came the report from a knight below the walls.
Rinji waved his arm to signal to those atop the ramparts, “We’re falling back to the second wall! Tomohiro, enough! Get down!”
Yasu Tomohiro had been fighting desperately atop the wall, but given the range of his Lævateinn skill, he could hardly cover the whole city. The eucharists had begun clambering up the ramparts—there was already an avalanche flooding over the wall and into the city itself. The area around the east gate was especially overrun by eucharists, and it looked to be only a matter of time until the stones blocking the gate itself were knocked loose.
A whistle blew—the signal for retreat.
Yasu created walls of fire as he accompanied the other soldiers to the second defensive wall. When he turned to look back, there was nobody left standing atop the first. Everyone who remained had likely been killed. The wall, just like everywhere else, was swallowed up by a mass of eucharists. The creatures looked like an approaching tsunami of white—a terrible spectacle.
Yasu turned back to the second wall and watched as his retreating allies made it to the safety of the wide-open gate, one by one. There were monsters from the Country at the End of the World among them too, he saw. Meanwhile, fighters atop the second wall’s ramparts were readying their attacks—preparing to provide cover for their retreating comrades.
“Support the retreat! With me!”
Cavalry charged from the gate, engaging the eucharists that were rushing toward the wall as their comrades continued to fall back toward the second wall. Yasu turned his horse and rushed to support the cavalry unit.
“Hero of the Black Inferno! Please, retreat behind the second wall and rest while you can!”
“I’m fine! I still have enough MP, and with my hero stats, I’ve got more stamina than anyone else here!”
“Then… Thank you!”
Yasu and the other mounted soldiers tried their best to assist their comrades’ retreat—though they were unable to save everyone. Rinji could hear the voices of battle from up on the ramparts and on the far side of the second wall.
“Tch…” he grumbled, tying a bandage around a fresh set of slashes to his arm. “What’s the deal with them suddenly rushing us like this? This damn reckless charge…”
“What, you’re alive?!”
It was Riri.
“Hey, Riri. You doing all right?”
“Yeah—Sabre-toothed Tigers are still kicking out there.”
“Right. Good. Nobody’s dropped out on our side, either. But jeez…” Rinji looked up at the wall. “The way they’re attackin’ us… This could be a tricky fight.”
“Seems like they’re just going with strength in numbers, eh?”
“I’ll go and support those atop the wall,” said Yasu.
“You sure?”
“Yes, I’m fine. I’m not pushing myself too hard.”
But just as I feared, defeating eucharists isn’t giving me any EXP. I need to be careful that I don’t run out.
Rinji nodded. “All right. I’ll be up there with you once these cuts are bound up. Watch yourself up there, y’hear?!”
“Okay!”
Yasu dismounted, and rushed up the stairs to the ramparts.
I’m going to fight…keep going just as long as I can hold out.
“Lævateinn.”
Cloaking himself in black flames once more, Yasu incinerated the group of eucharists that had already made it atop the second wall.
Mimori Touka
TIME’S UP.
The only people that had joined us while we waited on standby were a few additional entrants from the second group.
No Sogou Ayaka. No Takao Sisters. Seems like for the time being, we’re only going to have Seras for close combat fights.
“Seras, is your prime armor going to hold?”
“Yes.”
“Right. Then…” I stepped toward the castle gates. “Let’s go.”
My comrades followed behind me.
“Unless Vicius has some disciple-level, powerful secret weapon up her sleeve, the only real threat that’s left is that foul Goddess herself. Meaning this is truly it…”
This is…
“Our final battle.”
Epilogue
Epilogue
IN THE THRONE ROOM of the royal castle of Eno, Vicius sat upon the throne of the king, glaring at Lokiella’s crushed, severed head. Her leg was trembling idly as she bit her nails, when suddenly—
Bang!
She struck one of the tables beside the throne, destroying it completely.
“…Scum.”
I never expected Lokiella to be capable of dividing herself in that manner. That skull atop the carpet over there, with some scraps of her white flesh still clinging to it… That is not her core, then. Yet, given I left her head so close at hand…
Vicius had a thought.
How much did she see? Could she have been transmitting information directly from this room to her other body? How much was she able to tell them? No. It couldn’t have been anything important.
“…”
Asagi Ikusaba betrayed me. I expected that, of course—but her acting was simply too good… Was that even an act at all, I wonder?
When Asagi had activated her unique skill, even she looked surprised that it had happened.
Strange to think, but…perhaps not even Asagi thought that she was capable of such an action? In any case…I misjudged her. From the very first, it was a mistake to rely on that load of detritus from another world in exercising my power. Those disciples were far more worthless than I anticipated, too. They didn’t kill a single hero in that whole labyrinth! Except for that traitor Asagi, I suppose… She’s the only one that dropped dead.
Oh—how deeply worthless they all were. Worst of all, it appears that Hijiri is still alive. That brat also somehow managed to defeat one of my disciples—Yomibito, no less.
The doubts within Vicius’s mind began to multiply.
Kirihara, Oyamada… Could Yasu even still be alive? Do all three of them stand against me now?
Impossible. If they had such strength at their disposal, they would not think of holding it back now. They are dead or unable to fight, at best—of that, there can be no doubt. All three of them.
More importantly…the Lord of the Flies—Too-ka Mimori. Ars and Wormgandr encountered him, and both have now been killed.
“Just as I thought, my greatest obstacle is that damned fly… Mimori…”
That damned high elf is detestable, too. Tracing these events to their origin, it’s all because that scummy elf fled Neah that all of this happened. Her flight led the Elite Five—to Civit Gartland—tracking her down… And with Civit’s death, Seras turned pawn to that accursed fly. What in the world is she, even? I believe Wormgandr’s attacks were intended to kill her, but she parried them all? Was Seras Ashrain always this strong? She may now even be on the same level as Civit.
…Damn it.
Damn it, damn it…
Damn, damn, damn, damn…
Daaamn!
Vicius held her head in both hands.
I feel like I’m going to be sick. Nothing is going my way. Nothing at all. The Holy Eye hasn’t been destroyed yet. What do the fools I sent to Azziz think they’re doing? How are they having trouble taking the city? Oh they’re all so useless! Every last one of them!
“…It’s all him.”
Him. It’s his fault. Everything I try to accomplish—he’s always standing in my damn way. Always stepping on my toes. Why does he annihilate every attempt I make at progress?
That scumbag.
“If only he weren’t here! In the end—”
This is all his fault!
It’s all his fault it’s all his fault it’s all his fault it’s all his fault it’s all his fault it’s all his fault all his fault all his fault all his fault all his fault all his fault all his fault all his fault all his fault all his fault—
“The damned nerve!”
Bang!
Vicius stamped her feet in rage, her eyes wide. Then she remembered Asagi’s words—relayed to her through her clone from the labyrinth.
“You should’a kept him close and finished him off for good as soon as you got the chance.”
It pains me to admit it—but in that, she had a point. I should not have disposed of him. I should have made certain that he was killed, regardless of the minor dimensional balance issues that might have ensued.
“…”
Too-ka Mimori’s unique skills. They turned out to be the awful cause of all this trouble. If only they had never existed. I did not think they would pose such a threat. Those E-rank skills, lowest of the low… Status effects.
Those skills are what boosted Too-ka Mimori into becoming as strong as he is now—transformed him into my greatest foe.
“How boring. Terribly uninteresting. Truly—deeply unpleasant.”
I detest from the very bottom of my heart the way in which that worthless bottom feeder has taken advantage of me. It makes my blood boil. How long has it been since I found myself so angry? And yet…in the end, he is nothing but an insect. What do I have to be afraid of?
“…”
Why? Vicius stopped and asked herself. Why did I leave this task to one of my clones and not set out in person to face them? Could I have changed the course of my disciples’ battles if I had charged out in support of them?
She looked around the throne room with fresh eyes.
Waiting here, within range of the enhancement provided by my divine carving. Waiting for the Holy Eye of Yonato to fall… This should be my surest road to victory. I could never be defeated within the bounds of this enhancement area. Nobody can beat me here. Not Seras, not Ayaka. Therefore, I am not wrong to remain here.
Yes… I planned on using my disciples and that clone to gather intel on those rebellious scumbags. I wished to discover their hidden powers and abilities, to know in advance how they fight and where their weaknesses lie. I also hoped to exhaust them along the way, seriously injuring or picking some off to make my job easier later. I shall make sure I claim victory…but is this really the correct way of doing it?
“It can’t be.”
I have heard this accusation before, of course… But it cannot possibly be true. Do I fear him? Am I running scared of that accursed fly—Too-ka Mimori?
“Ugh…scared of that brat?! Me…?!”
In the state they are in, Hijiri and Itsuki will be unable to provide much meaningful support. No… Hijiri still has enough MP remaining, that she may yet participate in this battle. I cannot afford to be careless. Yet given the way she struggled against Yomibito, she is a weakling as I always knew she was.
She lost in our duel even when I was weakened by the effects of the Demon King’s essence, after all. Then there is Ayaka Sogou—but she is unworthy of my concern also. She was a rank below Wormgandr, it seems. Wormgandr’s worthless convictions made him completely useless to me in the end…but I expect when he threw up the amalgam of Agit, that must have knocked Ayaka out of this battle. What a softie. It serves her right.
“Such a shame I was not there to see the look on Ayaka’s face, when she saw what Agit had been transformed into… Oh hoh hoh… Well, nevermind.”
This means it is that blasted fly, after all. Lokiella irritates me to no end, but she seems to have no more fighting strength remaining. I would even say that she has lost almost all of her powers as a divine. That seems a safe assumption. The member of the Forbidden Words Clan that I could not quite finish off in their entirety will be no threat to me, either. Asagi’s analysis was correct—their greatest strength lies in Too-ka Mimori.
“And yet… He is also their greatest weakness.”
Yes…the Lord of the Flies is my greatest obstacle.
He is the root cause of all my troubles. Everything… Everything, everything, everything, everything—everything!
“Hah…”
Calm down…think. Why do I assume that my defeat is assured? I can beat them all without breaking a sweat. So long as I remain within this space—within the bounds of the carving…
It was then that Vicius realized something.
Just a moment… This tactic of mine—waiting within the confines of this throne room under the influence of my divine carving—could this all be playing right into the hands of that devious fly? If he has Lokiella on his side, then he should be aware of the strength of my enhancement. Nyantan might also have leaked some intel to his side. This is the fly we’re talking about…will he really just walk straight through the doors of this room to confront me?
No. He will have some strategy, I’m sure…yes. He will be confident that I will not leave this place and will lay some trap for me on that assumption. I cannot possibly move exactly as he intends me to. That much has been borne out through all of the indirect conflict that we have engaged in thus far. So, staying here would be a bad move.
Or would it? Really? My thinking in this manner may lead me to set out from this throne room… Could that be what he truly wishes me to do? What is he even capable of? What can he do to stop me?
“…”
Given all he’s done—anything is possible. He will find some way to face me through raw determination. He will do everything in his power to eke out victory.
“Damn him…damn him…! That brat…!”
“Perhaps in a Divine Labyrinth, the entrants do not lose their way…but become lost in their minds instead.”
Vicius remembered those words now—those that had been spoken to her in explanation of the Divine Labyrinth’s features.
Ridiculous. Unthinkable, even. I was the one who manifested this maze—I cannot believe my own thoughts could ever become lost within its walls.
“Gah…”
What do I do? What’s my next move? Do I wait? Should I stay here? Is that the play—the right course, after all? Yes… I should not leave unless absolutely necessary. That is exactly what he wants me to do. He wishes me to leave… Yes—I should wait. This is for the best. I am sure that this is correct.
“…”
Vicius stood up from the throne.
No. I cannot.
That fly expects me to be here. That is how I should view my present situation. Remaining here in the throne room would clearly raise my odds of victory and, rationally speaking, I will of course select the option with the highest odds.
Waiting here for his arrival will also eliminate any other uncertainties that setting out might entail. He will know my thoughts, and that is how he will exploit my position. That is why I must be unpredictable—outwit him by taking unexpected action. I must throw him off his guard and interfere with his best laid plans.
With that, Vicius lunged from the throne room and out into the hallways of the castle.
***
When a person gets lost in the woods at night—the best course of action is most often to stay still and wait for morning to come. Walking around at night might only lead them deeper into the woods, and take them somewhere that a search party would never think of looking. It could use up valuable stamina and might also put them in danger. Nevertheless, a good number of individuals still walk around if placed in such a situation.
Vicius, a divine with some human characteristics, had the same feelings as a human lost in the woods. She could not help herself. Most of those that are lost cannot bear to just stay in one place. Waiting makes a person uneasy, and that stress and worry only balloons as the hours tick by. This is especially true when a person is in the dark. Imagine a deep and truly dark forest at 2 a.m. on a completely moonless night. Giving a person a flashlight in such a situation will only hurt them. Having a light source in hand makes a person want to move, to head toward salvation as soon as possible.
They tell themselves that they are doing the right thing. There are even times when their actions might prove to have been correct. In such cases, they work backward from the conclusion. Yet in this case, Vicius could simply not bear to stay motionless in the face of events unfolding around her.
***
As Vicius walked through the castle interior—transformed into a labyrinth by her spell—she made up her mind.
The deep purple spheres. It takes an inordinate amount of time to create just one, and only a single sphere can be in production at a time. I created them slowly, working them over day after day. Now I finally have this source of power—several, in fact—all in preparation for the fight in the heavens to come. I will be up against Origin, the chief deity, and Thesis, Origin’s number two. But…let me set that matter aside for now. I must put it out of mind. Right now, I must eliminate that Lord of the Flies.
Grasping the five deep purple spheres in her palm, Vicius tossed them back in one swift motion.
—Crunch, crunch—
She crunched and swallowed. The action was not just for enhancement. She required more spheres to create more useful clones for herself.
“I will kill them…every last one of them…”
I cannot be sure of my safety just yet. Not so long as the Lord of the Flies still lives. I suppose even if I do destroy that Holy Eye and make it up to the heavens…so long as the boy I once disposed of is still breathing, I will never have another good night’s sleep. I must destroy him. Him above all the others.
“Too-ka Mimori.”
I’ll murder him. Kill him.
Vicius realized she didn’t care anymore.
I don’t care about the heavens, I just want to kill him. I want peace.
Vicius had not consumed her deep purple spheres from the very beginning of the fight for a good reason—their effect decayed over time. The enhancements that her spheres granted her began to slowly fade away from the moment they were consumed. The enhancements also had a cooldown, which left her vulnerable for a period of time. In other words, for roughly two months after consuming one of her spheres, Vicius was limited.
If the overall limit of her power was 100, for instance, and a single deep purple sphere could grant her 5 points of additional power—then that additional power would slowly deteriorate over the course of a few days, leaving her with a power limit of 95 for a period of two months. Most importantly to understand, Vicius’s sphere enhancements gave her no permanent advantage, and it was easy to squander her precious resources. She would be foolish to consume all of her deep purple spheres in advance.
In addition, consuming extra spheres while her system was still recovering from the effects of a previous dose took a huge toll on her body, which put her in danger. Vicius had never pushed herself completely to her limit before—she had no idea how it would turn out. Perhaps she would break apart, a fragile vessel filled with too much overflowing power. What awaited beyond her limits was terrible danger.
But who cares now? I detest him too much for that to matter. Yes…even if I must use all my spheres—every last drop of my savings. Even if it means surpassing the limits of what I can take. Even in the worst case…we end up dying on each other’s swords.
I will murder him. That irritating, buzzing fly. No matter what.
“I will finish him here, in this Divine Labyrinth.”
I will bring this to an end, and do it by my own hand.
Everything will end.
Afterword
Afterword
WE’RE REALLY REACHING the climax of the story now—I think cliche phrases are perfect for this volume. Stories are hard to start writing, and really hard to keep writing. They get even more difficult the more seriously you take them, I think. I’m sure there are lots of stories in this world that just aren’t able to continue being told for many reasons, and to be honest, there was a time when I started to lose the pressing feeling that this story should have an ending. I think bringing a long serialization to a close is—as expected—an even harder thing to do. Nevertheless, I’d like to try my very best to end this story in a proper way (the sort of way that I’ve always thought it should end).
Also—and this is a bit of an aside—there was a scene in this volume in which Ikusaba Asagi starts talking about a “cat” that might come off as a little abstract in how I’ve written it. I did sprinkle in a number of hints in previous books, but just like Kobato, if you found yourself wondering “Huh? What’s going on with her?” during that scene, please feel free not to worry about that too much. (So long as you understand that something really important to Asagi happened during that scene, then that’s enough.)
I’d like to give my usual acknowledgments now. Thank you to my editor O-sama—it is thanks to you that these books have made it this far. I’d like to ask for your assistance as always in the next volume. Thank you so much to KWKM-sama for creating such wonderful visuals for this odd, out-there story. I would like to ask for your help again in the next volume. Thank you to Uchiuchi Keyaki-sama and Uyoshi Shou-sama. I feel that the world of this story is so much wider thanks to you, and your wonderful manga edition. I look forward to continuing to work with you.
It is thanks to all of you who continue to read the web version of this story that we have made it this far. I think one of the main reasons I felt like I had to keep going all this time, and keep writing, was because of the continued support that you have all given this work.
This novel would not have made it this far without you, the readers who have taken the time to buy this book for yourselves. Thank you. I would like to pay back this debt of gratitude in the next volume. Right then, I feel that this might be the last time I do this—but I hope to see you all in the next volume. Well then, goodbye.
—Shinozaki Kaoru