Category Archives: Arifureta

[Vol 8] Chapter 26 – Epilogue



Circle-warning.gif This chapter is translated by Cobalt
and is rehosted with due permission.

Legendary Great War.

The people naturally called the battle like that, a month had passed since that decisive battle where the fate of the world was staked.

After that decisive battle, the gates that were set up at every place were opened once more and the voices of a lot of people that celebrated their reunion and victory filled the prairie in front of the capital.

A few days after that, although there was some chaos due to the healing of the wounded, the confirmation and burial of the deceased, and the annihilation of the capital which caused the people to lose their place, due to the hard work of every representative that worked together for a common cause, the post-treatment of the war was carried out relatively smoothly.

Due to the collapsed God Mountain, the Hairihi kingdom capital was also destroyed by getting swallowed into it, the non-combatant that was unable to participate in the legendary great war――especially the craftsmen were wholly mobilized for the reconstruction, in addition the merchants and the common citizens also gave their maximum support and the work which caused the progress to move rapidly. On top of using magic, there was also the good will and proactiveness of the people all over the world which crossed over race or country to reconstruct the capital, it was to the degree that they calculated the capital might be able to recover its former appearance within half a year.

At the prairie where fierce ravages of the battle remained, using the wreckage of the fortress a lot of temporary residences were established that were mainly used for the people that engaged in the reconstruction to lodge at. There, kitchen and inn, general store and the likes were created one after another, to the degree that it might possibly turn into a part of the capital by linking it with the city’s expansion. Surely, the city would become even livelier even compared to when it had the God Mountain behind it.

The temporary establishment of the holy church was also created in that temporary housing town.

At that battle, the story was that the enemy was an evil god that pretended to be the god Ehitorujue, so the people still had their heart supported by the holy church which worshiped Ehito as a god. Although the God Mountain and the holy church’s headquarter had disappeared, but suddenly taking away that support would only make the people uneasy.

Having said that, for the people who knew the truth, they felt more than a little reluctance for the holy church to keep using the name Ehitorujue exactly as it was until now.

There with the speech of the ‘Goddess of Harvest’ Aiko, this kind of story was dispatched to the world.

It said, that the true name of god Ehito was Ehicliberei, for a long time the mad god――Ehitorujue had stolen this true name.

It said, that the ‘rebels’ or rather the ‘liberators’ who knew about the danger to the world from Ehito once challenged the mad god in order to regain the pure faith, but because of the mad god’s foul play, they were unable to defeat him.

It said, that in order to grant their own power to people who could possibly defeat Ehito, the liberators slept at the bottom of the great labyrinths. And then, the chosen people who were summoned from another world by god were awarded this power. Aiko was the spokesman of these people, while the person who received the most power was the ‘Goddess’s Sword’.

It said, like that Hajime and others splendidly defeated the mad god Ehitorujue that was hiding in Holy Precincts. However, due to the last resistance of the mad god Ehitorujue, it caused a collapse in order to take along the world to accompany him in his death. In response to that, the last liberator――Miledy Raisen who made her soul to possess a golem and had watched over the people all this time, she exchanged her soul for the world’s salvation.

A complete lie, it was not. The story matched the gist of the truth. By the way, the name Ehicliberei was a coined word with the meaning of ‘seven liberators’ put into it. It was the consideration for them that they would surely felt unpleasant to have the story of them cooperating with Ehitorujue to be taught to the future generations. If it was asked whose consideration it was, then it must be the one who thought of this story which was not a lie but also not the truth which was complicated in various meaning, a certain white haired eye-patched man somewhere.

Due to this speech of Aiko, the historians who were excited to leave this time’s legendary great battle’s record in writing at once raised the name of Miledy and others to the front stage of history once more as the seven great wise men who saved the world.

Regarding the new top brass of the church, it was composed of the priests of the remote region. The people who participated in the choir squad at that battlefield and managed to survive became the core of this new top brass. Most of them were people who clashed with the central church and then got exiled to the remote region, so their thought and ideology were also exceedingly sensible, many of them were a man of character so it was thought that there wouldn’t be any particular problem.

Regarding Raisen Great Labyrinth that was left behind by Miledy, Hajime created a living golem as the replacement of Miledy Raisen and stationed it there. It was equipped with gatling cannon, missile pod, and even pile bunker, so the difficulty level might be jumped up there.

Hajime didn’t particularly do anything to the other great labyrinths. Perhaps it had no more meaning, but his stance was that if anyone searched for power and wanted to challenge it then just challenged it.

Regarding Hajime’s quality artifacts that were lavishly used at the legendary great war, after Hajime awoke from fainting, he destroyed all of them. Gahard and some other people yelled “Stooop―!” while clinging to him, but Hajime turned everything into garbage right in front of their eyes. Hajime created an artifact to gather all artifacts that had his stamp, so there wouldn’t any that got overlooked.

Of course, the artifacts that Kam and others of Hauria possessed were left alone in their possession, though Haijme applied various work on those first.

It was irritating for Hajime when Gahard’s resentful eyes, or rather the eyes that looked like a child whose important toys were taken away were staring fixedly at him, so while he was at it Hajime gifted him with a small version Fernier. And at the next day, for some reason Hajime became the best friend of his majesty the emperor. It seemed that Gahard was really pleased with Fernier.

In preparation of the worst case that Gahard used Fernier to invade another country, Hajime made Liliana and Karm carry the remote switch for the self-exploding artifact. If Gahard knew of this…just what kind of face he would make. Hajime was really curious about it but with an effort, he endured to not ask.

Regarding the relationship between demi-human and human race, not only the people from the empire, the other humans were also in the process of changing their feeling toward the demi-human with whom they had fought together with through the legendary great war. As expected the fact that they had entrusted their lives to each other was enough to repaint their discriminatory view.

Of course, if it was asked if the two side could immediately join shoulders together, it wouldn’t be that easy, but even so, none was holding animosity to the degree where they could act hatefully with recklessness. There was also how they had witnessed the gallant effort of the dragon race, and above all else, there was the fact that a rabbit-eared girl and a dragon woman were among the comrades of the savior hero who stormed into the Holy Precincts.

The demi-human weren’t called as the abandoned race that didn’t possess god’s blessing anymore. Rather, it was obvious that the two demi-human would leave their page in history as a great person that stood side by side with the hero. No word of contempt could possibly be directed to such people.

Due to such reason, the social status of demi-human was beginning to be reevaluated rapidly among the human without anyone even needed to do particularly anything. As one part of that process, the holy church wouldn’t call them as ‘demi-human race’ anymore, from now on they would formally name them as ‘beastman race’, the official notice for that had been created.

Because of that too, the ‘Necklace of Pledge’ that had been attached on the royalty of the empire had also been dismantled. After reaching this stage with great pain where it might be possible for an amicable coexistence, to keep holding the life of the empire royalty would only break the ‘equal relationship’, causing a halt at the compromise between the two side.

Although, just because of that didn’t mean that there was no more guarantee from the empire side to stop the persecution to the demi-human and making them a slave.

“Meteor and sunlight laser, or fully equipped Hauria, which one is better?”

At the occasion where the ‘Necklace of Pledge’ was dismantled, Gahard asked “Do you believe that the empire won’t move for revenge?” with a fearless grin, and the sentence that Hajime gave back to him was that. It went without saying that after that all the close aides of Gahard swiftly demanded for a handshake of friendship. The empire was based on strength supremacy doctrine…

Now then, talking about equality between races there was the matter of the devil race.

They were invited into Holy Precincts and made to sleep at the lower strata domain, but for some reason they escaped the collapse of Holy Precincts and got thrown out at the wasteland at the outskirt of the devil race capital which was far away from the battlefield, after that they were discovered there still continuing to fast asleep.

Even at the present a month after the battle, that situation still hadn’t changed. Most likely they could be awoken immediately if regeneration magic was used on them, but right now everyone was busy with the post-battle treatment and rebuilding, there was really no leeway to wake up the existences that could possibly become a seed of conflict, so now they were sealed at a corner of the devil capital under strict monitoring. The seal was using Hajime’s artifact.

By the way, regarding the devil race people who were deeply carved with the terror of Hajime at the devil king castle, Hajime only said a word of “troublesome” and put them to sleep too. It would be troubling if they said something like ‘We are going to save our brethren!’ and rampaged, so Hajime quickly took measures.

Although, for them who had been planted with a lot of terror by Hajime, and furthermore, after they knew that Hajime had even accomplished the destruction of God Mountain and godslaying, it was really unthinkable that they would do anything stupid.

Now then, Hajime and others had busily moved around doing things like the kingdom capital reconstruction, the artifacts’ withdrawal, driving in the wedge to the empire, fabricating history, restoring the honor of the liberators, and various other things, but that didn’t mean that they were lending their hand in this and that of this world because of mere whim or sophistication.

Naturally their first objective was to return home to the birthplace earth――Japan.

During this one month, they continued to stay in this world and moved around was also doubling as killing time, and that was merely because they couldn’t go home. Having said that, it didn’t mean that they didn’t have the method to go home or anything, and it wasn’t also because they were unable to create the concept magic.

The reason was simple. There was no material to create the ‘Compass of Guidance’ and ‘Crystal Key’.

Concept magic was powerful. Even though Hajime was able to enchant mineral, but using average material would cause the item to explode when activated because it wouldn’t be able to endure the effect. Before the difficult undertaking that was crossing the world, they didn’t want to take any risky venture like ‘It should be usable if used only for one time!’

Besides, even though they were taking along Myuu and Remia together, but as expected Hajime wanted to prepare a return path home to this world for them, regarding Shia and Tio too, Karm and Adol and many other people were remaining in this world, Hajime thought that they would want to go home here sometimes to meet with their family.

And so, an artifact that would break after just one-time use would be troubling for that.

Having said that, speaking about a mineral that could endure concept magic and also had high affinity with magic, Hajime couldn’t think of anything else but the god crystal. But, they had finished confirming that there was no god crystal anymore at the abyss. Now that they didn’t have the compass, it wasn’t realistic to search for god crystal around the world when there was not even any guarantee that it existed.

And the idea that Hajime got when thinking of that, was that if it didn’t exist then he just needed to create it.

God crystal was the crystallization of magic power where magic power accidentally piled up for a long time of a thousand years. It was the solidification of the magic power of nature that was so vast it was absurd. The process was like water drops that bore a hole on a rock.

But, Hajime had no interest at all in staring at water drops boring a hole into a rock. Therefore, he just needed to twist such theory with foul play.

And then what he did based on that was creating an artifact that converged natural magic element in high speed using gravity magic which was a magic that interfered with the power of star, and then he used space magic which was a magic that interfered with boundary to pump the gathered natural magic element into artifact(pool of human population magic power).

Added with that, with Hajime who was a possessor of inhuman magic power as the first in the list, the otherworlder cheat group pumped in their magic power every day into the artifact.

As the result, after a month passed, they succeeded in creating a god crystal with diameter around fifteen centimeters. It only had around half the size of the god crystal that Hajime first discovered and it also didn’t produce ‘God Water’, but it was still an amazing material that could endure concept magic satisfactorily.

And then, finally, today Hajime started making ‘Compass of Guidance’ and ‘Crystal Key’.

The place was the fountain plaza at the outskirt of Fea Belgen. It was that place where Shia’s feeling came to a realization. Hajime and others, in this one month they were using this Fea Belgen which was the easiest place to spend time in as their base, so Aiko and the classmates were also staying here. They were human, but the beastmen were in great joy with the hero party’s stay there.

At the plaza, Shia and Tio, Kaori and Shizuku, and then Myuu and Remia were there. Other than them all the classmates had also gathered to look at the moment when the artifact for going home was completed. In addition, Liliana, Karm, and everyone else from Hauria clan and others were also there.

“Yosh, let’s do this Yue.”

“…Nn-”

Hajime and Yue were facing each other at the center of the plaza. Yue’s appearance now was her original girl figure. Sometimes she also turned into adult mode depending on her mood of the day, but this girl mode was used a lot because it was convenient for sitting on Hajime’s lap or getting hugged.

Hajime too now had his new artificial arm and eye back, the vampirization from Yue was also undone. Until they returned to earth, Hajime planned to get his hair turned black and coated his artificial arm with skin and so forth, as much as possible he wanted to return to his original appearance.

The excessively lovely Yue whose body was wrapped with chic goth loli outfit and Hajime were closing their eyes in concentration with the god crystal between them.

The classmates who were watching over them at the surrounding gulped.

In such atmosphere, the ceremony of concept creation finally began.

Inside the forest of Fea Bergen, golden and crimson magic power calmly began to twist up. From the beginning the magic power of two colors was spiraling while mixing with each other, it looked as though the two color was getting intimate with each other.

Before long the leaves of the trees were blown and scattered around while a torrent of magic power was climbing to the sky, a clear will began to reside in it. Regardless that it was unseen by eye, everyone who was there felt it, an overwhelming will that made the skin to have goosebump.

At the same time, the god crystal began to shine. The stormy torrent of magic power was focused and absorbed into the god crystal with amazing force.

Calmly, yet sonorously Hajime spoke the power of words.

“――’Transmute'”

Immediately the god crystal split into two. The ores other than god crystal that had been prepared beforehand instantly mixed and they were forming shape.

Unnoticed the stormy magic power was shining like a star between Hajime and Yue, the forest of Fea Bergen and the surrounding people were illuminated, their heart was charmed by the spectacle.

That radiance was also getting smaller bit by bit. “Hou” Here and there a sigh of admiration was leaked. It was unclear whether the cause of that was because of the artifact’s creation, or else if it was because Hajime and Yue who created this miraculous spectacle while snuggling close to each other.

And then, the light finally settled down, Yue and Hajime quietly opened their eyes. Ahead of their gaze was a compass and crystal key that were sparkling bright.

“…Hajime. Test it.”

“Okay.”

Yue said that while separating their hand gently. Obeying that, Hajime tried activating the compass. There was no problem, it seized the location of earth intuitively. And then the crystal key was also operating on space properly.

“O, oi, Nagumo. How is it? Everything fine?”

Endo Kousuke asked timidly after becoming unable to endure the tension. By the way, Kousuke who had received an amazing nickname from Hauria clan, and got a lover from the same rabbit clan (in this one month he had worked very hard. Especially he paid a lot of compensation with his shame while mass producing dark history of his life), now he had a lot of common point with Haijme, the two of them were unexpectedly getting along and in this one month they were building a relatively familiar relationship.

Looking at Hajime who reacted to Kousuke’s call, several of the classmates gulped loudly.

Hajime ran his gaze around the classmates whose expression was stiffening from nervousness.

And then, he grinned widely and wordlessly gave a thumb up. The meaning of that was obvious.

“Yossha―――!!”

“Hurraay!!”

“UOOOOOOO, we can go home! We seriously can go home!!”

“Nagumoo, no, you are Nagumo-sama already! Really thank you!”

“Fueeeeeeeen, I’m really glaaadd. Nagumo-kuuun, Yue-saaan, thank you!”

“Hajime-samaaa, please make me your slaveeeeee!”

“Yue-san, make me your peeet!”

Joyful cheers exploded, words of thanks rose one after another. It felt like there were some dangerous words mixed in, but it would be troubling if perverts came out even from among the classmates so Hajime beautifully ignored it. But, the guy who made a strange request to Yue would be strangled later, while making that vow, Hajime sat down with a thud from fatigue.

Yue also sat on his lap in a tired state. He circled his arms around her slender waist to support her and then she snuggled in real close.

There, sutetete― cute footsteps resounded.

“Papaaa!”

“Myuu”

Hajime skillfully caught Myuu’s small body that jumped energetically and placed her on the knee opposite of Yue with his support. As expected, Myuu was also snuggling in real close on him.

“Hajime-san! Me toooo”

Shia jumped pyon like a rabbit. The place that she embraced was Hajime’s right shoulder. His hand that was supporting Yue temporarily let go and patted Shia’s rabbit ear. Shia happily snuggled close to him.

“Hajime-kun, you did it.”

The one who was saying that while quietly snuggling close was Kaori. And it wasn’t with an apostle body. Now she was in her original body. Thinking of the difference of lifespan between her and Hajime and others, it would be better if she stayed inside apostle body. Kaori herself thought that, but Yue who had comprehended the secret technique of apostle creation during the time she was possessed by Ehito said that it was possible someday to turn Kaori’s body into apostle and surpassed the limit of her lifespan, so in the end Kaori returned to her original body. In actuality, she was already able to change into apostle mode temporarily, where in that state she was able to use silver wings and disintegration ability and also handled twin swords art.

That Kaori clung tightly on Hajime’s left shoulder. When she got her head patted, as expected she then snuggled close to him.

“Goshujin-sama’s world is surely fun isn’t it?”

“Surely you will be shocked by it there.”

Tio and Shizuku arrived. There was only the back that was left open. The gaze of the two crossed. A spark scattered between them. When they were about to aim at the last clinging position…

“My my, a good place is left open here. Ufufu. Dear, please excuse me.”

Remia who smoothly cut in clung tightly to Hajime’s back. ” “Aa-” ” Tio and Shizuku’s voice was raised. As expected from a widow. She couldn’t be made light of.

“Shia-san, haa haa, let’s get along well with me?”

“Gee, Altina-!”

Unnoticed Altina appeared behind Shia with her breathing getting rough “haa haa”. She was walking unsteadily like a zombie while approaching Shia’s back to cling there.

Shia whose rabbit ears stood tall with shudders running through them separated from Hajime to repel back Altina.

To take advantage of that opening, two more female approached with a jog…

“…Aiko-san? What could you possibly be planning to do?”

“Liliana-san yourself, what business do you have with him?”

Here too sparks were sparking off.

Hajime’s surrounding became noisy suddenly, even the classmates who cheered joyfully with each other began to notice the commotion.

Amidst all that, Yue sighed “fuu” toward the female camp who was noisily quarreling for Hajime. Hajime tilted his head asking “What’s wrong?” with his gaze, immediately after that Yue’s atmosphere changed from sweet to bewitching.

And then, Yue’s body shined flashily, and at the next moment, the adult version Yue appeared. Right after that, the adult version Yue easily tore off Kaori and Remia from Hajime, because of the sudden growth the length of the clothes became comparatively short, and with that amazingly risqué and seductive clothing, she hugged Hajime’s head onto her breast and Hajime’s head was buried munyuu! into those splendid twin hills.

The quarreling female camp raised “Ah” voice while Hajime leaked out a muffled voice “unmu-“. Myuu was still supported in one of Hajime’s arms.

“…By the legal wife’s authority, the noisy child will be prohibited.”

Gushing out sex appeal. The devilish beauty that would charm anyone without distinction of sex. The words of the adult mode Yue that was the personification of bewitching made everyone’s breath taken away. The female camp immediately tried to object, but when they were forestalled by the sidelong glance Yue sent them, immediately their cheeks reddened and their words “uu” got caught inside their throat. Even Yue’s self-acknowledged rival Kaori was like that. Speaking clearly there was no one that could go against Yue.

By the way, if it was asked what was the prohibition was referring to, it was referring at the permission to enter Hajime’s bedroom. In this one month, Hajime and Yue, and then Shia too had passed through several sleepless nights, but that was something that didn’t happen every day.

And then, even at night where Yue and Shia were not there, there were still women that warmed Hajime’s bed. It went without saying just who those women were. And it also went without saying just who was the one that was holding the baton of command. It could be easily guessed from the words ‘legal wife authority’.

“…Nn. As punishment, I will monopolize today.”

“Wai-, Yue, umu-!?”

Hajime who became gutless from getting buried in the twin hills, was raised up by Yue and at the same time he received a hot, and not just normal hot but a scalding hoooot kiss from Yue.

The female camp suddenly became noisy. And then, the classmates were also became overdosed with sweetness and got flustered (including a part of the female students who became excited in a dangerous sense).

Kaori and others raised a voice of protest and pleading toward Hajime and Yue whose lips separated with rough gasping.

“Tha, that’s not fair, Yue! I too with Hajime-kun…” (Kaori)

“E, err, me too…with Hajime…” (Shizuku)

“Goshujin-sama, please be with me.” (Tio)

“My my, dear, please take care of me too okay?” (Remia)

“Hau, Na, Nagumo-kun, me, me too…” (Aiko)

“Hajime-san…please…” (Liliana)

In addition, Shia who had just finished burying Altina to the ground with a backdrop was wordlessly sending Hajime a moist gaze. Myuu was tilting her head because she was not really understanding what was going on.

There, Yue opened her mouth while smiling softly.

“…Hajime. With whom you will do it?”

If Hajime was mischievously asked that by Yue, then his answer could only be one.

“Yue is the only option.”

“Kufuh…then, I’ll be kidnapping him.”

Saying that, Myuu was then enveloped gently by the wind and handed over to Remia, then Yue’s figure vanished with a whoosh while still embracing Hajime. It was the magic ‘Heaven Existence’ that Yue ripped off from Ehitorujue. In truth when Yue kissed Hajime she recovered by taking Hajime’s blood.

The plaza of Fea Bergen was once more filled with the protesting voices “Aaa――!!” of the female camp that was in love with Hajime.

“…God damnit. I’m so deathly jealous.”

“Yeah. Me too, I want to get kidnapped by that kind of beautyyy”

“But, this me who is feeling that if it’s Nagumo then it can’t be helped, it feels like I already lost something.”

Tamai Atsushi looked up to the sky and whispered, while Aikawa Noboru was earnestly in agreement, Nimura Akito shrugged and exposed an expression that couldn’t say anything.

“Aa, I totally understand you. It feels like I cannot make any word.”

“‘Well, it’s Nagumo after all’, this sentence is the recent popular phrase huh…”

Nomura Kentaro and Nagayama Juugo that heard the conversation of Tamai and others were smiling wryly while nodding. To that Nakano Shinji and Saito Yoshiki also made a dry smile that similarly couldn’t say anything.

“Haa haa, I want to be stepped on by Yue-san. I want to get ground down hard while getting scorned by those eyes…”

“You are going to the hospital right away after we go home okay? Have them look at your head.”

Amidst a part of the boys that were turning perverted, the other boys were smiling wryly while feeling envious and understanding, while also feeling complicated because they could be that understanding.

Nearby those boys, Miyazaki Nana was similarly leaking out a voice was filled with envy.

“How enviouuusss”

Sonobe Yuuka who tilted her head asked back “Which one that you mean?”

“Rather than which one, I think I’m more envious of that kind of relationship itself.”

“I really get what you mean. Certainly that’s envious isn’t it?”

Sugawara Taeko was making a girly expression while leaking out an admiring sigh “hou”. Yuuka smiled wryly toward her two best friends that didn’t even hide their longing while staring at the demon king harem members who were rushing into the forest to chase after the vanishing Yue and Hajime before she opened her mouth.

“How should I put it, Kaori-chan and Shizuku who stepped into that relationship, and then Ai-chan who got over various things, they are amazing.”

“…What’s with you all, getting like this. Crap, Nagumo-kun is seriously demon king-sama.”

“Haa haa, Hajime-samaaa, please make me your slave…”

“Let’s go to the hospital together when we go home. You need to get your head looked at.”

The conversations of the girl classmates came into hearing too, they expressed their feeling that envied Hajime and Yue’s relationship, while also giving their praise at Kaori and others who entered the harem. At the same time, their cheeks reddened from knowing that the harem already did it. Actually, quite a number of them harbored the feeling that if Hajime asked for them then they would respond to him. But Hajime wasn’t asking for them, so those feelings didn’t come into realization though.

“Suzu is not going after them?”

“No no, I’m not going. Just what are you saying so suddenly, Ryutaro-kun?”

Suzu was staring at the progression of the commotion while cackling, to such Suzu, Ryutaro who was at her side asked her that for some reason, to which Suzu tilted her head as though to say “Just what is this person talking about?”

“…No, if you ain’t going then that’s fine. See, your inside is a perverted old man yeah, so I thought that somehow you would get carried away saying ‘me too’ and charged into there or something.”

“…Oi, are you calling me a pervert without integrity, you *******. I wonder, do I actually need to have a talk with Ryutaro-kun regarding your impression of me?”

“No, because, you see, fundamentally you are a pervert after all…”

“Okay, you are asking for a fight right? You want to fight aren’t you? I’ll let you eat to your heart’s content you know, this evolved Barrier Burst of mine.”

Ryutaro scratched his cheek lightly while speaking his honest opinion, hearing that a vein appeared on Suzu’s forehead while her hand reached toward her restored iron fan. Looking at that, Kouki rushed in panic to stop her.

“Su, Suzu. Calm down-. Ryutaro doesn’t mean anything bad with what he said, rather――”

“Kouki-kun shut up. This muscle brain who had forgotten the concept of delicacy inside her mother’s stomach, he had to get talked strictly with at least once!”

Suzu cut off Kouki’s words and howled fiercely. However, if Suzu talked about him until that far, then it would make Ryutaro wanted to at least object.

“Oy you! I don’t want to be told that I get no delicacy or whatever by the girl who wanted to go peeking at the bedroom of Nagumo and others at the middle of the night! You yourself, you actually had thrown away this thing called a woman’s shame at the roadside around there ain’t you?”

“Tha, that’s, because! I just got bothered! This is the love affair of one-sama and others you know!? It will be a loss of your life if we don’t burn that scene into our eyes at least once you know!?”

“Who give a damn! Besides, if you want to see it that much then you can just go alone. Think about my feeling who got woken up at night and got taken along to peep!”

“That was my kindness to the no good Ryutaro-kun! Understand that!”

“Don’t ********! Something like getting invited by a girl of the same age, to peek at the ero scene of the classmates, there is a limit even to being awkward! Or rather I don’t get what you mean!”

The giant and tiny girl quarreled(?) noisily gyaa gyaa. The surrounding sent lukewarm gaze at the two who recently caused this kind of spectacle relatively often. And then, the gazes toward Kouki who was completely flustered around the two was also lukewarm.

The shining charisma when they were first summoned here was already gone, in this one month, Kouki had earnestly lowered his head to everyone and his former impressive presence was thoroughly disappearing. The gaze of the surrounding to him was still cold, filled with wariness and suspicion. Kouki who had resolved himself was merely accepting those emotions silently.

His expression was constantly hard, smeared with guilt and regret. The classmates who knew the former Kouki who always helped people without distinction, although at first they held suspicion at Kouki who betrayed them, but seeing Shizuku and others who had staked their lives to take him back, and their own feeling who simply didn’t want to lose anymore classmate, and then looking at Kouki who felt more regretful than anyone else, working hard trying to change himself, caused the classmates to try to accept him for the moment.

Kouki who lost his former smile, but at the side of Ryutaro and others, he was showing a slightly soft expression even while looking flustered, seeing that expression made the classmates feel a bit relieved. Because even though they had lost a lot of things, but somehow, the important thing from before they were summoned was coming back for a little bit, they felt such feeling from that expression.

With the commotion of Ryutaro and Suzu as the center, coupled with the confirmation that they could go home, the classmates also started making a ruckus with a bright expression.

The smiles of them who knew firsthand that in life, there were times where they had to fight with their life on the line…were really powerful.

Now then, if it was asked where were Hajime and Yue who teleported went….currently both of them were under the great tree. Hajime asked for a place where no one would intrude and also had a tasteful atmosphere, so this was the designated place that fulfilled both conditions.

Hajime was holding hand with Yue who went back into girl mode, their fingers interlocked with each other, the two of them were relaxedly walking toward the base of the great tree.

The weather today was clear, sunlight brightly poured down through the trees in this place where mist didn’t enter.

“Yue, use regeneration magic.”

“…Nn? Understood.”

If the entrance to the great labyrinth was closed, then the great tree would return into a dead tree. Presently, the great tree in front of their eyes was withered. If regeneration magic was applied, it would recover its green color. Yue understood that, but she didn’t understand why it was necessary when they had no plan to enter inside.

Yue tilted her head with slight doubt, but she somehow guessed that Hajime was merely wishing to see a more beautiful scenery, she smiled while applying the magic.

Instantly the great tree was overflowed with green while emitting light. The sunlight that shined through the branches and leaves were creating several angel’s ladders. If the tranquil atmosphere was combined with the splendorous great tree that could be associated with the world tree Yggdrasil in myth, the place would become something beautiful that was even more fantastical, or even mystical.

Hajime nodded in satisfaction before he took Yue’s hand and led her to the base of the great tree. And then, like that he sat down and put Yue on his lap. It was a posture where he was embracing her from behind. The Yue in girl mode settled snugly on Hajime’s chest.

While feeling each other’s warmth and pulse for a while, they tasted the silence. The sound of leaves rustling that was audible sometimes and the breeze that caressed the skin felt pleasant.

Before long, after enjoying the nature enough to their heart’s content, Hajime softly opened his mouth, whispering into Yue’s ear.

“Yue.”

“…Hm?”

“There is something I want to show you.”

“…Something to show?”

“Yeah. Actually, this is something that should be shown to you faster but…it’s something important so I was looking for a good timing, but it got postponed until the end like this. Sorry.”

“…? I don’t really understand but, if Hajime thinks that now is the right time, then that’s fine.”

Hajime’s eyes softened at Yue who looked up from his chest to stare at him. And then, he kissed softly at her beautiful golden threads that rustled in the wind while taking out an artifact.

That was a small transparent ore that looked like a diamond. The image recording artifact that he discovered at the sealing room in the abyss.

Hajime kept embracing Yue tightly and lifted the artifact forward before activating it. The artifact shined, and suddenly an image was projected. Seeing the person that appeared there, Yue opened her eyes wide in shock and murmured in a daze.

“…Oji, sama?”

Hajime wordlessly strengthened his arms that were embracing Yue. It was unclear whether it was unconsciously or consciously, but Yue was also gripping tightly the hands of Hajime around her waist.

In front of those two, the person in the image recording――Yue’s uncle, Denreed Gardia Wesperitirio Avatar slowly began to talk.

{…Aleytia. Long time no see, I wonder if saying that is a little wrong. I think that you are surely hating me. No, surely word like hate will not be enough at all. What I did……aa, that’s not it. This is not what I want to say. Even though I have been thinking of various things, now that the time has come to leave my last will I cannot speak smoothly.}

While making a self-depreciating wry smile, Denreed pulled himself together by clearing his throat.

{That’s right. First let me say my thanks. …Aleytia. Surely, right now on your side there should be someone who you are trusting from the bottom of your heart. At the very least, that person must be a strong person who could obtain metamorphosis magic and able to challenge the true Orkus, a person who didn’t abandon you from the guardian that I prepared and rescued you.}

Hajime’s eyes were closed. As though to listen to those words, or possibly to lament the departed.

{…You. You there who is close to my beloved niece. I wonder if you are male? Or else are you female? For Aleytia, what kind of existence are you? Are you her lover? Are you her friend? Or do you become her family, or her comrade? My apologize that I cannot meet you directly to say my thanks, but I still want to say it no matter what. …Thank you. For saving this child, for being close to her, thank you. I offer you my greatest gratitude in my whole lifetime.}

Yue didn’t even twitch. What Hajime could see were only her glittering golden threads that were sparkling from reflecting light.

{Aleytia. Surely many questions are flooding inside your chest. Or else, perhaps you have already know the truth. Just why, that day, I hurt you, and buried you inside that bottom of darkness? What kind of existence are you, and who is your true enemy?}

The story that was talked from there was the facts that they already knew and speculation that didn’t miss from the truth.

Namely, that Yue was born as a miko (TN: Usually miko is a shrine maiden, but from the kanji it can be interpreted as god child), and she was aimed by Ehitorujue. Denreed who noticed that pretended to kill Yue in his coup d’etat with the disguise that he was blinded by greed, he then sealed her in the abyss, the room where she was sealed itself was a hidden place that could fool even the god. The sealing of Yue was also a bitter choice for him so that her presence couldn’t be possibly detected even for a bit.

{I was hesitating whether to tell you the truth or not until just before that day. But, for the sake of deceiving those guys with certainty, I judged that I shouldn’t tell you. I also thought that if you hate me, then that would be a motivation for you to live.}

Surely Denreed also couldn’t stay for long in the sealing room. That was why, after pretending to kill Yue at the palace, there was no doubt that there was also no time for him to talk with her.

Just how filled with bitterness that choice that he made, it was shown by the strength of his hand clutching at the other side of the image.

{Even so, it doesn’t change that I had hurt you. I won’t say anything like your forgiveness after this late. However, I want you to please believe only this. I want you to know this.}

Denreed’s expression changed from anguish, into an expression of smiling while crying. That look was overflowing with gentleness and kindness, at the same time, it was also filled with a hopeless sadness.

{I love you, Aleytia. I love you from the bottom of my heart. I have never thought of you as bothersome, not even for once. ――I thought of you as my daughter.}

“…Oji, sama. Den-ojisama. I-, I too…”

Thought of you like a father. That feeling was flowing down along with the tears that traced through her cheek, unable to form into words. But, the strength of the hand that was clutching Hajime’s hand conveyed that feeling more eloquent than anything.

{I’m sorry that I couldn’t protect you. I’m sorry that I couldn’t do anything but to entrust you to someone in the future. I’m sorry that I act like a pathetic father.}

“…Such things-”

What was in front of their eyes was a recording of the past. It was nothing more but Denreed’s last will. But, such thing was irrelevant. Yue couldn’t help but yell no matter what.

Something shining was gathering at the corner of Denreed’s eyes. But, he didn’t let that flow by any means. While enduring tightly, he spun words toward his beloved daughter with all his heart.

{I wanted to be at your side, seeing your figure when you grasped your own happiness someday. It was my secret dream to punch the man standing at your side once. And then, after that, I wanted to exchange sake with him, and say “please take care of my daughter”. It was the partner that Aleytia chose. Surely, he would make a firm promise with a serious face.}

Denreed was looking at far away as though seeing a dream at the other side of the image. By any chance, there might be the Yue of the past at the direction of his gaze.

{It will be the time soon. There are more things that I want to talk, various things that I want to convey but…with my creation magic, I can only make an artifact of this degree.}

“…no-, I don’t wanna-. Oji-sa, Otou-sama!”

Denreed smiled wryly at the approaching limit of the recording, to that Yue reached her hand while crying. Her uncle, no, her father’s deep and deep affection, and that tragically tough resolve fiercely shook Yue’s heart, indescribable feelings were overflowing out.

Hajime hugged Yue even tighter.

{I cannot be on your side anymore, but even if this life is about to run out I’ll continue to pray. Aleytia. My beloved daughter. I wish for infinite happiness to shower above your head. For you to walk a path that is warmer than sunlight, and gentler than moonlight.}

“…Otou-sama-”

Denreed’s gaze wandered. Surely that was because he was imagining the person who was being close with Yue.

{To you who is very close with my beloved daughter. It doesn’t matter what kind of shape it is. Make that child, to be the happiest girl in the world. Please, I beg you.}

“…Naturally. I swear it with my life.”

There was no way Hajime’s words reached him. But, without any doubt, Denreed was smiling in satisfaction. Surely he was convinced of how the person in the future who listened to his words would answer. In various senses, he was a preposterous person. Perhaps it was just as expected from Yue’s father.

The recording was fading down. Denreed’s figure melted into empty air. It was as though his soul was going away…

Yue and Hajime were snuggling to each other so close that they wouldn’t separate no matter what while gazing straight ahead, there the last words of Denreed resounded.

{…Sayonara, Aleytia. I wish that the whole world that is surrounding you, to be filled with happiness.}

Inside the deep forest, a crying voice was echoing.

It contained sadness. However, that was not all there was to it, it was a voice that was choked with warm tears of gratitude. That warmth gently enveloped Hajime.

Yue rotated her body and clung to Hajime’s chest. There she vented her emotion to her heart’s content.

It was unknown how long time passed like that.

Before long, Yue quietly lifted her face that was wet with tears. Hajime’s hand gently wiped on those cheeks.

“Yue.”

“…Nn.”

While holding Yue’s cheeks, Hajime spun his words along with a gaze that was filled with love and resolves.

“I, am the happiest man in the world. The proof of that, is inside my arms like this right now.”

“…Nn. Then, I too, is the happiest woman in the world. The proof of that, is how I’m embraced like this right now.”

In a distance where their lips could touch anytime, while feeling each other’s breath, the two of them stared at each other. It felt funny for some reason, both of them chuckled a bit.

While chuckling like that, Hajime suddenly took out a ring. It was a simple silver ring. There was no special ability that was enchanted in it. If he had to say what was special about it, then it was a staggeringly tough ring, that was it.

That ring which was glittering brightly from reflecting the sunlight, was stared by Yue whose eyes were similarly glittering brightly.

“…nn. Proposal?”

Once, those words were said jokingly when Hajime handed her the accessories of magical bright stone series in the Orkus Great Labyrinth. At that time, Hajime spontaneously retorted but…

“That’s right.”

“…u”

This time, he responded straight back. His serious gaze was seriously conveying his feeling to her. As expected, Yue got shy and couldn’t even say her usual “…nn”. Her cheeks were already bright red like an apple.

“At Japan, the custom is for the man to say [Please give me your daughter] to the partner’s father. That’s why, I thought to say it in this place where Yue realized the true feeling of your father.”

“…Nnu”

Because the one these words should be said to have gone, Hajime said it to the person herself.

“I want Yue. Everything of you, give it to me from here on until the future ahead too.”

“…au”

Yue writhed.

Things like a reply or whatever, were obviously decided already.

A flower bloomed. The loveliest flower in this world. If there was a flower language for it, then the meaning would be unquestionably ‘happiness’.

Yue answered, along with a smile that was gloriously blooming in full.

“…Nn-!!”

The ring that indicated eternity was fitted into the ring finger of the left hand that Yue presented forward. There was one more ring. This time Yue was the one who fitted it into Hajime’s ring finger.

They showed the ring to each other, and then, they chuckled together.

After a while, Yue floated a mischievous smile while asking.

“…Then? How many rings Hajime are preparing after this?”

“…Yue. I think asking that in this kind of time is problematic.”

“…Give it to Shia next.”

“That’s why, enjoy the afterglow a bit more before saying that…”

Hajime was about to protest at Yue who was leaking out a teasing smile, but then his lips were blocked by a finger. Like that Yue directed her gaze to the beyond.

Hajime who got lured by that and followed her gaze caught the sight of Shia and others running from inside the sea of trees. It appeared that Yue made such question because she noticed their presences.

“…Fufu. If it’s Hajime, then you can make everyone happy together.”

“If looked with common sense, I’m just a lowly ******* though.”

“…Common sense doesn’t work for the demon king-sama. Besides, no matter what shape it is, if the people themselves are happy then there is no problem.”

“Well, I have determined and resolved myself so I have no hesitation anyway. Everyone, is mine.”

“…Nn. That’s my Hajime. But…”

Yue’s eyes shined.

And then,

“…I won’t hand over the ‘special’ position.”

Saying that, Yue seized Hajime’s lips.

From afar, with Shia, Tio, Kaori, Shizuku, Myuu, Remia, Aiko, Liliana as the first on the list, people were gathering one after another. The quiet and mystical place immediately became noisy like in the middle of a city.

While half of his sight was filled with the lovely vampire princess, Hajime looked at the girls at the other side and thought…

(Now then, when I introduced to Tou-san and Kaa-san, that everyone is my wives, what will happen huh…)

It seemed doubtless that even in Japan, Hajime would be in a whirlpool of turmoil.

However, surely Hajime would overcome everything of those. Crushing irrationality with irrationality, rewriting absurdity with absurdity, and if needed even fate would be destroyed, together with the ‘precious’ that he obtained in this world.

While making a gentle and also powerful smile, like now.

The tale of the young man who was summoned into another world, gifted with nothing but the talent of a common job, getting rid of even god while arriving as the world’s strongest, had the curtain lowered now with this.

After returning to Japan, due to the turmoil that was caused by the return of the group who got spirited away, the wives problem of Nagumo family, the rabbit ear legend of Akihabara, etc, etc, it went without saying that Hajime and others would go through uncommon everyday filled with turmoil.

Those stories, would be told at another chance someday…

~The End~



 

[Vol 8] Chapter 25 – The World’s Strongest By Common Job



Circle-warning.gif This chapter is translated by Cobalt
and is rehosted with due permission.

creak, crack The barrier that Yue deployed was cracking.

The bombardment of light was unceasingly increasing in power in order to annihilate anything and everything.

{This place is Holy Precincts. Despite my body is being only a soul right now, just overwhelming the exhausted you two is not a difficult matter-! I’ll blast away irregular before the eyes of the vampire princess, and then, I’ll plunder that body once more!}

Ehitorujue’s voice echoed through the whole space.

Seeing how Ehitorujue didn’t use both penetrating attacks like the divine sword or divine flame, or space crossing attack like lightning divine spear that used Heaven Existence, the damage from the conflict against Yue’s soul and Bullet of Blood Pledge seemed to make Ehitorujue considerably exhausted.

But, even so the light bombardment was still tremendous. That was surely the original magic power light of Ehitorujue. From a glance, the light was radiant in a display of its divinity. But, it continued endlessly just like a bombardment, loud laughter that contained rage and madness were making the divine aura of the light to end in vain.

{Come, stop your useless resistance and repent. Now that your last hope has been severed, there is already no meaning in anything that you do!}

The light swelled up. The cracks on ‘Holy Severance’ were gradually getting larger.

It seemed that Ehitorujue’s pride was greatly wounded from being done in by Hajime and Yue, to the degree that he didn’t give careful consideration for Yue’s body state with his attack. He was surely thinking that he could just use ‘Automatic Regeneration’ after he repossessed the body. Rather than that, he put more importance in creating a spectacle where Hajime got erased away in front of Yue’s eyes without her being unable to do anything.

It appeared that Ehitorujue was convinced that such tragic future would come true. Hajime who was wounded all over with his two trump cards, the concept magic used up couldn’t possibly have any reserve power anymore, he thought. Even the liberators where they had seven members before could only create three concept magic.

Hajime creating two concept magic could even be said as a miracle due to the strength of his feeling toward Yue.

For that reason,

“It’s the end with this, just who was saying that’s the case huh?”

{Still bluffi――}

Ehitorujue’s words stopped midway.

That was because behind the barrier, he saw the figure of Hajime floating a diabolical smile, his lips splitting widely like a crescent moon. Even though Ehitorujue didn’t have a flesh body, yet that expression made a chill to rush through his body.

“Yue.”

“…Nn. Leave it to me.”

The two were on the same page. Even without knowing at all regarding the detail about the card that Hajime had, Yue clearly understood what it was that Hajime wanted just like the back of her own hand. That was why, excessive word was unnecessary. With the resoluteness that this would be the last, Yue roared her magic power and poured strength into ‘Holy Severance’.

Metal particles converged on Hajime’s hand. What he was transmuting was a single bullet. There was nothing special in it at all, it was just a mere bullet.

However, there Hajime gritted his teeth audibly. And then with a ‘puih’ he spat out something, the last concept magic that he crammed and hid in one of his teeth――Reject All Existences(Anything and Everything, Just Disappear)

That concept magic which was thought to be lost together with the breaking down of the chain where it was enchanted in, Hajime somehow managed to use Convergence Transmutation to secure some of it even though he could only gather about the amount of his pinky finger, he then processed it and put it at the back of his teeth beforehand. It was for the sake of this time.

Hajime himself was surprised that the concept still remained when he gathered it even after the chain turned into very small pieces, but surely that showed just how extreme the emotion of emptiness that he felt when Yue was taken away. It was a terrifyingly deep emotion.

To the very end, the Blade of Blood Pledge and the Bullet of Blood Pledge were for the sake of rescuing Yue. Therefore, since the start, the finishing blow was intended to be carried out by this bullet of concept, filled with the pure wish of destruction. The tooth was small, but nevertheless it was emitting a definite presence, using transmutation the bullet was then got coating by it.

{That’s-}

“The reason Aruvheit died wasn’t because he was a god. He was merely got dragged into my rampage when I snapped because you all laid your hand on Yue, that’s all. Something like the concept of godslaying, there is no way I can create something like that don’t you think?”

{You, you basta――}

Hajime corrected the misunderstanding that Ehitorujue had.

That whether it was Ehitorujue, or whether it was Aruvheit, Hajime didn’t oppose them because they were ‘god’ that acted tyrannically in this world.

They incurred the wrath of Nagumo Hajime.

That was all there was to it, the reason that Ehitorujue and his conspirators got ruined.

Being informed that implicitly, Ehitorujue lost his words. Because he noticed, that for Hajime, there was not that much difference between him the god and the random monster that attacked Hajime.

Regardless of the overwhelming gap in power between them, but Hajime’s attitude against Ehitorujue was exactly the same like how he treated all the opponents that came to crush him until now. That was, ‘you are the enemy so I’ll kill you’. Truly there was nothing special or anything in how Hajime acted against this god.

{Do, don’t screw, you *******-}

Ehitorujue talked with babbling words. The humiliation he felt was too great, and not only that, the concept that was now aimed at him was too atrocious, the black purpose that wanted to destroy Hajime right now without delay and his instinct that wanted to run away right now were struggling inside him.

That hesitation became fatal for him.

“This is checkmate, small fry.”

With fearlessly crooked lips, Hajime loaded the bullet he held in his mouth into the derringer pistol, and then he pulled the trigger without hesitation along with some sharp words. The loaded Existence Rejection bullet became a crimson flash that was fired. Yue made the barrier to be able to be passed through with a superb timing, regardless of the bombardment of light, the attack of destruction was annihilating what it touched from the outset.

Although it was too late, Ehitorujue chose the option to evade which displayed his unease but…

“I command under the name of Yue-, ‘Don’t move’!”

{Ridiculous-}

After having her body taken over, Yue felt the flow of power inside the body many times over, she watched and listened to its result. For the genius of magic that was counted as a part of the strongest people in a war-torn era when she was merely a ten years old, there was no reason that she would be unable to do that.

Her magic power had already reached the very bottom. But, so what, she scolded her mind that was blacking out with her strength of will, she forcefully twisted her body that was pleading to her that it was the limit and squeezed out magic power, she also circulated the magic power that she was consuming for ‘Holy Severance’ and activated the magic――Divine Statement.

Surely Ehitorujue never thought that his own magic would be used back on him even in his wildest dream. Compared to the Divine Statement that Ehitorujue used, what Yue used was somewhat of a shoddy quality, however, it still splendidly restrained the target.

{I am-, I am the god!! Irregulaaaaaar!!!}

A shriek.

The crimson flash of ruin approached. Even though there was no face, but it was clear to see. Ehitorujue right now was showing an expression of terror. The impossible scene, the unbelievable reality, the sound of his path that he believed, without a doubt, would continue for eternity was crumbling fragilely resounded.

However, no matter how much he was denying reality, no matter how godly he was, even though he yelled how absolute he was…emotionlessly, heartlessly, irrationally, the murderous roar that the monster raised destroyed anything and everything in this world.

That was the reality.

Therefore,

{――—!!!!!!}

The crimson flash pierced through the torrent of light, erased the shriek, smashed the gruesome future――and penetrated the mad god’s chests.

Soundlessly, the crimson flash disappeared toward the faraway white space.

The torrent of light dispersed, Ehitorujue trailed his hand on the hole gaping wide open in his chest. And then, he raised a wordless scream while his hands moved as though tearing off his chest, or possibly desperately attempting to plug off the hole, exposing a state that even made anyone felt pity to him.

{aaAA, ridiculous…such thing…impossible}

Although he leaked out words that denied the reality, his body of light was still crumbling with the hole on his chest as the center of the breaking down.

And then, at the end, with one more whisper of “…impossible”, the light humanoid form that was Ehitorujue melted into empty air and vanished.

The radiance of ‘Holy Severance’ melted into the empty air at the same time before Yue limply fell down and sat on the ground femininely.

Hajime slowly lowered down the small gun.

Silence wrapped the area.

Other than the slightly rough breathing of Hajime and Yue, there was no sound at all.

Yue earnestly lifted up her eyelids that were trying to close even now while slowly looking back over her shoulder with a smile.

Toward that, Hajime too returned a smile…it was at that moment,

“Yue-!”

“――”

Hajime’s impatient voice resounded in warning.

To that Yue held her breath, at the same time a weird shrike that sounded unthinkable to come from this world resounded.

――aaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!

At the same time, an invisible violent impact became a storm that attacked the two.

Unable to even resist Yue was sent flying, sending her on Hajime’s chest with her back to him. Haijme immediately circled his hand around Yue and twisted his body, covering her from the shockwave with his own body.

Thunderous sound.

That was the sound of the tiered gallery Hajime was half buried into getting pulverized into small pieces. It was lucky that he wasn’t pressed by the impact onto the chalk white wall, but it didn’t change that the abnormal shockwave was showering on him.

Hajime kept covering Yue in his embrace while he got blown away like a leaf toyed by a storm along with the wreckages of the tiered gallery, he then got bounced on the ground many times before he finally stopped.

“Guh, gahah, Yue-…”

“…Nnh, Ha, jime…”

Hajime called to Yue while vomiting blood everywhere. Yue only got a little damage because Hajime covered for her, but even so she seemed to be injured to the degree that she was unable to properly move.

Both of them linked their hand together and somehow stood up by supporting each other. And then, they observed the surrounding while sweating coldly.

“Oi oi, what the hell is that…”

“Haa haa…looks like…the Holy Precincts itself, get affected.”

Exactly as Yue said, here and there cracks entered the white space, there were also spots that looked twisted like jelly, showing that the space was clearly getting unstable. At the distorted spots, sights of unknown worlds, familiar worlds, and the scene of the surface were projected and disappeared, the sceneries were repeatedly projected and vanished.

And then, the source of the weird shriek and tremendous shockwave was…

“…Actually, the last boss, still has two transformations left…is this something like that? Well, in a sense, this is a normal template though.”

“…Nn. He is, already, just a monster…”

At the place where Hajime and Yue’s gaze were directed, clad in muddy black miasma that was being spouted out from the distorted space, or possibly it was absorbing the miasma, even now the thing that was Ehitorujue was raising a strange shrieking voice.

{uuu, AA, aa–――}

As though getting attracted by that extremely unpleasant groan which rubbed the mind of the listener the wrong way, miasma was gathering endlessly from the distorted space at the surrounding, from inside the miasma they could perceive figures that seemed to be monster or apostle. But, all those figures were being sucked into Ehitorujue without showing any resistance at all while staring blankly into empty air.

And then, there was more unpleasant sound resounding. beki-, gokyu, gucha, boki- Just like the sound of bone and bone grinding at each other, or like flesh and flesh crushing each other, graphic sounds were echoing from inside the miasma.

At the same time, intermittent words were spreading with echoes.

――Don’t want…to die-, don’t want, to…di…e

――Why…eno, ugh…you, said…I don’t, understand…don’t, want…to, die-

――Etern, nal……ly…everything…

――Go, d…I, be…come…god, already…ye, t…why…

――Mis…taken, no…..such, thing, I, am the…

――O, bey…everything…..break…sma, sh…

――Cho…ke, ye…ll…lament…gri, ef…

――Don’t, want…don’t, wanna…di, e-

Those words were an obsession to life, a deep resentment toward others, a childish self-righteousness, a vulgar self-conceit, merely an inexcusable outburst of anger.

But, whether it was the feeling of not wanting to die, or even the feeling of wanting to become alone and destroy anything and everything…it was something that he really didn’t want to acknowledge that he felt disgusted from the bottom of his heart but, Hajime could understand those feelings completely.

His heart changed at the bottom of the abyss thinking that other people were worthless, he pawed on the ground to survive even by slurping blood and flesh. When Yue was stolen, he rampaged wildly and even created a concept that brought about extreme destruction from his empty feeling.

“…That is, by some chance, if I…wasn’t able to meet Yue and others…that――”

Might be me. The lips of Hajime that were going to murmur that were blocked by the slender index finger of Yue.

And then, she silently shook her head and gently denied it with a whispering voice.

“…Hajime is different from that. …Even that thing, surely had people who thought of him, someone that he ought to reach out to, and also someone that reached out to him. The result of not looking back on those, is that.”

Yue’s crimson eyes gently squinted.

“…The path, Hajime has walked until now. That is Hajime’s everything.”

Even when his heart changed, the scream that was raised at the bottom of the abyss reached him. Even while saying that the matter of this world was inconsequential, in the end, he saved a lot of people. The path that he had walked like that stopped Hajime’s rampage.

That was why, even though the two might look similar, but the two of them were completely different.

That was why, Yue said, don’t look down on my Hajime.

She told that. Conveyed that to him.

“…If that’s what Yue said, then that must be so.”

“…Nn-”

Hajime made a wry smile from basking in sentimentality in the middle of this absolute great crisis of all place, and also from being scolded at this very late hour. Toward such Hajime, Yue also smiled gently.

Even while they were doing that, the thing that was Ehitorujue continued to spout out his selfish emotion that was unbearable to listen on, on the contrary, its soul was absorbing the miasma and the ruins of monsters and apostles with terrific momentum.

Ehitorujue was obviously losing sanity. Thinking from how the space was getting unstable, the cause wasn’t only because of the previous shockwave, obviously the cause was from Ehitorujue’s abnormality. In other words, that meant that the bullet of Existence Denial had certainly granted a lethal damage to Ehitorujue.

Even so he didn’t vanish, in his rejection he took in the miasma and the monsters into himself to compensate for his vanishing existence, this was surely Ehitorujue’s earnest desire of survival and the strength of his obsession for control.

Ehitorujue that could vanish anytime was holding out only with his tenacity, however, Hajime and Yue didn’t have any way to give him the finishing blow.

Their magic power had dried up, they were wounded all over and unable to even stand up properly.

The trump cards that Hajime prepared had been all used up. Hajime could do nothing but smiling bitterly toward that fact. Truly, this world’s difficulty level was a bit too hard to be expressed with the word of fantasy which was packed with dream and hope.

But, at that time, the miasma that was covering the area around Ehitorujue ruptured and blew off.

The thing that was Ehitorujue was still enveloped in whirling black mist, but now his full figure could be seen clearly.

“That is seriously a monster huh.”

“…Nn. Rather that looks pitiful.”

The impression of the two was frank.

What was there was a lump of meat. Flesh, bone, and skin of several races were haphazardly combined with limbs jutting out from the wriggling meat lump. Several tentacles were undulating, looking extremely grotesque. That figure would make people lost their sanity and felt like vomiting just by its appearance.

The thing that was Ehitorujue which was reduced into that meat lump suddenly shrieked.

――GiiaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-!!!!

A storm immediately blew violently. Black miasma whirled, invisible shockwaves that centered on the meat lump blew away the chalk white ground.

The shockwave was emitted radially without any direction, even so it hid a force to the degree that even Hajime and Yue who were already thrown to considerable distance were blown away even further.

Hajime and Yue were blown away while leaking out agonized voice, even then their linked hands didn’t let go no matter what while they struck the ground. Hajime shrugged in exasperation even while his expression distorted from pain and he gave instruction to Yue.

“Yue, suck my blood.”

“…-, but”

“It’s fine.”

Hajime’s words made Yue hesitated. Hajime said that it was fine, but there was no way that was true. He was already bleeding to the degree until one of his feet was already inside the grave, or possibly it had already surpassed even that. The wound on his stomach and also the wounds on both his legs weren’t treated yet or anything. Hajime had tightened his muscles and held back his bleeding, but he was in a state that it wouldn’t be strange for his heart to stop anytime from bleeding too much.

He was holding on to his consciousness, and even now he was wracking his mind in order to survive, to kill his enemy, he was able to do those thanks to his tough body that could be earnestly titled as a monster. Even so his condition was really on the brink. If here Yue sucked his blood, that might really become the finishing blow for him.

At far away, Ehitorujue was raising a roar that shaved on sanity once more. The space fiercely distorted each time with the shockwave destroying the chalk white world. Furthermore, the undulating tentacles could also be seen wandering searching for prey. At this rate, it was clear they would die without doing anything. Even so, Yue was still hesitating, to that Hajime showed her a smile.

That smile, was the bold and fearless smile that always made Yue’s chest to tighten. His canine was bared, his eyes gleamed fiercely, the ally gave immense trust to that smile, and the enemy was granted with a traumatic shudder by that smile, the smile of the demon that made the vampire princess as its slave.

“Didn’t I tell you? This is the template. Do you think, that I didn’t foresee this kind of situation?”

“Hajime…”

“Indeed, all my trump cards are used up. However, there is still the prepared finished product, see?”

Yue already didn’t have any word. Aa, truly, this person that I loved…was really diabolical. Such feeling throbbed loudly in her chest, Yue leaked out a feverish breath and she nodded briskly.

And then, while she felt the sensation of Hajime’s arm that was embracing her tightly, she put her teeth on his neck. The flowing in blood recovered Yue’s magic power for just slightly――no, at the next moment, a terrific pulsation came. dokun dokun, a really slight amount of blood that normally wouldn’t do anything for her was now restoring Yue with a momentum that was far surpassing the effect of ‘Blood Pledge Contract’ or anything else.

The reason for that was one.

――Yue exclusive artifact Nagumo Hajime

Blood that had the effects to sublimate Yue’s ‘Blood Pledge Contract’ by several levels, to make the skill ‘Limit Break’ be possible, and then with the iron content of the blood abundantly bestowed with the ingredient of cheatmate, such blood liquid was flowing inside Hajime’s body.

By assuming a situation where he lost all his artifacts, where the taken back Yue was in exhaustion, and in addition the Bullet of Denial Existence was unable to kill the opponent, Hajime prepared himself to be the exclusive artifact of Yue. Exactly like the naming, this artifact was a secret treasure class artifact that brought about power and recovery which surpassed even the god water limited only for Yue.

“…Nna”

Feeling the extremely sweet and burning pleasure from inside her body, Yue unintentionally leaked out a heavy gasp. But as though sensing that recovery of Yue, countless tentacles shot out with a blur from Ehitorujue. The tips of those tentacles were sharp, what they touched would surely get pierced in one attack.

Yue separated her mouth from Hajime’s neck and she directed one of her hands like a shield toward the approaching tentacles. Immediately, the space before her eyes distorted.

The tentacles rushed there.

But, all of them didn’t reach the two. It was because the distorted space swallowed everything. No, more accurately the tentacles were dismissed into another space.

In order to build a reliable defense using little magic power, Yue made use of the unstable space. Yue didn’t have the power to create a gate using space magic from zero that shut out the space, and so, in that case she just needed to create a gate to a different world using the space that was already shaking. If it was only expanding a hole in space that was already open, then it wouldn’t consume that much strength.

After Yue confirmed that the barrier of space dismissal had displayed a reliable effect, she moved her gaze to Hajime once more.

Hajime’s eyes were beginning to lose focus slightly. As expected, his limit was coming just by sucking the slight amount of blood just now. His face was growing pale, even now his consciousness looked like it would fell off anytime along with his eyelids. He was in a state that was barely clinging on consciousness by concentrating on the pain of his wound.

To Yue who was supporting his body, Hajime talked to her with a hoarse voice, nevertheless strength could be felt from that voice without any sign of giving up.

“Yue…you can, recover me…to a certain degree, right?”

“…Nn”

“I have…no card left. But…if there, is none――”

“…it just needs to be made.”

Understanding Hajime’s intention, Yue manipulated the space while continuing his sentence. To that Hajime made a faint smile and continued.

“…Destroy, that guy――”

“The concept, will be created right now. But, with only the magic power of me alone, it’s still insufficient.”

“With metamorphosis…magic. Make me――”

“-…subordination. Because there is blood in me”

Hajime grinned widely. This plan that made her wondered just how far he had predicted, and then the great recklessness in it, yet with his tremendous faith to her as the premise of the plan right from the start, made Yue unable to say anything anymore.

“…The material?”

“My, eye.”

Obeying Hajime’s instruction, Yue’s slender fingers were held aloft above Hajime’s right eye, and then, the fingers plunged in all at once. A groan slightly leaked from Hajime, but Yue unhesitatingly pulled out her fingers while her lips tightened into a straight line.

On her palm was a small bluish-white crystal. The magic eye stone.

“Yue…plea, se.”

“…Nn. Leave it to me.”

Like that the rite of metamorphosis began.

In order to obtain the necessary magic power, Yue sucked Hajime’s blood further which weakened him more and more. Hajime looked really frail that it wouldn’t be strange for his heartbeat to stop anytime.

But, the moment Yue’s hand touched Hajime’s chest, fierce heartbeat sound resounded as though an electric shock had just been applied there. dokun, dokun! Pulsating heartbeat was increasing in strength second by second.

That was a magic that transformed Hajime into a vampire just like Yue. It had the same principle like how Tio transformed another monster into her underling. If a frail and delicate human that was different from monster was used, normally that human wouldn’t come out of it safely, not to mention if it was a metamorphosis magic that changed a human’s race, the difficulty was of the highest degree.

From how Tio who was an expert of characteristic magic dragonification which had the origin from metamorphosis magic needed the black slave whip for assisting her success, it was clear to see just how difficult this grand magic was. And now Yue who wasn’t particularly skilled at metamorphosis magic was using something like that to a human target without any training beforehand.

Yue was a rare genius, but this magic had the possibility of success existed only because the target was Hajime who possessed inhuman toughness in body and mind. No, surely from the beginning Hajime who proposed this method was convinced that this would succeed. It was because of his trust from the bottom of his heart toward Yue.

The meat lump of Ehitorujue could be felt approaching lumpingly from far away. That was surely the countdown toward their death.

Because Yue split her strength for the metamorphosis magic, her control of the space became lax and several tentacles began to graze their body.

But, even in such an extreme situation, her beloved monstrous partner perfectly responded and bewitched her.

“Yu, e-”

“…Nn. Come here, Hajime.”

Hajime exposed his canine tooth with his pupil dyed crimson like Yue’s, and he bit at Yue’s smooth nape that looked so slender it felt like it would break when touched. And then, Hajime converted the blood into strength using the special trait of the vampire.

“…Nnaa”

Each time Hajime’s throat sounded, a sweet feverish breath escaped Yue’s mouth.

Even though she understood that strength was leaving her body, and even though she understood that now wasn’t the time for that, “more”, yet she was thinking of something like that.

Amidst the resounding sweet gasping voice, Hajime’s magic power was recovering in the proportion of the amount of blood flowing out.

However, Yue thought while feeling impatience.

(Not enough…)

Yes, it wasn’t enough. It really wasn’t enough to create a concept magic no matter what. With an amount of magic power that was even far from enough for Hajime’s complete recovery, it wouldn’t be sufficient to create a concept for finishing off the monster of the Holy Precincts which was getting close to them even now.

The limit of the blood flowing inside her would reach the limit soon. She was also grasping the amount of Hajime’s recovery. At this rate, they would have no other choice than putting a stake of sink or swim with their insufficient magic power. In addition that stake would be one with a considerably bad odd.

“It’s fine. Do you think, that the artifact(me) which is dedicated to you is only at this level?”

Perhaps looking at the impatience displayed on her face, Hajime who separated from Yue’s neck was saying such thing while he leaned forward to plunder Yue’s lips this time. And then, “nnu” Yue’s lip that was leaking small voice was wounded by Hajime’s canine tooth, at the same time, Hajime’s own lip also got cut.

Like that, while they were kissing each other repeatedly, it came.

GOU-!!

Magic power swelled up with terrific force.

The magic power that should be a step from drying up burst out from Yue and whirled in gold color. At the same time, a tremendous magic power that was unimaginable coming from the recovery amount just now also burst up from Hajime. With the two as the center, a torrent of magic power climbed as though piercing the heaven, no, it was actually piercing the space of Holy Precincts and pierced toward the heaven with violent blowing.

Golden and crimson entangled with each other, as though expressing the relationship between the two people, they mixed with each other, forming a complete harmony that raged violently.

――Particle style artifact ‘Vow of Entwined Branch’

Hajime’s blood that was turned into an artifact, and the metal particle that Yue took into her body. This metal particle was actually an artifact that activated only when under the prescribed condition. The effect and activation condition of this artifact was, the two who had tied the contract of blood pledge could then convert blood into power in a chain reaction with the two of them turned into artifact for each other and they exchanged blood with each other. The strengthening effect would continue endlessly until they stopped exchanging blood(kissing).

“…ahn”

The swelling power, and the happiness of intermingling with her beloved, it caused Yue to moan while her body was trembling. Hajime was also in the same state. The vampire princess in his embrace was so hopelessly lovely that he slightly repeated the blood tasted kiss.

The former shadow of Ehitorujue had arrived until right nearby them. It emitted an immense shockwave along with its tentacles.

――aaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-!!!!

Toward that, Yue canceled the distorted space without even directing her eyes there.

She did that because she understood that such thing wasn’t necessary anymore. To display that, the golden and crimson magic power towered high like a protective wall. And then, at the next moment, the magic power released a tremendous shockwave that neutralized all shockwaves from the meat lump. It was the ‘Impact Conversion’ by Hajime.

Even during that time, the two were still gluing earnestly close with each other.

The figure of the Holy Precincts monster that was left alone, to be frank was pitiful.

Unable to forgive that, Ehitorujue increasingly emitted an extremely unpleasant strange sound while unleashing severe attacks.

While repelling all of those with magic power impact, Hajime and Yue who were accompanied by the tremendous magic power that already swelled up to the degree that it might destroy the white space, slowly separated their lips. The silver bridge hanging down between the two looked really captivating.

The sweet atmosphere of the two already far surpassed the territory of being out of place, however, people who could obstruct them didn’t exist anywhere in this world.

Both of them kept hugging, their hands softly overlapped. Between them there was the magic eye stone that was partly made from god crystal, and the tiny gun that Hajime didn’t let go at all even when they were sent flying.

And then, Hajime’s trump card(commonness) was chanted.

“‘Transmute’!”

Right after that, golden and crimson melted into each other, and light so bright as though a sun was created manifested.

That beautiful and powerful radiance made the Ehitorujue monster to writhe and draw back. It was as though it hated that warm light.

The light was converging.

At its other side, there was the figure of Hajime pushing out his hand toward Ehitorujue with fierce eyes that glared sharply. A small gun was clutched in that hand.

The terrible exhaustion was causing the worn-out right hand to tremble all over, unable to fix the aim. That hand was scooped out from below softly and supported by a graceful hand. It was Yue’s hand.

While snuggling close to each other, both of them readied a single small gun. The running sparks were crimson and golden. The sure-kill bullet that would end everything was buzzing, impatiently waiting to be fired.

What was filled into that bullet was unmistakably a concept magic.

――GIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII-!!!

Ehitorujue madly unleashed its tentacles. It instinctually comprehended the mighty power that was aimed at it.

But, there was no way such random attack could go through the golden and crimson the two were clad in, all of those were easily swept away by the impact of magic power.

And then,

“Giving victory to a man with a kiss, that’s really heroine-like huh, Yue.”

“…Nn. Hajime plucking off the victory at the end without fail, is just like a hero.”

Both of them were talking frivolously while aiming the brilliantly shining gun right at the middle of Ehitorujue.

“Well, putting that aside, there is one thing I want to say to that.”

“…Nn-”

For a moment, both of their eyes met. The fearless smile was floating on their respective face.

The spoken words were the concept of the newborn concept, the words that returned the favor toward the repeated calamities that were wretchedly forced on them. And then, surely, these words also represented the feeling of the people that were toyed around by Ehitorujue in the past.

” “――The Scattered Pains Right Back Toward You(now you really have done it you ****** *******-)” ”

Soundlessly, a streak of light cut through the air.

That stabbed right in the middle of Ehitorujue without the slightest deviation.

Concept magic The Scattered Pains Right Back Toward You――this magic returned all the pain and wounds that the target had given to other people until now.

Just like the holy man that was once pierced by a holy spear on the hill of Golgotha, the thing that was once a god spurted out blood in a large amount from the wound opening. Although, the flowing out blood wasn’t something holy like that holy man, but something muddy black which looked sticky and unpleasant.

While the lump of meat was crumbling, the agglutinated mere shadow of Ehitorujue a beat later was,

――GIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

It raised a hair-rising shriek.

And then at the next moment, flesh and blood exploded to everywhere, silver magic power mixed with muddy black miasma climbed to the sky.

That was undoubtedly the scream of the death agony of the mad god. The repeated inhumanity that it had piled up for a few thousand years, or possibly tens of thousands of years were all returned to its own body. Although it had been reduced to a monster without any reasoning, it surely felt the pain of tens of thousands of years within an instant where even the torment of hell would feel lukewarm in comparison.

The flash that contained a shriek within pulverized the space, and it came out to the familiar dark red space at the other side.

Without any doubt, that must be the last scenery of Ehitorujue, the god of this world.

“…”

“…”

Hajime and Yue had no word.

They were merely staring at the last light of Ehitorujue that was vanishing toward the empty space that was gradually getting smaller. The gun their hand was holding couldn’t endure the burden and crumble into pieces.

The palms that weren’t holding anything now naturally held each other, their faces looked at each other. The magic power was already dispersing and the area around the two was quiet. Both of them had used up their stamina and magic power and everything else, they supported each other’s body leaning to one another and embraced the other party closely. And then, they smiled softly.

Perhaps because the creator of the place was gone, the white space began to rumble. The unstable space was gradually getting stormy, here and there breaking down was starting. Hajime ascertained the state of the surrounding and themselves and then he opened his mouth with a bitter expression.

“This is, bad. This doesn’t seem, to be the time, for looking…melancholic.”

“…Nn. Hajime, you can stand?”

“…Chih, my legs…not just that, my whole body, cannot move satisfactorily. Yue, you?”

“…Just sitting…take my all”

Both of them looked at each other and smiled wryly. It appeared that the true pinch only came after they consigned the god to oblivion.

“My bad, Yue. …The truth is, after killing Ehito, I planned, to wait for recover…and then used the particles…for creating gate key but…”

“…Nn. Doesn’t seem we will have that much time. There is, not even a drop of blood left to exchange.”

“Yeah. Besides…the particles themselves, are swallowed…by the unstable space, there is none remaining. At the worst case, I expected to use…the bone of the arm, or the leg…to make one-time use artifact…but…”

The crumbling of Holy Precincts was too fast that they wouldn’t make it in time if they wait for recovery, that caused Hajime’s expression to turn sour as though he had bitten a bitter bug. It wasn’t like he hadn’t imagined it, but Ehitorujue’s excessive obstinacy was to the degree that made Hajime had no extra leeway, that he had to pour all his strength to defeat him. Because of that, the composure to spare some recovery medicine, and also the blood for magic power conversion had run out already.

At the very end, Hajime curse inside his heart to himself “I’m an idiot”, however, there was not even a bit of despair in himself.

“To end…after coming this far…is unacceptable. We are going home, even if we need to crawl-”

“…Nn-”

They lent each other their shoulder and advanced bit by bit literally by crawling on the crumbling white world. They were walking slowly without any progress, but there wasn’t even a drop of the color of resignation in their eyes.

Even so, the reality was always callous, the crumbling of the surrounding was getting increasingly intense, approaching to swallow them altogether with their determination. Ahead of Hajime’s gaze, there was a veil of light that appeared unnoticed. That was the exit and entrance of this space.

The crumbling was approaching. Death was sneaking near. They desperately advance toward the veil of light.

But, the veil of light collapsed before their eyes.

“****-”

“…Hajime.”

Witnessing the path of their escape vanishing into sands, a curse leaked out spontaneously from Hajime’s mouth. The hand of Yue that was grasping Hajime’s hand clutched tightly to soothe him that was like that.

“…We are blocked from every direction. What’s left, is only…to gamble.”

“…Nn. Leap into, the crumbling space.”

There was already no other choice but that. Just like what Shia and others almost did, Hajime and Yue would also aim for the scenery of the surface that became visible sometimes and leaped right toward the crumbling space itself in a desperate gamble.

But, no matter how it was unthinkable that they would have future by doing that. It was a mad attempt that wouldn’t even be a gamble. If an example had to be made, it was something like someone who was holding a bomb was trying to skillfully use the explosion so they might be able to be sent flying to far away. Even before thinking about being sent flying, there was no assurance that they wouldn’t be turned into small pieces beforehand.

But, even so they didn’t have the slightest intention to give up.

“…Yue.”

“Nn?”

“I love you.”

“Nn-, me too…I love you.”

With a calm condition that was unthinkable to come from people who were in front of a crumbling space, both of them expressed their feeling to each other. At last, the safe spot also became gone. The crack was also entering into the spot where the two were at.

Like that, creak an unpleasant sound resounded below them, both of them resolved themselves and they were going to leap into the space where the surface was visible, it was at that moment

{Choa―――! Appearing at a miraculous timiiing, the beautiful warrior, Miledy Raisen-tan☆ Has arrived! The one who is calling for me is you two isn’t ittt? Isn’t ittt?}

Something came out.

” “…” ”

Hajime and Yue’s eyes turned into dot spontaneously.

However, without paying any mind to such pair, the intruder opened her mouth with jetting up tension.

{What’s with thiiiisss, even though I have come with great pain to save you two from something like a piiinchhh, just where is the reactiooonn. Miledy-chan is going to cry here! I’m going to go hics hics, glance glance you knooow?}

“…Annoying.”

“…Nn. This is certainly Miledy.”

The staggering annoyingness finally lets the two to accept the spectacle in front of their eyes as reality. And then when they looked around, it seemed that the crumbling had been held back before they realized it.

“This is…your doing?”

{Fufun, I guess. Something this much is really easy for the liberator Miledy-chaaannn. Although I say that, it won’t last for more than several minutes though☆}

“…By any chance, you can, escape?”

{But of courseee! I came here after tossing away Rabbit-chan and others to the surface already see☆ What’s left is only you two pyon! As expected, me! What an able woman-! Yes, applause applause!}

The smiley mask was sparkling with some kind of mechanism while saying that kind of thing, putting aside how annoying the words were, the two of them were seriously feeling admiration and gratitude to Miledy. But at the same time, Hajime and Yue also became endlessly vexed.

But, Miledy’s next words broke the half-smiling face of the two.

{Hoi, this is the Degraded Arrow of World Crossing, the last one of it. It’s a defective product that is usable only in this kind of unstable space, but it should be enough for escaping. Next, a healing medicine for service! This should recover you to the degree that you can activate the arrow’s ability pyon! After you two drink that quickly gooo from here! Gooo! Leave the rest to Onee-san okaaayyy☆}

“…And you? You aren’t, going to get out with us?”

Glancing at the thrown Degraded Arrow of World Crossing which Yue caught, Hajime threw his question at Miledy. Because from her speech it was as though Miledy was going to stay behind in this crumbling space.

That guess appeared to be correct.

{Yep, I’m staying hereeee. If this kind of codswallop space is left alone, the surface will also get swallowed and cause a chaining crumbling after all. I’m going to straighten this up.}

“…From how, you speak…it’s like you are going to die here.”

Thanks to the healing medicine, Hajime had recovered to a degree that he could indeed activate the artifact, he then asked with a tone that had turned somewhat smoother.

Miledy answered to that question frankly.

{Yep. My, the plan is for my Super Secret☆Magic to guide the crumbling of Holy Precincts and compress it pon pon. The space is on the verge of breaking down, if this body of mine and my soul are used as a medium to magnify my magic power then it will be enough. That’s why, I’ll end here.}

“Self-sacrifice? That doesn’t suit you. Rather than that――”

Hajime whose nerves were rubbed the wrong way by the resigned speech was going to argue vehemently, but then a blonde beautiful girl around fourteen, fifteen years old appeared overlapping the Miledy-golem. It seemed to be the projection of soul, this must be the original appearance of Miledy.

In contrast with her joking around tone, that girl figure of Miledy was putting an extremely satisfied and also gentle expression toward Hajime and Yue.

{This is juuust self-satisfaction. My promise with my comrades, with my important people――’Let’s destroy the evil god and save the world!’ reaalllly, that sounds like a fairy tale and it looks stupid, but we exchanged that promise seriously, I want to fulfill it, that’s all pyon.}

“…”

{At that time, we couldn’t do anything and lost, everyone became scattered, but thinking ‘even so’, we created the great labyrinths…right now, in this time, in this place, is where I’ll use my whole strength for the sake of people, this is exactly the reason that I survive for this long mon.}

Hajime and Yue listened quietly to Miledy’s words that sounded like a monolog. The reason Miledy wanted to do this wasn’t because she wanted to bask in the joy of cheap self-satisfaction, they comprehended that right now in this time, Miledy was going to realize the feeling that she had continued to hold in her heart from so far in the past that they couldn’t even imagine.

Looking at such pair, Miledy narrowed her eyes with even more and more gentleness.

{Thank you, Nagumo Hajime-kun, Yue-chan. For granting our dearest wish. For using our magic correctly.}

“…Nn. Miledy. Your magic is the most useful.”

{Kufufu, naturally! After all it’s me! What I said before was also like that right? ‘As long as you keep being you, you will achieve godslaying without fail’, I said.}

“…’You can just live following your wish. After all, your choice will surely be the best for this world’, you also said that. Was my choice the best for this world?”

{Of course! Presently, after all, that ****** ******* has been blown away until beyond that world, and I am right here! And then this dreg of a life can be used now for the sake of people following my oath. …Finally, I can head to where everyone is in peace.}

Surely if this was a flesh body than glittering things would be overflowing from the corner of Miledy’s eyes. That was just how intense the flood of emotions that Miledy’s words were filled with, which made them thought that.

{Nooow, both of you. Soon it will be the limit for me to hold back the crumbling pyon. You two need to return back to the place of the people waiting for you. I too, will head toward the place where there are people waiting for me.}

The stagnating space was beginning to rumble once more.

Even while staggering, Hajime and Yue stood up somehow thanks to the healing medicine, the two of them activated the Degraded Arrow of World Crossing that was clutched by Yue’s hand while staring back straight at Miledy.

“…Miledy Raisen. My greatest respect to you. Many months and years have elapsed, yet, there is not a single scratch on that strength of will. That determination is the best article under the heaven beyond any doubt. Oscar Orcus. Naiz Guryuen. Mail Meljine. Laus Vaan. Ryuteris Haltina. Vandour Shune. I will never forget, you and your important people.”

“…Nn. There wasn’t a single thing, of the path of the struggles of you all that was pointless. We will impart it to the next generation, without fail.”

{Both of you…wha, what’s with you twoooo. Like that, I, cannot say anything at all! If you said something like that! Come on, this is really the limit! Just get lost already, get lost!}

Her expression looked embarrassed somehow, and yet it also seemed to be almost overwhelmed with emotion. Miledy faced away with a huff and she waved her hand to shoo them off.

The rumbling was getting fiercer and fiercer, the crumbling was beginning to approach once more.

Hajime and Yue displayed a faint smile at Miledy who wouldn’t meet their eyes while advancing to the edge of the crumbling chalk white surface. And then, they nodded at each other.

“Good bye, protector of the world.”

“…Sayonara.”

Saying that the two leaped down toward the crumbling space that looked like an abyss.

Miledy that was left behind sighed “Fuuuu”.

{Protector of the world, is it. Thaaat feels itchy. Saying that at the very end, is just foul. …Should I think of it, like a payback or something.}

While talking to herself, a black whirling sphere was created with her body as the center. While the sphere was sparking with something like black thunder, Miledy quietly lifted her gaze to the center of the black star of calamity.

Before she knew it, there, she could see the figures of her important people that didn’t lose color no matter who many months and years passed.

{Everyone…}

There was no word that came back. Perhaps this was the revolving lantern before one’s death, or just her hallucinating.

But, such thing was inconsequential.

{What, so you all came to pick me up. Ehehe, then, perhaps I should say it. Finally, I guess I can say it!}

The star of calamity was swallowing anything and everything at the surrounding. Other magic like ‘Severance Calamity’ or whatever couldn’t compare with this. It swallowed everything and pulverized them inside, yes, so to speak this was a black hole.

While the golem artifact which was used as the medium was vanishing without a trace, Miledy’s soul yelled with a voice and expression that were the very picture of innocence.

{Everyoneee, I’m homeee――!!}

At the next moment, the white space was soundlessly annihilated along with all light.

Part 2

The silver angels were falling down to the ground one after another like falling star, the dark red world was rumbling unceasingly, above where the sky should be visible originally, reversed other worlds could be seen wobbling dangerously. Those reversed many worlds could be seen starting to crumble from a glance.

The end of the world.

Such words passed through the brain of the people of the allied force. Even though the apostles who wielded furious might had stopped functioning, but they honestly couldn’t feel happy because of the scream that the world raised which they felt.

“Aa, god…”

Someone whispered so.

In front of the collapse of the world, the sword in their hand felt really tiny. Everyone was merely staring at the shaking above worlds in a daze without being able to do anything else.

At that time, a dignified voice resounded. It wasn’t someone like a god that couldn’t be seen or anything. But it was someone who was right on their side, the ‘Goddess of Harvest’ that had struggled through the line of death together with them――the voice of Hatayama Aiko.

{Everyone, there is no need to despair! That person is over there! Right now, even in this moment, he should be fighting that evil god! The apostles falling, the worlds in the sky breaking, they all are the proof of the evil god’s suffering! That’s why-, let’s pray! For the victory of that person! For the victory of mankind-! Now, match your voice! Let’s show our will!}

The battlefield fell as silent as grave.

Aiko’s words weren’t something that came from the speech compilation Hajime gave her. The proof of that could be seen from how she was calling Hajime as ‘that person’ rather than ‘my sword’. It was undoubtedly a yell that came from Aiko’s own heart. Those words displayed Aiko’s will that believed on the safety of Hajime and others, and also of their victory.

The one who responded first was Liliana.

{To victory-!}

The lovely voice which was amplified with artifact echoed on the battlefield.

And then, the one who hailed at that voice with a blood soaked figure yet powerful yell was Gahard.

{To victory-!!}

Continuing after him, Karm, Adol, and Alfrerick yelled.

{To victory-!!!}

In that situation, the people’s heart was connecting to each other naturally.

――To victory-! To victory-! To victory-! To victory-! To victory-! To victory-! To victory-! To victory-! To victory-! To victory-! To victory-! To victory-!

A Loud chorus of victory resounded in the battlefield. It swallowed the rumbling of the space, numbed the ground, and reached to the heaven, the will of ‘human’ swept the darkness and rose up like the light of the sun.

Human, demi-human, human from another world, those classifications were irrelevant, yells for their victory, and then yells of their faith for the people fighting at the heavens, they were all repeated with impossibly beautiful harmony.

Amidst those, one person didn’t join the chorus and stared wholeheartedly to the sky, a black angel. It was Kaori who was looking forward to the return of Hajime and others believing in Miledy. She kept floating midair and continued to stare at the collapsing Holy Precincts as though she could see nothing else.

And, at that time, Kaori’s senses was caught by something.

The place was, around the sky at the collapsed God Mountain.

She returned to her senses in surprise and turned her gaze there. The space about eight kilometers above the God Mountain distorted like jelly, right after that an elliptical hole opened with a pop. It was a distance that normal human couldn’t perceive, the hole itself was also only as big as several people could go through it so nobody other than Kaori noticed it.

Driven by her premonition, Kaori flapped her jet black wings. At the same time, with hyupo-! silhouette of people flew out from that hole.

“Aa――!!”

“NuOOOOOO!!”

White and black shadows. Even from afar she understood that those were her comrades’ figures.

“Shia-, Tio!”

Kaori accelerated in one go. For some reason Shia and Tio were falling straight toward the ground without any sign of slowing down. Kaori became a black silver meteor that rushed through the sky.

Midway, Shizuku and others flew out in panic riding their skyboard from the hole Shia and Tio fell off from, but for now Kaori didn’t stop accelerating and rapidly approached the screaming two people.

And then, Kaori splendidly caught the two altogether a few dozen meters near the ground. Looking closer, near the ground there was a shining barrier deployed that seemed to come from Suzu so it really wasn’t that big of a matter.

“Shia, Tio! Welcome back-!”

“Fue, a, Kaori-san! I’m back desu!”

“Thou saved us, Kaori. Also, I’m back.”

Shia and Tio clung at Kaori’s arms midair while sighing in relieve. Kaori flapped her wings and landed gently on the ground, she then gently put down the two on the ground where they sat with a flop.

There, Shizuku, Suzu, Ryutaro, and Kouki landed down from the sky.

“Kaori!”

“Shizuku-chan!”

Shizuku got off the skyboard and leaped toward Kaori. Kaori too caught Shizuku.

“Kaoriiiin! I’m back!”

“Suzu-chan. Welcome back!”

“Yo-, looks like you are also safe huh.”

“Ryutaro-kun too, welcome back.”

Still hugging Shizuku, Kaori then welcomed Suzu and replied to Ryutaro’s words smilingly. And then, she abruptly showed a soft smile at Kaori who was looking a bit awkward.

“Kouki-kun, welcome back.”

“…Yeah, I’m back. Really, sorry, for everything. Truly, sorry. Also…thank you.”

He had attacked Kaori at the devil king castle, because of that Kouki had resolved himself to not receive words of greeting. But now tears were gathering at the corner of his eyes and his head looked down. He was absolutely grateful that Kaori didn’t forsake him just like Shizuku. Of course, he wouldn’t make misunderstanding anymore.

After nodding once at such Kouki, Kaori looked up to the sky. And then, her gaze moved around searching for something. It was obvious who she was searching for.

“Kaori-san…..Hajime-san and Yue-san are not together with us.”

“Shia…that’s”

“Don’t fret, Kaori. We only separated in the middle because it was necessary. Goshujin-sama and also Yue, they will cometh back without fail.”

“Tio…”

Tio called at Kaori who was looking uneasy admonishingly.

After Miledy came for them, Shia and others received Degraded Arrow of World Crossing from her which opened a hole in space and they leaped into it.

Naturally when they heard that Miledy would go to Hajime and Yue right after, everyone said that they would go together with her. Shia, Tio, and Shizuku were especially determined, their blazing eyes told that it was impossible for them to escape ahead.

However, Degraded Arrow of World Crossing was necessary to cross space, there was no spare for them to go to Hajime and Yue’s position. Although there were several arrows that were created because they were failed work, but different from the real thing these degraded versions could only be used once before breaking and on top of that it could only open the hole for a few seconds.

In addition, the size of the hole that could be opened by the arrow was limited. It was unthinkable that they would have the leeway to pass through the hole in turn under a few second in a world that was collapsing with increasing momentum. Thinking that Haijme and Yue would be added for their return home, in the worst case the situation might turn into one where they would need to choose who would escape and who would be left behind.

In the end, Shia and others had to escape first. They were really reluctant though. They could do nothing but understand when they were told that perhaps not all of them could go back if they accompanied Miledy. Besides, “I swear I’ll send Hajime and Yue back without fail” the state of Miledy when she promised that was unusually filled with determination, that was also a factor that pushed their back to escape first.

Even so, there was no way their worry toward Hajime and Yue who were still in the collapsing Holy Precincts could vanish, Shia and Tio also looked up wordlessly to the sky. Shizuku and others were also similarly praying while looking up to the sky.

At the battlefield, the people of the allied force were still resounding their prayer powerfully.

It was unclear how much time passed. It felt like an eternity, but surely not even dozens of minutes had passed.

It was at that time, that happened.

“Ah”

The one who spontaneously raised that voice was Kaori.

Shia and others, and then the allied force too, ahead of their gaze a pillar of light that was a mix of golden and crimson suddenly pierced the space and stabbed at the sky.

That torrent of magic power which couldn’t be expressed enough even with the word tremendous, and then, the undulation of the overwhelming will that was filled in it, caused the war cry of the battlefield to stop unconsciously. Everyone without exception gazed in enchantment at the dichromatic magic power which ascended to the sky in spiraling motion.

“Hajime-san! Yue-san!”

Shia yelled, with a voice that overflowed with joy.

Right after that, the golden and crimson magic power began to converge back like in a playback.

And then,

A scream of death agony reverberated in the world. Immediately after, although the volume wasn’t to the degree that tore the eardrum, but, that voice of the end was certainly heard by everyone throughout the world. Without any reason, anyone thought, that it was the blood flowing out from the god.

Before long, a muddy silver light was dispersing toward the empty sky, and silence returned to the world.

What happened now, in the middle of everyone thinking that with their breath caught, the distortion of space covering the sky and the collapsing world of heavens that was visible in it, suddenly, they were all shrinking toward one point. It was as though something was sucking them all, or possibly it was like they were all being compressed.

The next moment, the world of heavens that was gathered into a point scattered.

There was no sound.

There was merely several layers of ripples with a vibrant color like the blue sky, radiating silently. Unnoticed, the rumble(scream) that shook the world stopped, the scared trembling of the ground also stopped.

Ripples were spreading through the world.

Not only the color of the blue sky, the color of the evening or possibly sunrise, the color of the midday sun, the clear color of the moon, the color of vivacious plants, the color of powerful earth, the color of enveloping night, they all laid on top of each other.

The beautiful ripples of seven colors spread to the end of the earth, before long, cracks began to enter the dark red world. That change wasn’t something violent that gave the impression like the crumbling just now, but a gentle change that quietly repainted the world…

“Aa…god”

Someone whispered. That wasn’t a prayer that wished for salvation anymore. But merely something that came from the deep emotion filling the chest.

The world was recovering its color. It was a truly a splendorous scene that should be called as a legend.

The dark red world was shining sparklingly while becoming broken fragments.

The ripples of the sky were gradually weakening in intensity, however, they didn’t vanish, as though watching over the people who were silently shedding tears drops by drops, it became a rainbow aurora drifting in the air.

“Hajime-kun…Yue…”

Amidst those, a voice that leaked out from between the clenched teeth resounded. Kaori clenched her hand so tightly it was bleeding while glaring at the annihilated Holy Precincts.

“Hajime…”

“Nagumo-kun.”

“****-, what’s going on-, that idiot-”

“Nagumo-”

Shizuku, Suzu, Ryutaro, Kouki, they gritted their teeth while facing the sky with a grim gaze. Tio too was looking up at the sky with narrowed gaze without averting her eyes even for a moment.

The dark red world vanished.

The sun began to illuminate the world with its natural radiance.

They waited for a long time, but the figure of the people they waited for couldn’t be seen.

Before long, that fact became unbearable and Suzu whispered.

“…This is a lie, right”

Ryutaro gritted his teeth hard.

“Damnit-”

Kouki opened his mouth in a daze.

“Don’t tell me…both of them…really, won’t co――”

And then, when that worst assumption was going to be said half unconsciously…

“It’s alright desu-!!”

Such electrifying loud voice interrupted.

Kouki and others returned to their senses suddenly and moved their gaze there. Over there, was the figure of Shia, her rabbit ears standing straight while she looked straight to the sky.

Shia didn’t avert her eyes from the sky and spoke with a voice that was full of conviction.

“Right now, Hajime-san and Yue-san are together desu. That entangled golden and crimson magic power is the proof. As long as they are together, they are invincible!”

That was why, they would blow away a mere difficult situation like this and came back with a smile. Those words which contained Shia’s immense faith became a power of words that resounded in the world. (TN: Power of words or soul of language. Called kotodama in Japan, some kind of believe that words which were said have some kind of power in them.)

Mysteriously, the heart of the people who were driven by unease became light.

“…..Yep. That’s right. With those two together, I cannot imagine any difficult that cannot be smashed through.”

Kaori was in agreement. It wasn’t a voice that was blurred with unease like before, but a powerful voice filled with conviction like Shia.

“Truly. Surely if those two become serious, the word ‘fail’ will be erased from dictionary. Rather, perhaps they art busy flirting right now that they art late to come back.”

Tio jokingly said such thing. And as expected, the grimness in her face was taken away and changed into conviction.

“Isn’t that right. They might, no, they are absolutely flirting right now. This is their emotional reunion after all. Perhaps the matter of us is already thrown to the beyond by them.”

While smiling wryly, Shizuku nodded thinking that it was probably the case. The way they talked also softened the expression of Suzu and others.

Right after that, as though to proof that the words of Shia and others were correct…

“Ah…fufu, see-”

Shia pointed her finger.

Over there was naturally…

Part 3

The rainbow aurora hanging in the sky. A small hole was opened between the veil.

“Uoh”

“…Nn-”

A silhouette of two people glued close to each other flew out from there along with shocked voice. It went without saying, they were Hajime and Yue.

Hajime firmly held Yue tightly with his one arm, Yue too also circled her hands around Hajime’s neck, clinging to him.

Like that, gou-gou while feeling the howling of wind on their ear, the two of them began freefalling leaving it to the gravity.

Based on the height it would be thirty seconds until the ground.

Hajime who was falling with his face up saw the mystical aurora they were rapidly distanced from and the distance to the ground that he confirmed by looking across his shoulder and instantly calculated. It seemed that the place they were going to impact was a spot slightly distanced from the allied force.

“Yue, can you fly?”

“…Impossible. Magic power was used up from the arrow’s activation.”

“Well, I guess that’s true. It’s going to be a bit rough, so hold on tight.”

“…Nn. I catch you. I absolutely won’t let go.”

“…”

While experiencing a skydiving without a parachute, Hajime and Yue conversed filled with composure like that. Listening and seeing Yue’s bewitching voice and gaze from very near like this, it couldn’t be helped that Hajime’s words got caught in his throat.

While being exposed against awful wind pressure midair, Hajime ignored his slightly ringing eardrum to the best of his ability and then rolled his stance while still holding Yue. And then, his body became clad in faint crimson magic power. With that he somehow controlled his badly balanced one armed body that was toyed around by the wind.

Although he had drunk recovery medicine, but the healed amount was insignificant. In the first place there was the effect from the depth of the damage he received and the creation of the concept magic that caused his magic power recovery to be slow. There was also a limit to the number of times he could use ‘Air Force’.

While he was controlling his posture, he had to land down on the ground by perfectly dropping his speed. Honestly speaking, the ‘Air Force’ could only be used for ten-odd times more, furthermore, in his current condition that could only use ‘Air Force’ which couldn’t be said to be displaying its complete effect, making a skydiving from altitude of several kilometers to succeed was nothing but a superhuman feat but…

“So the end is me skydiving with Yue huh…it’s not bad.”

Hajime said such thing. Something of this degree wasn’t even a danger.

Hajime gently straightened up his body. Immediately a crimson ripple spread below his feet, it collapsed instantly. However, he was definitely decelerating. He repeated that.

The people of the allied force also noticed them. Crimson ripples were spreading and scattering many times from between the aurora, and silhouette of people was descending like a comet.

At that moment, a deeply emotional voice resounded. The voice of the goddess.

{Thi, this is our, victory-!}

A beat.

――oOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

At the battlefield, no, at the new world the people raised shouts of joy that sounded like an explosion.

As though to reply to that cry of triumph that was like the first cry of a newborn raised by the world, glittering light particles were raining down from the rainbow aurora covering the sky. The light of the sun that recovered its radiance shined, making the world to gleam like a diamond. Surely that was the blessing toward the new world.

Amidst the raining shower of light, Hajime kicked on the last ripple and splendidly reduced his speed, he kept embracing Yue and landed on the ground. Even so, the wounds on his both legs still weren’t healed, using ‘Air Force’ also finally exhausted the magic power for his recovery, so like that he collapsed limply on the ground with his face up.

“Haha-, the finishing is totally messed up.”

Hajime wryly smiled while lying down with his body unable to even twitch. His expression somehow looked refreshed.

Yue who was embraced all that time then straddled Hajime and flopped down on top of him in a tight embrace, and then with a really close distance where it looked like their face could touch each other anytime, Yue shook her small head while staring at Hajime.

“…Not messed up. It was the coolest.”

“Is that so?”

“…Nn. Hajime, thank you. I love you.”

Like that, with bewitching and melting smile, Yue pushed those soft and sweet lips on Hajime’s.

Yue enjoyed to her heart’s content Hajime who could only lie spread-eagled without being able to move, where he could only let Yue do whatever she wanted to him. Although, even if he was able to move, but if this was what Yue wished for then there was no way for Hajime to resist.

Yue’s appearance was still in her adult form. Although the charm that was brought about from the gap between her external appearance and her mental age had gone, now she was emitting sensual pheromone from her whole body, perhaps the brutality of her sex appeal had increased instead with this.

Her adult appearance was most likely due to metamorphosis magic. In that case, perhaps when her magic power recovered she would be able to change between woman and girl appearance freely. It felt like he could see the future where he was toyed around by Yue’s demand. Although, Yue’s heart was also captured by Hajime to the same degree with his heart captured by her though.

The endless kiss erased even the cheering of the allied force, forming a world of only the two of them.

But, a voice that the two couldn’t ignore reverberated into that world.

“Aa――! As expected you two are flirting! You two don’t even care about other people’s feeling! No rather than that, Yue-san is…”

“She is turning aduuuuult! Yue is attacking Hajime-kun with adult charm!’

“Humm. Just as expected. No, the adult appearance art outside expectation though…let see, how about I join too.”

“Uu-, what amazing sensuality…bu, but there is no option for retreating! A maiden can only charge ahead!”

Shia, Kaori, Tio, and Shizuku, those four people. Behind them Suzu, Ryutaro, and Kouki also rushed to here.

With a lively state that was unthinkable for a deeply moving reunion, Shia and others leaped at Hajime. Yue who separated her lips saying “I’m back” got dragged into it, and Hajime became piled with beautiful women and beautiful girls.

And then, hearing the words “welcome back” filled with a flood of emotions from their mouths, Hajime also spoke “I’m back” like Yue.

Diamond dust rained down from the sky, making the world to sparkle. Around him were the important people with teary eyes and joyful smiling like blooming flower. From afar, he could feel many existences that dashed toward here while calling his name.

The warm enveloping him, the welling up senses of accomplishment, and then the content feeling, caused Hajime to smile. It was a mysterious smile where fearlessness and gentleness were entwined tightly…

While that smile of ‘Nagumo Hajime’ caused a tightening to happen inside the girls’ chest, Hajime entrusted his body to a pleasant fatigue and slowly closed his eyes.



 

[Vol 8] Chapter 24 – The Beloved Vampire Princess



Circle-warning.gif This chapter is translated by Cobalt
and is rehosted with due permission.

A thunderous roar.

Scattering metal fragments.

Those fragments that rained down in pieces raised metallic sounds while falling on the ground, by that time a groaning voice resounded from a corner of the tiered stand where the throne was on. At the center of the crumbling chalk white stand that was crumbling down with clatters, there was the figure of Hajime buried from his back with his face distorted in pain.

That figure became bloodstained as though the healing by the god water previously was nonexistent, it didn’t stop there, even his artificial left arm became gone and now he looked really tragic just from a glance.

“Guh, gahah”

While vomiting blood by a lot, Hajime tried to aim Donner to the front. The blood dripping down from his forehead entered his eye, dyeing his sight bright red as though the warning of red alert was turned on in his field of vision.

Inside that red field of vision, Ehitorujue who rose up lightly without feeling the gravity was making the gesture of snapping his fingers.

At that moment, a fierce impact hit the right hand holding Donner. Hajime mostly wasn’t feeling pain because his sense of pain was paralyzed when he was blown away by the impact, but he understood what was being done to him. At the corner of his sight, the five fingers of his right hand were bending to the wrong direction because his partner that he should be holding was pulverized into pieces.

The fragments of the broken Donner fell on the ground, at the same time the ‘Treasure Warehouse II’ that Hajime fitted on the middle finger of his right hand was also rolling on the ground roll roll with a cute sound that felt out of place. It seemed that the artifact slipped off when his right hand was impacted.

“Splendid, it was splendid, irregular. For your trump card to strike this me, that is worthy of praise. Although, if a question of whether a trump card will always be worthy to be called as a trump card is asked, then the answer can only be no.”

“…”

Ehitorujue walked closer with a composed and thin smile. Normally his footsteps wouldn’t make any sound at all, but this time step step the footsteps echoed likely like the countdown to Hajime’s death.

Furthermore, a step, each time Ehitorujue advanced by a step, the artificial arm and Donner, and then Schlag that fell on a slightly distant place were wrapped by platinum light. The artifacts of Hajime was shaking shake shake in resistance, but before long they became unable to endure and their shape broke down, at the end, they were completely annihilated not even leaving dust behind.

With the artifacts separated from the hand of their master Hajime, if they were continuously bathed in a focused light of destruction then even the countermeasure Hajime applied wouldn’t hold.

“Are you wondering why? Certainly the bullet filled with the concept of ‘godslaying’ gouged my heart, yet why, I can be calm and composed like this. Ku-ku-ku-”

“…”

Ehitorujue watched Hajime with amusement, or perhaps with ridiculing while soaking in joy. Hajime didn’t answer. Perhaps he didn’t even have any leeway left to talk, Hajime only kept leaning on the broken stand limply with his eyes closed. Only his right eye with the eye patch covering it sliding off was slightly opened, but the magic eye stone wasn’t created to obtain normal vision, so in reality Hajime was unable to see Ehitorujue’s expression.

But, without even paying attention to such Hajime, Ehitorujue’s tongue moved smoothly. The unsightly figure of Hajime whose plan to recover from the hopeless situation, to overturn the table with one attack had been crushed, was greatly pleasing for him.

“Indeed, if it was the me of the thousand years ago, perhaps I could possibly be destroyed by that. But, during all that time the secret technique to convert faith into strength to sublimate my soul has been continuing until now you know? Naturally, the status of my existence is also rising up. Something that is only like the concept created by a human at best means nothing against me. Furthermore, right now I have the body of this vampire princess. This flesh body itself becomes the protective wall that protects the soul taking root in it.”

“…”

Hajime’s artifacts that scattered at the surrounding were completely annihilated. All the artifacts were thoroughly annihilated with care, including the Schlagen AA and Cross Velts that had been crushed previously, the bullet cartridges, and even the fragments of the grenades.

Undoubtedly Ehitorujue was intending to cut off all the hope of Hajime with thoroughness. Although, Hajime already looked dead already with how he kept lying down without even any twitch but…perhaps this was only a simple entertainment for Ehitorujue without any regard to anything else.

“Although, even I didn’t have the conviction that I will really end up safe from that, so I had no intention to get hit with it. Therefore, the attack just now made me a little uneasy. Truly that is a brilliant achievement, to do something like making a god feel uneasy. You can be proud, irregular.”

“…”

gyarit Ehitorujue’s foot trod on the ‘Treasure Warehouse II’ that was rolling on the floor. And then, he stepped down forcefully while purposefully making a sound. A beam of light leaked out from the stepped spot. As expected, the artifact was surely annihilated into nothing there.

With this, now the only artifact Hajime possessed was only his magic eye stone. It was unclear what was reflected in the eye of blue crystal peeking out from the faintly opened eyelid. Even though it couldn’t show normal sight, naturally the eye artifact was able to distinguish the existence and the flow of magic power, so Hajime should be able to see how all his partners, the artifacts were annihilated.

However, even in front of that scene, where one of his important thing, and then one more important thing was hinted to be lost, Hajime’s expression was still unmoving. The effect of the god water had gone, his left arm was lost, his right hand was broken, even his internal organs were beaten up so badly, lacerations were carved inside his body, and he couldn’t even twitch his finger, it was unclear whether it was a dying figure or a figure that had given up on everything in despair.

At the very least, what Ehitorujue was seeing was that finally Hajime’s heart had broken, that he had fallen into the abyss of despair. Like a demon whose meaning of existence was making people fall, his expression distorted into a chuckle.

And then, Ehitorujue who had walked before Hajime’s eyes bent his knee in front of him, he matched his gaze to the same height with Hajime’s and suddenly he swept his hand horizontally.

“――”

At that moment, a pebble of light star pierced Hajime’s both legs. Hajime’s femurs were pulverized. Wind holes were literally opened there.

One more of Hajime’s power to resist was stolen, then Ehitorujue’s slender and beautiful fingertip softly caressed Hajime’s chin. And then, he lifted Hajime’s head forcibly.

Toward Hajime whose left eye was opened slightly, Ehitorujue smiled composedly and brought his face closer to a kissing distance. And then, toyingly he changed the path of his lips just before it came into contact with Hajime and then he sweetly, repulsively, muddily, and stickily whispered into Hajime’s ear while gluing close to him in half-embracing posture.

“I’ll break everything important to you. Your comrades that stepped into Holy Precincts together with you, your compatriots that continue to resist on the surface, the family of your birthplace, I’ll trample all of them underfoot, toy them, and let them raise agonizing cries.”

“…”

Hajime didn’t reply. He was merely staring, straight ahead at somewhere, there was no expression of emotion that could be seen from his body. He was really like an empty shell, as though his heart wasn’t in his body anymore.

Ehitorujue stared at the side face of such Hajime with an expression of ecstasy.

“But, you can rest assured. I will treat only this amazing body of the vampire princess courteously. Because this is my important vessel, I’ll handle it courteously, to every nook and cranny, to my heart’s content, okay?”

His beloved woman was used by another as he pleased. Those words that were really hard to endure…made Hajime reacted. Suddenly his broken right hand moved, that hand reached searchingly toward Ehitorujue, no, toward Yue’s chest.

“…Finally…I found you.”

“Hm?”

A small, small whisper. Furthermore it sounded hoarse, that Ehitorujue who was right nearby missed it.

For Ehitorujue, Hajime was already an existence that solely existed to torment. A toy whose every hope had been crushed to nothing. There was no way he could do anything from here on, and so Ehito thought that small whisper was nothing more than Hajime’s last lamentation, or possibly his pitiful cry that called on his beloved who didn’t exist anymore.

Like that, intending to taste the nectar that was the last despair of human, Ehito brought his ear closer to Hajime’s lips.

Hajime slowly opened his mouth. That was originally a chant that he didn’t need to recite anymore. Be that as it may, it was Hajime’s greatest weapon that was his lifeline until now, the word that showed his only talent.

“‘Transmute’.”

Instantly, Ehitorujue was about to say “what are you” with a scrutinizing suspicious look, but he was unable to do that.

The reason was,

“――Gaah, gahah!?”

Suddenly, countless blade flew out from Ehitorujue’s chest.

Metal blades grew out like a mountain of blade soaked in blood, biting and tearing flesh from inside. That happened not only in Ehito’s chest, but within an instant everywhere on Ehito’s body there were blades flying out, furthermore the metals that were adjoining each other would be glued together using metal fragments from that came from somewhere unknown as an intermediary, restraining Ehitorujue’s body gruesomely.

The strange phenomenon of blades flying out from inside the body caused Ehitorujue’s thought to halt completely for a moment. That was just how shocking this surprise attack was combined with the conviction in his victory.

The blades piercing the body and the sparking crimson metal fragments which came from somewhere were physically obstructing Ehitorujue’s movement together, the sealing stone component that seemed to be included in the metal hindered him from using magic, furthermore the very strangeness itself was halting his thought. The opening that was made from those lasted only for a few seconds.

But, that opening was invaluable. This moment was exactly the timing that Hajime had waited eagerly for, the true critical moment that he was aiming for.

“‘Transmute-‘!”

Once more Hajime yelled his own talent.

This magic was merely processing metal, that was all it could do. Right now, at a glance the metal that existed in this place was only the blades that flew out from Ehitorujue’s body, no matter how there was no way this magic could work on an opponent who overcame even the ‘godslaying’.

However, the broken right arm of Hajime――using direct operation of magic power he forcefully moved that broken hand to touch a spot…his own abdomen.

Immediately, crimson spark surged and at the same time blood soaked blade flew out from Hajime’s stomach.

“――!?”

Ehitorujue gazed in astonishment. His astonishment didn’t come from the fact that Hajime was hiding metal lump inside his stomach, or because that lump was now piercing open his own stomach.

He was astonished because he sensed the abnormal presence filling the flying out blade. His spine was having goosebumps, his instinct was ringing the alarm bell noisily. This presence was undoubtedly the same presence like what he felt previously――a presence of concept magic.

In a world of instantaneous moment, Ehitorujue immediately tried to use Heaven Existence. However, the clusters of micro blades stirring up inside his body(blood vessel) obstructed his thinking and magic usage, even his automatic regeneration was slowed down. In addition, the metal shackle that had sewed through both his legs before he noticed prevented him from physically jumping away.

That opening which was exposed for less than a second was enough for Hajime’s blade to reach. It was hard to understand because of all the blood, but the small knife that looked like toy contained god crystal, its transparent blade was clad in a deep crimson light which was thrust toward Ehito…and then, accurately the knife plunged into Ehitorujue’s body.

Instantly the deep crimson magic power swelled up. At the center was Ehitorujue’s body. At the same time Ehitorujue’s scream resounded.

“GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!?”

A scream of uneasiness and agony that was impossible to come from merely getting stabbed by a small knife resounded. The blades that came out from inside his body were annihilated by platinum light and the restrain was undid, Ehitorujue then stepped back in staggers while holding his head and his body writhing in agony.

Ehitorujue’s body began to dokun, dokun! pulsate.

That was the beacon of the awakening. The yell of determination that original owner of the writhing body was raising.

“Impossible-, the vampire princess should have been annihilated completely!”

Indeed, Ehitorujue had felt the soul vanishing in annihilation. Ehitorujue’s face warped from the torrent of power welling up inside his body trying to push him out while he yelled the question that expressed his bewilderment.

The one who answered that was Hajime. While his body was unable to even wake up, his mouth was showing a fierce smile.

“Yue was a cut above you, that’s all there is to it isn’t that right?”

“――”

Ehitorujue guessed from those words. That was to say, Yue’s annihilation was actually a feign that she intentionally showed to him. She feigned using up all of her strength before vanishing, and then she concealed her own soul and lurked at the deepest depth of the body.

She believed that in time help would surely come.

By any chance the scream that Ehitorujue heard might also be Yue’s acting performance.

“But, but-, why-!?”

Ehitorujue writhed, and finally he fell on his knee while holding his head before unconsciously whispering his indescribable question.

To that, Hajime pushed out his hand and he answered while running spark on his hand.

“The bullet of ‘godslaying’ shook your soul and awoke Yue’s soul. The ‘Blade of Blood Pledge’ severed your invading thought and granted strength to Yue.”

“What do you――, don’t tell me-”

Ehitorujue almost leaked out words of bewilderment for a moment there because he didn’t understand what Hajime meant, but he immediately made a shocked expression in understanding.

Hajime who saw that lifted the corner of his mouth further.

Concept magic ‘Godslaying’――that was a magic that exterminated only the soul with divinity without giving any influence at Yue’s body. However, Hajime followed the warning of Miledy who gifted him with that power and didn’t rely on it.

Therefore, he used it only for its special characteristic with the objective of supplementing his true trump card. That was to say the godslaying bullet gave a not small effect to Ehitorujue’s soul even though it didn’t become a lethal damage, which created an opening and woke Yue up, and then it also further gave the opening for Yue herself to wield her strength.

And then, Hajime’s second blade(the true trump card) separated Ehitorujue and Yue’s soul with certainty. Hajime was faintly opening the magic eye in his right eye was in order to ascertain that. The words “I found you” that he whispered faintly was because he had caught sight of Yue’s soul that lurked in the deepest part of the body.

Artifact Blade of Blood Pledge(Blood Fea Rezvie)――that artifact which Hajime hid inside his stomach in round ore shape was enchanted with the concept of [Thy art forbidden to touch(Don’t touch my woman)]. That was to say, this concept magic forbade interference to Yue’s soul and severed the intervention that was already there.

The weakness of this magic was the point where it couldn’t display its true worth if it didn’t directly hit Yue’s soul, because of that Hajime had to make the ‘godslaying’ hit with certainty no matter what, and so he had to go through that much hardships to reach this point…

Anyway, with this Yue’s soul that was completely cut loose from Ehitorujue’s influence was now in a state that was protected by a barrier, and so she could wield her power completely. Furthermore, this Blade of Blood Pledge(Blood Fea Rezvie) was intentionally made to have a hollow blade, using capillary phenomenon the blade was filled with a lot of Hajime’s blood.

Yue’s skill――the ‘Blood Pledge Contract’ drastically amplified the effect of blood sucking only from the sole partner that she designated. Using that skill, Hajime directly poured his blood through Blade of Blood Pledge(Blood Fea Rezvie) and strengthened Yue’s soul.

“You are saying, you are aiming for this-, right from the start!?”

“If I can overcome you using overwhelming resources, then that’s great. But, what is at stake here is the life of my beloved. Isn’t it obvious that I’m going to prepare two or three tricks for this?”

The power of Yue’s soul was increasing in force second by second. It raged to chase away the foreign contamination from inside herself. This is my body, the only one who can touch it is just Hajime, the soul screamed. The platinum magic power that whirled violently flickered and the color of the radiance was changing to golden, that light was pulsating as though to display its determination and hit Ehitorujue’s soul hard.

Ehitorujue was hallucinating. A pair of eyes slowly opened, and those crimson eyes of the beautiful figure of the vampire princess pierced him. the immense trust toward her beloved partner was dwelling in those eyes, that look eloquently told of how she had been waiting for this moment.

That meant that both Yue and also Hajime had the same feeling. Without using any will communication skill or artifact, they mutually understood what each other would do.

Ehitorujue thought. At that time, although he succeeded in hijacking Yue’s body but he overlooked Hajime and let him gotten away after receiving resistance from Yue. He wondered if since that time by any chance he was dancing above the palm that was the bond of these two.

A tremendous humiliation and indescribable displeasure jarred Ehitorujue’s mind. Ehitorujue then yelled with that raging heart.

“Don’t underestimate me-, vampire princess-. This body is mine! I won’t let any seed of anxiety in the future get left behind! I’ll pinch and crush your soul for sure this time-. Then next it will be you-, irregular! Hahah, in front of my power a concept of just this level will――”

In actuality, even after being stabbed with Blade of Blood Pledge, the conflict between Ehitorujue and Yue’s soul for the leadership of the body was in a stalemate. That was just how immense the soul of god that had been sublimated using the secret technique of faith conversion.

But,

“I thought you’d say that.”

Ehitorujue’s words were cut off by a single sentence, by a light tone as though everything was already within expectation.

“――Wha, t?”

Ehitorujue’s eyes snapped wide open. That wasn’t because his words were cut off.

It was because ahead of his gaze, there was the figure of Hajime still leaning on the tiered platform with his trembling right hand aimed at Ehitorujue.

And then, what was hard to believe for him, what he didn’t want to believe, was that from the bullet clutched by that hand――there was a presence of a new concept magic that was emitted out.

Just from where in the world Hajime took out that bullet from? Looking from how the bullet was soaked in blood, perhaps it was hidden inside his body as expected.

“So, something like that, after this late! You don’t even have artifact!”

Ehitorujue couldn’t move his body from his struggle against Yue’s soul, but even with unease oozing out on his expression he still yelled mockingly.

Indeed, even if Hajime possessed a bullet but without Donner or Schlag then he wouldn’t be able to shot it. Hajime’s legs were drilled through, looking from how those wounds were still not healed yet, he also shouldn’t be able to directly strike it to Ehito.

But, Hajme was only too aware of such thing.

Hajime, for the third time, chanted his greatest magic.

“‘Transmute’.”

Vivid crimson spread. It was spreading to the surrounding space and gradually the color was changing to thick deep crimson. At the same time, the held out bullet was glittering brightly in the hand clutching it and wind gathered. It was gradually forming a shape of something small.

“…Metal, particle?”

Ehitorujue whispered dumbfoundedly. That whisper was entirely spot on.

“I order to take back Yue with certainty, I estimated that at the very least three stages of a process are necessary. …I told you already. That I swore I’ll certainly take her back.”

“Don’t tell me, in the middle of that fight…then, you also aimed for this since the start…”

Why, in the middle of an instantaneous battle that he was forced to do, Hajime frequently used weapons with time lag like grenades and the like until he used them all up? Why, did the Grim Reapers and Cross Velts would explode everywhere even when they got hit by slashing attack? Just what was the metal that flew out from Ehitorujue’s body?

The answer was this――the metal particle.

The metal particles that were unseen by eyes and floated in the air made by disintegrating metal very finely were filled into all the grenades, Cross Velts, and the Grim Reapers. And then they were exploded and scattered everywhere through the whole area. Among the grenades there were also those that were filled with nothing but metal particles, among the eagle model Grim Reapers there were also individuals that were only scattering particles all the time.

In the middle of that battle, when Hajime judged that he couldn’t overcome Ehito in a battle of resource, he made a Cross Velt to be shot down above Ehitorujue’s head which caused metal particles to be scattered, Ehitorujue sucked in the particles and after Hajime confirmed that he didn’t notice that, Hajime moved on to the second stage of the plan.

That plan was to give Ehito the impression that he was fighting desperately just to make his only trump card the ‘godslaying’ hit Ehito, but in fact he was sprinkling the metal particles that would become his transmutation material to the surrounding, for the sake of attacking and restraining Ehitorujue from inside his body. That was the second stage of the plan.

And then, the reason that the transmutation which should be unusable without touching the target could now transmute by gathering metal from wide range was because of the final derivative skill of transmutation, ‘Convergence Transmutation’. This was one of the two things that Hajime obtained at the same time when he obtained the innermost secret of transmutation, the ‘Imagination Composition’ that Hajime was awakened to at that devil king castle.

The effect of this skill was simple. It would gather the metal at the surrounding and the user could transmute without touching it, that was all. It had a plainness that was fitting for a common job.

But, what would happen if it was used with the metal that was taken inside the body? Ehitorujue’s lung and stomach that had absorbed a lot of the metal floating in the air were surely smeared with metal particles inside.

And then, that restraining using the artificial arm. Even the spikes that flew out from the artificial hand and stabbed Ehitorujue to bind him in place dissolved metal particles and poured it into his body. If those metal particles flowed into the bloodstream and then turned into splinters, it was self-evident that Ehitorujue would be hacked into pieces from inside.

“I got overwhelmed in the battle of resource. You showed me the gap between us at close quarter combat. I used all my trump cards, and went further than that. All of my hands(artifacts) were crushed. That was why…”

――you thought you had win right?

Hajime’s mouth that split like a crescent moon diabolically and his words, proofed that Ehitorujue’s conjecture was correct. Exactly because he was convinced of his victory, exactly because he had endured the trump card and became convinced that there was an overwhelming gap between him and Hajime, that Ehitorujue glued close to Hajime’s body so defenselessly like that. He was convinced of victory and showed an opening.

Having that opening which was actually Hajime’s true aim taken advantage of, and then taught that Hajime had been laying down preparations all the time in the middle of that breathtaking battle, and furthermore witnessing Hajime’s mercilessness of hacking to pieces his body from the inside even though it was the body of his lover regardless of the possession, all of those factors greatly shaken Ehitorujue’s mind with agitation. And what made it unbearable for Ehito was that agitation was then taken advantage of by the vampire princess.

While Ehitorujue was agitated and his mind split to handle Yue’s attack, finally the converged metal particles took shape and became a tiny gun of a single shot. It had really small and simple make that couldn’t be compared at all with Donner or Schlag.

Nevertheless, the bullet that was loaded into it was a lethal fang.

Hajime’s fingers that should be broken were forcefully moved using magic power operation and fixed on the trigger.

Ehitorujue was roaring while annihilating the blades flying out from his body and the metal shackle coiling around his body, while also trying to move his body, possibly he was trying to teleport away. But, immediately the pulsation became a level fiercer and obstructed all of his efforts. Even the automatic regeneration’s activation was stopped completely.

It was as though the pulsation was covering for Hajime’s attack.

Surely, that wasn’t just the imagination.

The blood soaked Hajime, with a fearless grin even now made the gun that looked like a small derringer pistol sparked with deep crimson electricity.

And then,

“I’m having her back. That woman, every single drop of her blood, every single strand of her hair, and even every single piece of her soul, everything is mine.”

The crimson flash pierced Ehitorujue who was screaming with a desperate face.

What was fired was the artifact Bullet of Blood Pledge(Blood Fea Bullet). The concept filled in it was [The Knitted Bond Into This Hand(I’m No Good Without You)]――this concept magic made the souls of Yue and Hajime that seek each other to resonance, it explosively strengthened Yue’s soul, at the same time it would forcefully tear off the joining of the foreign substance(soul) rooting inside the body, while at the same time granting horrific agony toward the intruder that felt like the nerves getting directly broiled.

“――!!”

A soundless scream. It was unclear whether in the end it was the scream that Ehitorujue raised, or else the loud scream of fighting spirit that Yue raised.

Right after that, a golden light exploded.

That color was far warmer and more vivid than the platinum radiance of before. It illuminated as though enveloping Hajime, making him feeling hopelessly heartrending. It was the light of his beloved without a doubt.

Right after that, two eyes opened as though awakening from the sleep. The striking rubies caught her beloved straight ahead.

And then, like a flower bud that was blooming proudly in its full glory, or possibly like the sun that showed its face by driving away the dark cloud, she displayed a bewitching smile that emitted glorious radiance.

Yue’s body floated gently.

She was blood-soaked, but such thing did nothing except promoting her glamor instead. With her figure that gave and adult charm, her abundant golden threads fluttering softly, both her hands spread wide open as though in welcome, or possibly it was her desire to welcome, she leaped forward, such figure, just what kind of words in the world that could possibly be used to express it?

Like a goddess――such words felt so hopelessly clichéd for this.

Hajime was merely, with an earnestly affectionate expression, he gently narrowed his eyes while his hand reached slowly in order to grant the wish of his lover.

Yue leaped to there. She dropped her waist above Hajime softly just like silk floss, without letting him felt anything like weight, without stopping her face rubbed on his chest. Her arms that circled around him tiiiiiiightly constrained Hajime, wordlessly, as though she was pleading for the two of them to melt together into one.

Hajime too circled his arm around Yue and embraced her tightly. Thing like the pain at his arm or stomach, was so small like a hair strand compared to the pain of his heart when he was separated from her.

Before long, Yue lifted her face that was buried on his chest. Those eyes were moist in a display of the emotion filling inside her, the breath leaking out from that lovely pink lips was so hot that it felt scalding.

Hajime softly put his hand on the cheek of Yue that was dyed in rose color, while he gifted her with words overflowing with affectionate tone.

“I came to pick you up, my vampire princess.”

“…Nn, I have faith. My demon king-sama.”

Hearing the joking names they called each other with, both of them let out a chuckle smilingly.

The kiss happened naturally. Their lips were merely touching each other, yet it was a gentle kiss that carried their whole feeling. The taste of blood was entertaining. Yue’s small tongue swiped out and licked the clotted blood pasted on Hajime’s lips.

But, at that time, as though trying to tear apart once again the two who were gluing at each other, a tremendous killing intent along with an immense torrent of light assaulted them.

Immediately, Yue turned behind with only her upper body while pushing out her hand. Instantly a barrier of light was deployed.

There, a shockwave that creaked the space along with a bombardment of light crashed.

“…Nn-”

Yue slightly leaked out her voice. Her eyebrows frowned mightily.

Yue herself was also quite spent after chasing out Ehitorujue’s soul, but this bombardment was filled with a force even more than that that made Yue’s barrier creaked along with the space.

She didn’t have any spare strength to use age of god magic. While Haijme was wounded all over his body and couldn’t move.

Therefore they were determined. With that will, Yue continued to hold up the ‘Holy Severance’, and Hajime leaned close to her. There, words that sounded like curse filled with madness were resounding.

{Kill-, kill-, kill-, I’m going to kill you-, irregularrrr!}

At the other side of the barrier, at the origin of the light bombardment. Over there, a human form made from light itself was floating. At the spot that seemed to be the head of that floating light human form, the mouth was irregularly distorted in an expression of rage.

Even thought that figure was blurred, but they understood well who it was. Even though the voice was different, even with rage coloring the look, that oozing out vulgarity couldn’t possibly be mistaken.

That lump of light was undoubtedly Ehitorujue.



 

[Vol 8] Chapter 23 – The Specialty of Common Job



Circle-warning.gif This chapter is translated by Cobalt
and is rehosted with due permission.

The roars of the five heavenly dragons shook the air.

The heavenly dragons that were turned into a monster while being half magic body left the control of the caster and aimed at the prey independently. The emitted pressure far surpassed the heavenly dragon that Yue often used before. The five elements magic that formed those bodies were also evolved where now they possessed a worthy wickedness that was clear to see.

“My former world was a world where magic was the foundation. I’m not boasting, but I remember that the development there was remarkable. There was abundant variety of artifact, people flew freely in the sky, they could get in touch with a far away place, they moved using teleportation, even their lifespan could be prolonged by a few hundred years more using magical treatment. Magic and technology that were based from that made that world abundant.”

pashii! That light sound resounded and the figure of the lightning dragon vanished. No, that large body changed into a streak of lightning and it moved with lightning speed. At the next moment, it appeared beside Hajime.

(Fast…but, if it’s only as fast as lightning then-)

The dragon raised a roar of thunder while its opened jaw rapidly pulled everything in the surrounding. Even the light stars were swallowed and extinguished inside there, Hajime who was almost got pulled in similarly like the light stars immediately took out several gravity hand grenades to empty air.

The gravity hand grenades that were easily pulled in exploded with a good timing just when they entered inside the mouth of the lightning dragon and generated super gravitational area.

The lightning dragon that swallowed everything while approaching was flattened by the downward pressure that was suddenly generated and passed through below Hajime who was hovering in midair using ‘Air Force’.

“But, what is waiting for the world that is over developed is only their end. Our world too wasn’t an exception to that. Something like a war of the end that happened because of exhausted resources, or sense of values, or possibly because of economical problems or different political idea, those weren’t the cause. The reason was something more, something that couldn’t be helped. Do you know what it was, irregular?”

“ts”

Ehitorujue’s questioned, however Hajime couldn’t answer. He had no composure to answer.

Because after he staved off the lightning dragon, the azure dragon circled right behind him and pressed hard on him along with an immense amount of heat.

In front of him was the meteor shower. Below was a lightning dragon, at left and right were the storm dragon and ice dragon. If he evaded then he would undoubtedly aim from right behind and forced to bear damage that would be hard to disregard.

Therefore, Hajime took out the variable chakram ‘Orestes’ to empty air.

A kashun sound came out immediately and wire that was divided into three part formed a round shaped gate. The azure dragon charged straight into the gate, right after that the azure dragon flew out from above the ice dragon that approached from the right side. Hajime had applied ‘Presence Isolation’ to one more variable chakram and made it flew there.

The suddenly appearing azure dragon collided with its natural enemy the ice dragon which caused the ice dragon to roar in agony. And then, the ice dragon glared at Orestes which teleported the azure dragon and breathed out ice and snow. With that the Orestes froze instantly as though it was bathed with liquid nitrogen, right after that it was impacted by a light star and was easily smashed.

Regardless of the roar of the ice dragon and the sound of Orestes getting pulverized, Ehitorujue’s voice still reached Hajime’s ear smoothly.

“They arrived at the truth. The magic technology was developed thoroughly until they could interfere with the information of the world itself, to the material, to life, to the star, to time, to the environment. And then, no matter the era researcher is always unable to restrain their curiosity. They fumbled with the technology that interferes with the truth spreading in the world like playing with a toy…and that became the cause that destroyed the world. Our world was killed by the curiosity of the people who handled magic.”

Hajime neutralized the light stars using Cross Velt. Furthermore, he commanded the Grim Reapers to aim at Ehitorujue. Eagle type Grim Reaper scattered cluster bombs above Ehitorujue. However, the squall of explosive was easily pulverized by the meteor shower fired from the halos, resulting in only sparkling particles scattering around. Hajime’s attacks didn’t reach Ehitorujue at all.

Ehitorujue’s expression didn’t even show any annoyance.

“The truth crumbled and the world was rapidly crumbling…the situation at that time was exactly like a picture of pandemonium in hell. There was nothing that could be done at all. Mankind had no other path other than destruction along with the planet. With the exception of a part of ‘the arrived’.”

Hajime took out all the Orestes that he could control in his attempt to deal with the five heavenly dragons, but Ehitorujue snapped his fingers while talking.

Right after that, several hundred lightning divine spear rained down from the empty air and fried all the Orestes without leaving even dust behind. Furthermore, the lightning that was thoroughly packed inside the spears was released and attacked Hajime from all direction like a spider web. While reinforcing his body with ‘Vajra’, Hajime evacuated hurriedly but he was unable to leave with no damage. His flesh was roasted which harmed his nerve slightly.

There the earth dragon attacked him.

“‘The arrived’――these were the people who were able to individually operate the essence of what all of you called as the age of god magic. They, only they were able to discover the method to be saved. That method was the teleportation to another world. Fufu-, isn’t that laughable? After all only the ringleaders who destroyed the world were able to escape from ruin.”

Amidst the reverberation of Ehitorujue’s laugh that was filled with irony, a wire with ores attached at both its ends soared through empty air.

The wire entangled around the approaching stone dragon and lightning dragon midair in many layers. Right after that, a fierce ripple spread from the ores. It was the binding artifact ‘Bola’ that had been strengthened by really far.

Operating together with the ores, the wire part that was also a developed model was fixed directly to the space, so the half magic half physical heavenly dragons were also firmly bounded in place.

The two heavenly dragons roared and rampaged violently to escape from the binding.

Hajime took out Schlagen AA once more and fixed his aim using his magic eye stone and pulled the trigger.

Spark traveled the barrel and Schlagen AA roared, the bullet then flew into the mouth of the lightning dragon and advanced forward without paying any heed to the lightning and destroyed the magic stone of the dragon.

At the same time, six bullets that were shot from Donner along the same trajectory gouged further the hole inside the stone dragon’s mouth that was hollowed by the concentrated fire of the Cross Velts. The bullets were instantly petrified and became brittle stone, but even so, the bullets advanced inside the stone dragon and the last bullet shot through the magic stone without getting petrified.

The last bullet was a bullet coated with sealing stone. Hajime only had a bit of it remained because he wasn’t frugal in using them for the weapons of Shia and others or his large shield, this bullet coated with sealing stone was something that he needed to think carefully before using.

Hajime splendidly defeated two heavenly dragons, but because of that his feet stopped moving. The compensation for that was large.

“Like that ‘the arrived’ including me arrived in this world. At that time we were surprised. After all, this world was so primitive that it shouldn’t even be compared with our world. Mighty creatures with special power were running rampant, while mankind was hiding in shadow like cave or hole in the ground while living barely scraping by.”

Ehitorujue had a distant look in reminiscence while waving his hand.

Immediately Hajime’s legs were fixed in a place altogether with the space. Even though he was concentrating on his story but he perfectly grasped the instant Hajime’s feet stopped, a compressed space in block shape that was the same like the fixed space which captured Metsurai Disaster completely seized Hajime.

(No good-)

Unease showed in Hajime’s expression. He immediately converted his magic power into impact to attempt to break the fixed space.

But, the opponent wasn’t that sweet to let such opening escaped.

Storm dragon roared while attacking the unmoving Hajime. Its jaw swallowed Hajime before closing with a snap. The wind blades and pebbles contained inside its body mercilessly assaulted Hajime. The damage went through to Hajime who persisted using ‘Vajra’. Blood sprayed everywhere and graphic unpleasant sound gokibeki- resounded.

Inside the storm of violence that was equivalent to a torture, Hajime fixed the aim of Schlagen AA along with a yell of fighting spirit and tore the storm dragon from inside its body.

Ehitorujue continued his talk without showing any care that the monster he created was killed.

“In that kind of world, we ‘the arrived’ decided to cultivate it. We exterminated the monsters that had lived since the ancient times, and granted wisdom to the native people. The small village turned into town before long and then became a city, and then before we realized it had become a country. At that period we had already been revered as gods. We used the secret technique of the truth and converted the religious faith into power, we attempted to reinforce and sublimate our soul was also around that period.”

Hajime smashed the storm dragon and blasted out from inside it, his body became soaked in blood which made his appearance looked wretched.

But, the ice dragon roared without even any time to breathe.

Hajime threw all the ‘Bola’ that he had toward the azure dragon that was approaching from the opposite direction, he also held the dragon back further using Cross Velts, ordered the Grim Reapers for concentrated fire, then he turned toward the ice dragon’s opened jaw and aimed Schlagen AA. Instantly Schlagen AA was freezing with dreadful momentum from its tip.

“Coordinate attack huh-”

It appeared the ice dragon was able to directly lower the temperature at the coordinate it targeted. It was an ability that the ice dragon Yue handled didn’t have.

Hajime was already unable to pull the trigger, the freezing kept moving with the momentum that almost froze even his artificial arm. Furthermore, with Ehitorujue’s instruction, a meteor shower and light apostles rushed Hajime’s left side with good timing.

Although he was able to somehow repel back only the light apostles using the suicide bombing Grim Reapers and Cross Velts, but he was unable to neutralize the whole meteor shower, Hajime received a direct hit on his left arm.

Although the armor of the artificial arm slightly decreased the damage he received, the Schlagen AA that he unintentionally let go because of the impact was sucked into the jaw of the ice dragon. Like that it was obvious how the artifact would end up. The Schlagen AA turn into little pieces at the same time when the pure white freezing ice dragon closed its jaw.

“A few thousand years later after that, this world became greatly developed. But, as though in inverse proportion, one of ‘the arrived’, and the one more person lost their will to live, regardless of how they had transcended the truth of death they ended their own life. I was unable to understand that but…the last person who stopped prolonging his life said this, ‘It’s already enough’. In the end, the remaining ‘arrived’ became only me.”

Hajime threw countless grenades at the surrounding and immediately shot them.

Right after that, a flame blast was generated in the air which created a crimson flame wall between Hajime and the ice dragon. For an instant, the sight of the ice dragon was obstructed, but something like that was completely swallowed into its jaw instantly like nothing.

But, after that flame blast cleared up, at the other side was a gigantic weapon――a gatling pile bunker held by Hajime was there.

At the next moment, a crimson spark crackled and two-ton giant stakes fired with a rate of twenty shot per second were fired and turned into flashes. The barrage of giant stakes that should be called as a crimson wall rushed the ice dragon from the front, coupled with the gravitational pull by the gravity spot in its mouth, the giant stakes stabbed into the dragon’s large mouth without any deviation.

The freezing ability of the ice dragon was instantly freezing the giant stakes, but because of their force the giant stakes couldn’t be resisted, they advanced unstoppable and gouged in. And then, one of the giant stakes hit the magic stone inside and splendidly succeeding in destroying the dragon. While raising scream of death agony, the ice dragon changed into mere mist and dispersed.

“I became the last one, since then how many months and years had lapsed then…was it a thousand or five thousand years…I don’t remember anymore but, day by day I watched the humans came to me lifting up prayer and offering, and then one day, suddenly I thought. ――Let’s destroy them.”

Hajime directed the cannon turret of the gatling pile bunker toward the azure dragon. The rushing meteor shower and light apostles were all blown away by the Cross Velts and Grim Reapers.

Like that, he turned toward the azure dragon who even now was almost finished burning the many Bolas binding itself and he pulled the trigger――just before he could do that, Hajime suddenly felt a chill and leaped away from that spot.

It appeared that his choice was correct. The place where Hajime was at a moment before was pierced by several dozen lightning divine spears, they spread immense thunders everywhere.

It was just a hair’s breadth. While trickling out cold sweat and blood, Hajime sent a sidelong glance at Ehitorujue. Ehitorujue was still looking at empty space with faraway look while talking about his path in the past. And yet, his attacks were still tormenting Hajime accurately with superb timing so there was nothing more irritating than this.

After being toyed around until this far, Hajime confirmed that Ehitorujue was sensing him accurately and he made a frustrated expression. At the same time, he decided that first, he should slaughter the last remaining azure dragon and so he was moving the gatling pile bunker toward it.

But, as expected it seemed he had let escape the timing for a sure kill.

The azure dragon that was restrained using all of Hajime’s bola roared fiercely. At that moment, the crimson ripple was enveloped by blue flame. The lit blue flame traveled along the bola’s wire before rushing all over everywhere and the blue flame swallowed everything.

Explosive sound resounded and blue beams of light illuminated the space, amidst that Ehitorujue showed an ecstatic expression. With Yue’s beautiful face, that smile emitted an amazing sex appeal,, but for Hajime it only made his blood boiled without end.

“You understand right? Just like how a man wants to defile woman, just like how someone wants to step on fresh snow, beautiful things, those precious things that you desperately piled up, they give off their true beauty when they are broken. The pleasure you obtained from that is something that is really difficult to be substituted by anything. That time when I trampled everything that I had protected the whole time for several thousand years let me tasted unimaginable sweetness. The people screaming, the shriek that asked for help from me…even now, that’s the only thing that I remember clearly.”

All the bolas were burned to nothing. The azure dragon resumed its advance with blazing rage.

Hajime was going to make the dragon into the prey of the gatling pile bunker right from the front, but then the space all around Hajime shook.

“――”

Omni-directional space blasting.

While holding his breath, Hajime leaped out from the encirclement before the space could generate shockwave.

A severe earthquake.

Although Hajime at least avoided a direct hit, he got hit by the after wave and blood sprayed everywhere grandly from Hajime’s wounds.

“Guu”

Hajime unintentionally groaned and his expression warped, there was a flickering azure flame at the corner of his sight. Contrary to the approaching heat, an ice lump was sliding down his spine.

He tried to use ‘Air Force’ to escape while reinforcing his body with ‘Vajra’, but the meteor swarm whirled and danced boisterously in anticipation of that and blocked Hajime’s path of escape.

“Even though I have forgotten completely how long I have lived, only the pleasure I felt at that time when everything crumbled is unforgettable. Therefore, I decided. That this world is my toy.”

Ehitorujue’s gaze finally returned back from the past.

He faced Hajime who was trying to break through the dance of the meteor shower using Donner and Cross Velts, and then he snapped his fingers.

That was the signal for the explosion.

All the meteors following Hajime like a whirlwind exploded simultaneously. The generated shockwave was equal with the hand grenade that Hajime used. Hajime immediately used Cross Velts to lay out barrier and furthermore the Grim Reapers used their body as a shield in their master’s danger to soften the impact even if just for a bit.

Hajime who was swallowed by flame blasts and the light was swallowed by the fully opened mouth of the azure dragon. The jaw of azure flame closed with a snap. Everything that was touched would be mercilessly returned to ash by the hell fire of the highest class of magic. Thinking normally, it was impossible to survive after getting eaten by that flame.

However, the torso of the flaming azure dragon――inside the azure flame there was a shining crimson that showed Hajime’s survival. There were four Cross Velts around Hajime. They connected to each other using string of magic power and laid out a barrier of space isolation, ‘Four Point Barrier’.

But, in compensation for that, the surface of the Cross Velts was melting down second by second. The seven Cross Velts that Hajime directly controlled were naturally enchanted with ‘Vajra’ and also coated with sealing stone, yet even so these Cross Velts couldn’t endure. It was something that he understood, but as expected the heat of this dragon far surpassed the dragon that Yue used.

“Guh, don’t, underestimate mee-!!”

Inside the stomach of the blue heavenly dragon, a voice that paused intermittently yet filled with tenacious will resounded. The astonishing thing was that even with the laid out space isolation barrier Hajime was still enveloped in a lot of flame.

It seemed that this azure dragon had penetrating flame the same like the Divine Flame slipped into it. Scorched by that flame, Hajime was stepping forward while trickling greasy sweats, he took out Orestes which made a gate that connected the inside and outside the barrier. Ahead of the gate was the azure dragon’s magic stone.

Donner fired crimson flash along with bursting sound, the bullet passed through the gate and pierced through the sea of azure flame. The magic bullet coated with sealing stone accurately shot the magic stone of the azure dragon. The magic stone became little pieces with an explosive sound, at the same time the blue flame was dispersing.

“Yes, everything is my toy, irregular.”

A sinister sound that he had already heard many times from Ehitorujue echoed. The sound of a finger snap.

As expected, the dispersing azure flame wriggled like living thing, it intruded smoothly into the four Cross Velts surrounding Hajime.

Right after that,

“Gaah”

Hajime’s short scream accompanied a grand flame blast rising up. The four Cross Velts ruptured from their inside. The penetrating Divine Flame caused chain explosions from the bursting bullet loaded inside. Followed by crimson ripples, grand and countless shockwaves and scattering Divine Flame tormented Hajime thoroughly from four directions.

Hajime immediately scattered hand grenades. It was for the sake of drinking god water and forcefully making an opening. As expected, his damage had reached a level that he couldn’t ignore.

But, the wind of death caressed his skin chillingly at that time. Hajime’s instinct was ringing the alarm bell in full.

Right after that, the crimson wall that bloomed fully at the surrounding from Hajime’s hand grenades was pierced by a blowing down wind.

Hajime obeyed his instinct’s command and twisted his body, and right beside him a dislocated space passed through.

At the same time, his left hand that took out god water was fixed in space. It was a perfect timing that took advantage of the opening when Hajime took evasive action. The next move was also the same. The Lightning divine spear flew out from empty air and shot down the god water.

“Damn-――”

Hajime raised his voice unintentionally, but it was already too late. The god water had been lost from Hajime’s hand. On the same occasion, his artificial hand was also pierced and his palm dissolved.

Hajime immediately repaired his artificial hand using transmutation while leaping away in order to avoid the rushing meteor shower.

“****-, even though that’s the last god water-”

A swearing leaked out. Ehitorujue who heard that lifted the corner of his lips.

And then, he lifted his hand before dropping that hand quietly pointing at Hajime. Immediately, light swelled up explosively and light star shot out from the halos like missile moving in an arch with light trailing behind.

Hajime took out his gatling pile bunker, aimed it at Ehitorujue and then he charged forward while firing.

From above, like stars falling from the night sky, radiant stars were raining down, the Grim Reapers whose number had decreased considerably before one knows used their body as a shield, several Cross Velts laid out barrier above Hajime’s route, with those the momentum of Hajime’s charge didn’t stop. Even while that was happening, like a countdown going down, the autonomic weapons of Hajime’s quality products were bursting, their fragments scattered everywhere.

But, as though mocking that determination of Hajime who was forced to make those sacrifices…

“What do you think the devil and demi-human are?”

Such question resounded from right behind Hajime.

Hajime felt a shudder running through his spine. He used the intense recoil of his artificial hand to rotate at high speed and fired Donner behind him without even confirming anything.

But, there was no one there, in exchange a presence appeared at Hajime’s left-hand side where he was holding the gatling pile bunker. Hajime opened his eyes wide while sending his gaze there, at the same time a hand gently caressed the artifact.

And then, just like what happened at the devil king castle, the gatling pile bunker was easily returned to dust.

The one who was there was Ehitorujue. From his three layers of halos, in his back now there was only the first layer of halo, he skipped over even Hajime’s perception and his figure appeared in very close range.

(Teleport without using gate…as expected, he can actually do something like that.)

Hajime’s eyes narrowed from how one of the concerns that he harbored came true. It appeared that the magic which allowed the lightning divine spear to appeared suddenly from the empty air and teleported the artifact he possessed――’Heaven Existence’ could also be used for teleporting the caster themselves. And then, Ehito could also turn artifact into dust just by touching them.

The figure of Ehitorujue vanished quietly once more.

At the same time, a chill ran on his back.

Hajime fired bursting bullet behind from the elbow of his artificial arm, but the light emitted from the halo blocked it. Ehitorujue’s arm was swung down without even paying any attention to Hajime’s counterattack.

Sword of light attacked Hajime following the trajectory of that arm. Hajime rotated using the impact from firing bursting bullet and back-stepped to evade. He took a distance of more than ten meters within an instant using his super speed but…

“–!?”

A diagonal laceration was carved from Hajime’s shoulder until his flank. Even though he should have gotten out already from the range of the sword yet he was still hit. Hajime’s face warped in pain while his severe gaze stabbed Ehitorujue.

“No need to be shocked. This is called as ‘Divine Sword’, a magic sword that can freely contract and expand, it also can jump through space to attack. It can penetrate your defense is because it also has the penetrating ability like ‘Divine Flame’.”

Hajime had been reduced to a tragic appearance that was obvious at a glance. Ehitorujue was explaining to such Hajime who was breathing roughly while his hand was caressing along the divine sword.

That composed expression expressed how Hajime’s fang couldn’t reach him at all.

In contrast Hajime was all tattered. His black coat that was weaved with metal fiber which was stronger than even armor had become just like scrapped rag, the clothes under it was heavily soaked from absorbing blood. His skin that was visible from the gaps of the torn clothes was dyed bright red, his white hair was especially soaked with blood color from the fresh blood pouring out from his head, just looking at Hajime right now felt painful. The blood trickling down his head was like tears of blood.

Even the equal fight when the two fought a battle of resource was easily tilted completely into Ehito’s favor when he used age of god magic consecutively. The many artifacts that were the greatest trait of Hajime’s specialty were also being mostly destroyed.

What were left with Hajime was Donner & Schlag, Cross Velts, and then Grim Reapers…

“Hmm, it has become a little bit bothersome now.”

Ehito swung his divine sword. Not even afterimage could be seen from his hand motion. It wasn’t even clear whether he had swung the magic sword or not. But, the result was obvious. The Cross Velts and Grim Reapers that had been decreased until nearly fifty machines were cruelly turned into small pieces before they exploded everywhere they were.

“…”

What remained was only three Cross Velts that Hajime directly controlled. The army of demon king had been completely annihilated, even the crosses that symbolized death fell on the ground. Now Hajime only possessed mainly grenades of various kinds. Most likely Ehitorujue was intentionally aiming to destroy the artifacts in order to grant Hajime despair.

“Well, such thing doesn’t matter. Rather than that, I talked about devil and demi-human. What do you think they are?”

Without even showing particular care about the several hundred artifacts that he had cut apart instantly, Ehitorujue repeated his previous question. It appeared the talk of Ehitorujue still wasn’t over. He toyed around with his divine sword while staring at Hajime who looked like he could fall anytime with a wide repulsive grin.

“…Aren’t they…haa haa…the native here.”

Hajime answered the question in order to recover even for a little in this second opening he was given.

“No, you are wrong. The native people of this world are only the ‘human’. Whether the devil or the demi-human, they are the illegitimate children created by my magic technology.”

“…So you even, guh, synthesizing?”

“Fufu-, you have fast understanding. The devil and demi-human are synthetic organisms created by the combination of my monster and human. They are my genuine creation.”

‘Why did you do such thing?’ Perhaps Ehitorujue surmised that unasked question of Hajime, his tongue was moving smoothly to answer.

“No matter how much I was trying to sublimate my soul using faith and secret technique, no matter how much restoration and improvement I attempted on the body, the long several millenniums brought my body to its limit. Naturally, I searched for new body but…there was no flesh that could accept the soul of god.”

“If there is none, then just make one…huh?”

“It really helps that you have a quick understanding. Devil has high aptitude with magic factor, and the demi-human has powerful physic, they each came from me combining human with primitive organisms that possessed those essential aspects. I also tried creating the likes of dragon people by combining those two aspects but….they were a failure. They could only be used for side entertainment, like how the strongest race became persecuted.”

Just how many sacrifices came out along the course of those experiments? Even Hajime couldn’t help but sympathize with the people in the past. To say nothing of the fact that the reason of the persecution toward Tio and others was merely this guy venting his anger, knowing that caused Hajime’s killing intent to intensify further.

“In that process, I also created the currently existing monsters and apostles, but because of some unknown factor, in the end I was unable to obtain a body that could possibly become my vessel. Although some could endure to a certain degree, they would soon self-destruct.”

“…So the Holy Precincts…was because you had no vessel”

“Fufu. Correct. This place is so I can continue to exist only as soul and also a place where I can use my strength. Here I was enjoying the game while waiting. Extremely rarely there would be people with aptitude like Aruvheit or the ‘liberators’ that were born.”

Based on the truth that Hajime was told, it seemed that the people who were called as ‘true ancestor’ like Yue or Shia were more accurately people with aptitude. Although even the people with aptitude in the past like the liberators were insufficient as Ehitorujue’s vessel.

Hajime’s eyes narrowed quietly.

“Like, that…haa haa, three hundred years ago…you finally, discovered it, huh”

“Yes. At that time my heart danced for the first time after a few hundred years. Although, my vessel was immediately hidden after that…even though at that time I had even personally granted her the title as ‘miko’ specially. You know, at that time I was driven by fury that I even destroyed several countries unintentionally while destroying the vampire country. After that I thought of the possibility of another miko being born once more before I was able to finally calm down.”

Ehitorujue swept his divine sword. The halo on his back and the halos at the distance visible above the throne began to shine brilliantly.

“Let me say my thanks once more, irregular. You discovered my vessel and made me enjoyed myself until this much, you have truly done a great service. As the prize, I’ll consign you to oblivion personally by my hand.”

Platinum magic power painted over everything.

Hajime too also emitted his crimson magic power, he readied Donner-Schlag and lined up the three Cross Velts behind him.

A beat passed.

The figure of Ehitorujue disappeared.

Hajime fired the readied Donner & Schlag as they were. The launched flashes passed through the last Orestes that was placed in front of the gun muzzles and reappeared behind him.

Sure enough, there was Ehitorujue there.

However, without any hurry Ehitorujue surprisingly cut apart the bullets that came flying from Orestes with his divine sword.

Although Yue was a prodigy in magic but her close quarter combat ability was lower than average. Based on Ehitorujue’s feat just now, it seemed that because of the possession the body’s physical ability and battle skill were increased up like a joke.

The penetrating divine sword stretched toward the frowning Hajime. The sword flash that was impossible to defend against was somehow evaded by Hajime bending backward. At the same time the Cross Velts fired burst bullets wildly.

Those bullets were shot down by the light stars fired from the halo. The spreading ripples of impact bloomed everywhere between Hajime and Ehitorujue.

“There is nothing to feel surprised about. This is my original sword art that I learned for killing time. The twin large swords art of the apostle is also based on my swordsmanship. I can do not only magic you know?”

“Chih, so what.”

“Fufu-. At first, I put distance and stole the artifacts of you who were desperately struggling like plucking off your arms and legs. Next is close quarter combat, that’s how it is. There is no hope for you no matter what you try, I’ll teach that to you personally. How are you feeling getting overwhelmed with one hand by someone who was talking leisurely about the past? Hmm?”

Saying that Ehitorujue cut apart the shockwaves themselves and charged forward.

Hajime rapid fired Donner & Schlag. The bullets that he used were Living Bullet. Furthermore they were coated with sealing stone.

But, at the next moment Ehitorujue’s figure vanished as expected. And then, he appeared instantly at Hajime’s side.

Hajime who foreseen that used the recoil of his artificial arm to throw away his body. Immediately following that, the bullets that Hajime fired before this flew out from the space around Ehitorujue. Hajime understood that Ehitorujue would teleport using Heaven Existence so he made use of Orestes to teleport the bullets.

A storm of flashes that aimed at the moment Ehitorujue teleported. No matter even if it was Ehitorujue, it seemed that he would get drilled through by the bullets before he could teleport once more.

However, the moment the bullets impacted, the arm of Ehitorujue that was holding the divine sword vanished. No, that arm was moving so fast that it looked like it vanished. The sword moved flexibly like a whip, and sword lines rushed around Ehitorujue as though a barrier was layered surrounding him.

As the result, the bullets were wrecked into pieces. The sword was swung with a speed that even the Living Bullets’ trajectory correction couldn’t follow. Even the perception skill that Hajime had could only perceive the sword slightly as a streak of light. It was a terrifying speed.

“To be able to read my movement in this short time…that prediction came from experience rather than sense I guess. That’s really something. But, in front of my ‘God Speed’ that is still too slow.”

God Speed――it was the magic that Kaori used limitedly. But Ehitorujue used it with more refinement. It was beyond the pale that he was able to cut apart twenty shots of electromagnetically accelerated bullets that approached from a meter. Before this when he instantly cut apart several hundred Cross Velts and Grim Reapers was surely also because his sword attacks that were done within shortened time.

“Now then, how many artifacts you have left? Or else have you used up all of your plans? If not then you can use them all. I’ll crush everything you have and dye your brave face with despair!”

Ehitorujue used Heaven Existence.

Instantly, he appeared right in front of Hajime’s face.

“Kuh”

The sword flashes that were swung while Hajime groaned were ten times. All of those were evaded by Hajime who mostly relied only on his instinct. But, his dodging couldn’t be called as perfect with how he was unable to defend, he was grazed, or even thinly sliced all over his body.

The recoil of Hajime’s artificial hand forcefully threw away his body to an angle that was normally impossible. Hajime rotated like spinning wheel while desperately taking distance, during that time he randomly scattered a lot of grenades from inside ‘Treasure Warehouse II’.

Many of the grenades were cut apart by the lengthening divine sword, and destroyed by the meteors from the halo. The grenades that weren’t even allowed to explode were scattered as sparkling particles and fell on the ground.

Ehitorujue laughed disgustingly to that useless effort of Hajime who couldn’t even buy time while teleporting consecutively. He appeared and then vanished, appeared and then vanished. Just like an illusion. It was like he was being omnipresence around Hajime.

And then the divine sword that reached regardless of distance carved multiple layers in the air. Although Hajime avoided lethal wound each time that happened, wounds were mass produced with certainty on his body. He also counterattacked with the combination of Donner & Schlag, Orestes, and Cross Velts, but in front of the elusive Heaven Existence and God Speed, Hajime was unable to inflict even one telling blow.

The second and third layer of the halos and the halo behind Ehitorujue were dyeing the white space with platinum light by endlessly firing meteor shower. However naturally those meteors were automatically avoiding Ehitorujue himself and rushed only Hajime.

Hajime was clenching his teeth while shooting back, he was staving off the storm of death sometimes with grenade, sometimes with Cross Velt, and sometimes with Orestes. Amidst that he was trying to somehow arrest Ehitorujue’s movement but…

He couldn’t reach.

Hajime was being overwhelmed even in close quarter combat just like Ehitorujue planned. Each time he was attacked, blood splashed while he was being rapidly cornered, just like a chess match.

“What’s wrong? Won’t you use your trump card(godslaying)? If you use it while praying, perhaps you will be lucky and reach this body you know?”

“Shu, shut uup-!”

Hajime was already holding out only by his guts. Even the vocabulary of the words that he returned to Ehitorujue’s provocation was poor. Perhaps because Hajime was bleeding out too much, or perhaps because of the limit break that he continued to use, Hajime’s eyes were beginning to strangely get out of focus and looked blank.

“Hmm. You don’t look like you will take out a new artifact, your body is also on the verge of breaking apart…are you waiting for a favorable opportunity?”

Ehitorujue snapped his fingers. Lightning divine spear was flying out from empty air.

Its target was naturally the heavily wounded Hajime. Even now it felt like his consciousness would fly away, his body felt like it would crumble down anytime. Even so, he still somehow avoided a direct hit, really what an astonishing survival instinct.

But, even his resistance only went that far.

The lightning divine spears that fired rapidly destroyed the last Cross Velts and Orestes altogether, on the same occasion the lightning the spears contained were also liberated nearby Hajime.

“GUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-”

Terrific impact and thunderous sound, and then lightning hit Hajime. Hajime screamed and then fell on the ground with a smoking body.

Hajime bounced several times on the chalk white ground before collapsing face down. Then blood dripped out. Hajime’s tragic appearance that had been chopped up, beaten many times, and also grilled thoroughly, just from a glance he already looked like a corpse. It was hard to judge him as alive.

Ehitorujue descended soundlessly in front of Hajime. Looking at Hajime who was licking the ground in an unsightly state, while wondering if it was the end with this, Ehitorujue lifted up his divine sword in order to deal the finishing blow with an expression like a child whose toy was taken away.

But, ahead of his gaze Hajime’s finger twitched.

“Hou”

Ehitorujue reflexively leaked out an admiring voice. Even during that time Hajime’s body was moving and his body was rising up while dripping blood was dirtying the chalk white ground.

“Even with the majesty of god engraved to your flesh and bones, you are still going to stand up?”

Ehitorujue’s words were replied by Hajime with intermittent words that sounded like they were going to die out anytime along with his heartbeat.

“I’ll, keep…saying it. You are…not a, god. Rather, even, compared…to the ‘human’ fighting on the surface right now…you’re weak.”

“What are you basing on saying that? And with that heavily wounded appearance at that. Even though not even a single one of your power reach me.”

Ehitorujue made an exasperated expression, wondering if Hajime would still bluffing even after reaching this point of time.

“…Indeed, your strength, is astonishing. …Since I, got out, of the abyss, I have…never, felt death…this close”

“Hmph, if you understand――”

“But, that’s all.”

Hajime cut off Ehitorujue’s words. The focus of his eyes was disappearing. However, anyone would understand if they looked from close by. Far inside the wavering eyes, a flame that would never be snuffed out was residing there. As though to display that, strength was filling Hajime’s words little by little.

“Inside you, there is no…will to overwhelm others. That’s why, no matter how much…strength, that you show me, my heart…won’t waver. ――It’s like you are not scary.”

“…Are you making excuse?”

Ehitorujue talked provocatively, however, this times it was Hajime who was talking with a distant look. About the strong people that he met, or he knew in this world.

“I, know. …even though she is the weakest race, yet with a single feeling…that fellow stepped into a deadly no man’s land.”

Her face looked like she was going to cry, even so ‘to be together’, just for that little wish that rabbit ear girl kept running desperately

“Even though…despair, was thrust before her eyes…she just wouldn’t break, a fellow that continued to believe in hope.”

With a single feeling, even when no one believed other than her, she didn’t abandon hope. An earnest girl who in the end even chose to change her body to get close to him.

“For the sake of her comrade…in order to protect…a fellow that can use her body as a shield.”

Just how many times had he been protected by her? Even though usually she would screw around, but when push came to shove she would risk her life more than anyone, a wise woman with deep emotion.

“Even at the verge of death…a fellow that can think of her best friend, as the most.”

Surely, she was the most ‘girlish’ among his comrades. Despite so, she would take up weapon for the sake of someone, even many times at the verge of death, the one who she would think at the end would always be her best friend, it would always be somebody else. A kind girl who was too kind.

“Even when, the world changed…even when her own naivety was thrust before her, that fellow didn’t cast away her own dignity.”

Hesitating, scared, distressed, hurt, even so she didn’t stop being what she determined as herself. The teacher who admonished Hajime who only kept pushing on so he would stop and looked back.

“Even though she is just a little girl without any strength, that girl can risk her life in order to stop her idiot father.”

The time they spent together didn’t even reach a month. She was also just a four-year-old little girl. Despite so, she worried for her injured mother, she personally went to meet the father who informed her of their parting and spoke out, and in the end, that child could convey her feeling without taking even a step back against her rampaging father.

And then,

“…And then, even with her body taken, still, that fellow is continuing to fight.”

He believed. Yes, he believed. At her strength.

Hajime’s gaze, the gaze of someone who had been overwhelmed until he couldn’t move even a single finger and was almost died, pierced Ehitorujue.

The person whom that gaze was directed at didn’t notice himself. Of how the shining flame deep inside those eyes that were peaceful like a calm water surface yet dark like the abyss, was overpowering himself to shrink away with a step back.

“Even the monsters in the abyss emitted overwhelming killing intent and survival instinct. But, there is nothing in you. You are empty. Surely, since the time the things you have piled up together with your comrades were destroyed, you have been empty.”

Hajime stood up completely. In his hands, Donner & Schlag were clutched tightly.

“Your words were loud and clear. In short, you don’t learn anything since the past, you cannot even endure loneliness, however you are scared to even die…the point is that you are just a spoiled brat right?”

The meaning of “enough already” that Ehitorujue’s last comrade spoke was surely, because he believed that even if they let go of the hand of the people they guided in this world, it was enough, they would still be able to live prosperously.

That person was surely thinking of their destroyed home world, that existences like them who had touched the truth weren’t needed anymore, and then, seeing the activity of this world, surely that person thought that there was nothing left that he needed to teach to the people of this world.

Not noticing that feeling, unable to even sympathize, not learning anything from the past, scared of the fear of death despite being able to interfere with truth, and then unable to endure the loneliness, he went into a rampage. In the end, the existence named Ehitorujue was still ‘childish’ no matter how long he had been alive.

“…Fuh, is this a scheme to make my mind waver with that kind of provocation? After all it will be the end if your trump card fails to reach me. What a moving endeavor. But, at this rate your ‘godslaying’ cannot possibly work.”

That was why, he didn’t understand the meaning of what Hajime was talking about. Exactly the same like how he didn’t understand the meaning of the words of his comrade in the far past.

Hajime slowly drew back one of his feet and took his stance. Even though he was already at the death’s door, a supreme will was overflowing from that body.

“Perhaps.”

A calm word of affirmation.

But, right after that…

“That’s only if I am still like before yeah-!”

Immense power burst out from Hajime. It was incomparable with his ‘Supreme Break’ until now. A torrent of power that was equal with several times his former power whirled with Hajime at the center. It was just like a tornado of level F5. The crimson color got deeper into a deep crimson, the space was rumbling as though it was screaming.

“What the-”

Hajime who he thought to be almost died just now suddenly exploded out with power so great at this point of time, for the first time Ehitorujue’s calm expression crumbled. That was undoubtedly an expression of shock.

Giving that expression a glance, Hajime stepped forward. No, his figure was erased.

Where he appeared was right in front of Ehitorujue’s face. Ehitorujue gazed in astonishment.

Just by being fast wouldn’t be able to surpass Ehitorujue’s perception. No matter how much Hajime was strengthened, it would still be impossible by nature. But, even so there were many ways to fight. Just who decided that an instant space teleportation was the technique exclusive for god?

“Haah!!”

“Nuu!?”

The hand of Hajime that was holding Donner softly shifted the hand of Ehitorujue that was stabbing toward Hajime. At the same time, the bullet that flew out from Schlag ricocheted on the ground and aimed at Ehitorujue’s heart.

Naturally, Ehitorujue escaped with Heaven Existence. Instantly, a raging killing intent blew from behind him.

“-!? You *******, as expected, you use Heaven Existence!?”

“Who knows, I wonder about that?”

Two gunshots resounded. However, there were twenty streaks of flashes that attacked Ehito violently. Half of them were slashed by the divine sword, but he then judged that he wouldn’t be able to deal with the rest of Hajime’s acrobatics rapid shooting that Ehitorujue escaped using further space teleportation.

But, at his next teleportation Ehitorujue saw it. Before his eyes one floating bullet vanished quietly, at the next instant, Hajime appeared at that bullet’s former spot. Yes, it was as though the position of Hajime and the bullet was exchanged.

――Special bullet Exise Bullet

This special bullet that was transmuted from combined space-sublimation magic had the ability to exchange the coordinate position of the starting point and each bullet. Bullets so many like the number of stars in the sky had been scattered in this battlefield since the start of the battle until this moment. But, not all the bullets were attacking the enemy. Several bullets among them were scattering to the whole area and floated midair to become Hajime’s teleporting coordinate.

Ehitorujue used his divine sword to intercept Hajime who appeared in front of him.

However,

“Mu-”

He struck empty air. The blade passed through a bit in front of Hajime. With a returning strike Ehito attempted to shower Hajime with slashes――but when he noticed, Hajime had already slipped right in front of his face once more.

Hajime rushed at the opening of Ehito’s mind. He read Ehito’s breathing and made his timing and distance to miss. Hajime also intentionally disturbed his presence to make it difficult for Ehito to perceive his state. He used taijutsu to give an illusion to Ehito’s sense of distance. The more sensitive the senses of the opponent, the more these techniques could be used to throw the opponent’s perception out of whack. Furthermore,

――Illusion projection artifact ‘Novum Idola’

This artifact layered shadow on the user, it strangely shifted the user’s position and enveloped the image-presence-magic power-etc of the user, at the same time it interfered with the opponent’s perception and made them misrecognized the camouflage and the truth. Hajime’s figure and presence that blurred in two or three layers, combined with Hajime’s own taijutsu realized a close quarter combat that was like an illusion.

“You *******-, after this far, you still show new cards――”

Ehitorujue’s discarded voice was cut off. Seeing this person who had become that ragged, showered in words of humiliation, and made to snuggle really close to death, yet he was still preserving his cards until this time, as expected it was beyond the imagination of even god. For example even if someone actually was still hiding some plan inside their heart, but in a situation where it wasn’t strange that they could die anytime, the courage needed not to expose their hidden hand was already something that surpassed the realm of human.

Ehitorujue who felt a slight shudder going through his back unleashed attacks that were like surging wave.

“OOOOOOOOOOO-!!”

Hajime’s war cry reverberated, at the same time a crimson flash exploded like a solar flare.

Even when Ehitorujue swung his divine sword and fired meteor shower from his halos, his disarrayed perception couldn’t capture Hajime. Hajime’s attack was also becoming closer and closer to hitting before he noticed, that fact was already a godly feat that surpassed superhuman feat――no, perhaps it was more fitting for Hajime for this to be called as a demonic feat.

Hajime bared his fang using everything that he had analyzed and pounded into his body from the battle until now!

Ehitorujue teleported consecutively once more. However, Hajime who was starting to grasp his teleporting habit rapidly approached within zero comma several seconds. Hajime wasn’t using only the speed of the coordinate exchange and his discernment. His raw speed that was continuing to increase second by second was also progressively entering the realm of god speed.

Even so, the sword flashes of Ehitorujue was impossible to defend against, therefore he possessed overwhelming advantage against Hajime in close quarter combat, was how it was supposed to be.

GAKIN-

“Wha-!?”

This time it was Ehitorujue who leaked out a shocked voice along with the resounding hard sound.

That was only natural. The divine sword that should pass through everything except Hajime was blocked by Schlag after all.

With no delay the right Donner aimed at Ehitorujue. The fired crimson flash was evaded by Ehitorujue using teleportation by a hairbreadth with shocked expression pasted still on his face.

“Just, what in the world――”

“It’s only transmutation.”

Hajime answered concisely without telling everything.

The cause that blocked the penetrating ability of the divine sword came from the transmutation that was done on Schlag.

――Soul magic neutralization artifact ‘Delischanors’

If the attack could pass through everything except the target using soul magic, then he only needed to enchant Schlag using ‘Soul Reproduction’ to create a pseudo soul in it. Originally this was a ‘decoy’ artifact that was produced from the assumption that the ‘Divine Statement’ which forced a command on the selected soul in subconscious level couldn’t be defended using Miledy’s artifact, but it was also sufficient to misalign the target of the divine sword.

And then, the decoys that were applied with Delischanors weren’t just Donner & Schlag.

Ehitorujue swung the divine sword at the stepping forward Hajime, which was blocked by the muzzle of Schlag. At the same time,

DOPAN-!!

A single gunshot. The flying bullet knocked back the divine sword that should be in a state where its penetrating ability was activated. Yes, what was enchanted with Delischanors wasn’t just Schlag. The bullets were also rejecting the penetration ability!

“Irregular-”

“You talk too much, small fry.”

The impact from the divine sword getting knocked back forcefully made Ehito’s posture to form a one-handed banzai, Ehitorujue who was making a humiliated expression fired meteors from his halo.

But, as though knowing that move ahead, Cross Velts and Donner’s bullet barrage repelled them. Hajime smoothly closed the distance and launched a fierce round kick. That attack, finally, run into the solar plexus of the god that Hajime had no hope to touch before! The kick that had ‘Strong Leg’ and ‘Impact Conversion’ applied to it was extremely intense. Ehitorujue’s body bent forward into ‘>’ shape and he was blown away.

“Kuh”

Hajime pursued, but as expected Ehitorujue didn’t intend to allow him going that far and used Heaven Existence to make his escape.

Yes, he escaped. Different from all his evasion until now from the thinking that it was inexcusable for god’s body to be touched, now he was purely escaping. Of course, Ehitorujue had automatic regeneration. Even so, that he escaped was because his heart was shaken. It was an instinctual action.

Because of that, the humiliation that was welling up in his chest was great. As though to display that, the expression of Ehitorujue distorted grandly.

“You-, your new artifact, that power-. You *******, you didn’t fight me at full strength!”

“Oi oi, what kind of gullible fellow would believe his enemy’s words. Of course, that was obviously a lie.”

While unfolding an offense and defense against Hajime who was saying such thing boldly, Ehitorujue suddenly noticed. That Hajime’s tone didn’t even sound pained at all and flowed smoothly. That his wounds from being tormented thoroughly had been mostly healed.

What was the reason that Hajime was healed? The reason was the same with how his strength was increased even after activating ‘Supreme Break’ already.

It finally melted, the capsule inside his stomach. The capsule filled with god water and cheatmate that Hajime had drunk beforehand.

Ehitorujue didn’t know about that, but he conjectured that it was impossible for such rapid healing to happen except by god water and he raised an angry voice.

“What you said about the god water being the last was also a lie-”

“It was a really delicious water that is worthy to be called god water you know?”

Hajime spoke indifferently. Toward such Hajime, Ehitorujue took distance without fussing over close quarter combat where he was about to launch space blasting and lightning divine spear. The humiliation of being fooled was oozing out from that expression.

As though to promote that displeasure further, Hajime constantly closed the distance smoothly not letting Ehito got away.

While the divine sword and Schlag were locked with each other, Ehitorujue asked from very close range.

“Why, only now.”

“Naturally, in order to obtain certainty. I’m not underestimating your strength.”

There was only one chance for the ‘godslaying’. Hajime didn’t understand what kind of strength Ehitorujue who had perfectly seized Yue’s body possessed, because of that it was necessary to make Ehito showed out his hands that Hajime hadn’t seen before in order to use that one chance with certainty. Ehitorujue intended to play around with Hajime, but Hajime was also doing the same thing albeit for a different reason.

The strength of Ehitorujue that surpassed the imagination was to the degree that made Hajime felt the scythe of the death god, but by paying compensation of pain and many of his artifacts, somehow Hajime was able to confirm the battle strength and hands that Ehitorujue possessed to a certain degree, also, he became able to grasp the ‘habit’ of Ehitorujue.

Ehitorujue regained his footing from the shock and his expression suddenly changed into looking amused. And then, he instantly invoked a large scale space blasting that didn’t even spare himself from being dragged into it.

The space creaked and the meteor shower that was sweeping over all around was popping off. Among them, Hajime whose expression distorted was also included inside. It seemed that he endured using ‘Vajra’ that had its output increased, but he bore a damage that didn’t look light. Hajime vomited out blood while coughing.

But, Hajime immediately rallied himself and detected Ehitorujue. Ehitorujue had returned once more to his throne where three layers of halos were behind his back. It seemed that he was injured by his own damage but he immediately recovered using ‘Automatic Regeneration’.

“Then, whether you are really not misunderstanding me or not, the might of this true god will ascertain that!”

Right after that, light exploded. The halos were releasing light so intense to the degree that would make anyone hallucinated that. And then, Each halo were beginning to rotate while shining brilliantly.

Even during that time, Hajime was approaching while slipping through the meteor shower that had been doubled in intensity, right after that, a very thick beam of light was fired from the halos. If anyone saw it, then they would think that it was just like the ‘Heaven Might’ that Kouki unleashed. Although, the power and scale of this one from Ehito were in a different league.

“This cannot be avoided you know, irregular! This light of ruin will continue to chase after you forever until you die!”

In contrast with Ehitorujue who was raising a loud voice, Hajime fiercely bared his fang and answered.

“Then, I’ll breakthrough frontally.”

A crimson flash with honed killing intent surged straight ahead.

At the same time, Hajime scattered all the grenades that he had, furthermore a huge assault lance coated with sealing stone was deployed in the front. A mechanical sound was reverberating from that assault lance, the lance was spreading like an umbrella while it was elongating by three stages and it began to rotate at high speed.

――Target dispersal assault lance ‘Lob Regenschirm’

A three-stage assault lance that rotated at high speed with its surface engraved by sealing stone and particular unevenness, that was to say it was a drill.

The target that was touched would be pulverized and dispersed as though being dug out. Hajime floated it in front of him, he used it as a shield while spreading intense ripples in midair, immediately after that, he charged toward the bombardment of ‘True Heaven Might’ along with a fierce impact.

While the coated sealing stone was being broken in the blink of eye, Lob Regenschirm was forcefully scattering the god’s might while leading its master Hajime toward the target’s position. Hajime also used ‘Vajra’, ‘Magic Power Emission’, and ‘Impact Conversion’ as explosive reactive armor and charged through the light of destruction!

“-uaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-!!”

Blood spurted out from the wounds that just got healed due to the after-effect that couldn’t be dispersed, his internal organs, his flesh, his bones were screaming. The crimson aura he was clad with and another red were scattered around him, even so Hajime screamed without stopping his advance. He wouldn’t stand still even for an instant! Overwhelm back the overwhelming torrent! Crush the absurdity with even more absurdity! Just like how he came this far until now, tear apart all the obstacles-!

“You are breaking through even this-”

Ehitorujue saw Hajime who was advancing inside the Heaven Might he unleashed and got stabbed with that eye glint that was filled to the brim with tenacious determination and tremendous killing intent――and he prepared to run away once more.

He was going to withdraw from that spot using Heaven Existence. He was taking that action mostly subconsciously.

But, Hajime didn’t allow him to do such thing.

The whole area at the surrounding was enveloped by explosive sound. It was the grenades that Hajime scattered. The spaces at the center where the explosions happened were distorting like jelly, shockwaves were blowing violently due to the side effect of the spaces trying to return to normal.

The cause of this was the space explosion grenade that distorted the space and generated shockwave. Originally it was something that made use of space to attack the enemy using shockwave, but right now it was displaying a different effect.

That was the destabilization of space.

Whether the direct teleportation magic ‘Heaven Existence’ that didn’t use exact and delicate gate could be used in this place or not…

“――tsk. Another artifact again-”

It seemed Ehitorujue himself understood well the answer. At the very least it was something dangerous to the degree that made him spontaneously hesitating to activate the magic. And then, he was also unintentionally swearing from witnessing new artifacts appearing one after another.

Using that opportunity, Hajime finally broke through the True Heaven Might. The Lob Regenschirm was smashed up, Hajime himself was also worn out, but that terrifyingly sharply gleaming eyes pierced Ehitorujue that was right nearby.

Ehitorujue immediately changed plan from escaping to intercepting. He was already materializing divine sword in one hand and swung it with God Speed. The sword lines that were drawn within an instant easily surpassed a hundred. He was seriously serious. This was the full strength sword play of Ehitorujue.

It didn’t matter that his perception was shifted or whatever, that was irrelevant if he was just filling the space to the brim with sword slashes. Therefore, even Hajime appeared unable to react against that, without even any time to put a defense all the sword flashes passed through that body. There wasn’t even any resistance that could be felt from the sword cutting through flesh.

At the same time, the Hajime that should be cut dispersed lightly, from its shadow Hajime leaped out.

“Impossible-. Something that only has small effect of shifting perception is――”

“Just who said that such thing is the effect huh?”

Ehitorujue’s surprised voice was easily responded by Hajime. Illusion projection artifact ‘Novum Idola’ fundamentally only had the effect of derailing the perception. But, nobody was saying that was its whole ability or anything. Even if, that was the only ability it showed even when in a critical time.

The corner of Ehitorujue’s sight caught a bullet that was transparent like a crystal floating there.

――Illusion projection assistance artifact ‘Vision Bullet’

Combined with ‘Novum Idola’, an artifact that completely projected Hajime’s illusion was put in the core of this bullet. The moment Hajime broke through the True Heaven Might, he predicted that a severe interception attack would be waiting for him, so Hajime fired the Vision Bullet to the front while he himself drew back from Ehito’s sword range.

Ehitorujue who had just finished swinging his god sword, in addition to the shock, became slow in reacting, with an intense step Hajime threw away Schlag and he turned his artificial palm toward Ehito. Right after that, the gimmick in the palm worked and the five fingers there greatly elongated. Now it looked just like a skeleton hand of a giant.

Hajime struck with that expanding mechanical palm toward Ehitorujue. And then, in a flash the five fingers curled and restrained Ehitorujue’s body, then Hajime hurled himself forward which carried them through the halos immediately.

“aAAAAAAAAAAAAA-!!”

Hajime roared and then the gimmick of the artificial hand activated which let out many spikes that pierced Ehitorujue’s body like iron maiden, furthermore Hajime activated a space fixation that was limited to inside his palm and completely restrained Ehito.

Ehitorujue immediately attempted to use magic, but tremendous magic power radiation came out from the artificial hand that was glued close to his body――the magic power cannon ‘Glanzen’ loaded inside the artificial arm performed bombardment of pure magic power that stirred up the magic power inside Ehito’s body, due to that Ehito was unable to invoke magic instantly. Furthermore, Ehitorujue was able to swing his divine sword just by reversing his wrist, but that too was beyond his power due to the anchor and steel thread flying out from the artificial arm which bound his body and operated vibration pulverization.

“Raah!!”

“-!?”

Like that, at the end of dense offense and defense that happened for less than a second, Hajime succeeded in throwing down Ehitorujue on the ground.

The gazes of Ehitorujue who was held down on the ground and Hajime who was straddling him crossed each other. At the same time, along with a kacha sound, something hard was pushed on Ehitorujue’s heart from the opening of the five fingers.

It was the gun muzzle of Donner.

“This is check. The ‘godslaying’ that was born at the end of drowning in alcohol, taste it to your heart’s content.”

“Wa-――”

Instantly,

DOPAN-

A single gunshot.

Ehitorujue’s body twitched up.

What was fired was naturally the godlsaying bullet that picked only the god to destroy. The ‘Short Sword of Divine Crossing’ where the liberators’ tenacity resided was condensed, processed, and then remanufactured into a bullet.

Finally the trump card pierced through Ehitorujue.

Behind the halos were crumbling down as though they were weathering down into dust.

Silence filled the white space.

The closed eyelids of Yue quivered along with her long eyelashes. And then, on the eyes that slowly opened, the worn-out figure of Hajime was reflected…

“How unfortunate, irregular.”

“――”

Right after that, Hajime’s left arm was pulverized into very small pieces, and his body was spraying blood while getting blown away.



 

[Vol 8] Chapter 22 – The Last Battle



Circle-warning.gif This chapter is translated by Cobalt
and is rehosted with due permission.

Platinum light poured down.

The radiant pillar of light quietly stretched from empty space to the ground――toward a chalk white round pillar. And then, when the light touched the summit of the gigantic round pillar where seven or eight people could stand with room to spare, at the next moment it vanished completely without warning.

There was a shadow of a person kneeling on one knee after the light vanished. It went without saying that it was Hajime.

Hajime looked around with a dangerous gaze.

In that place, similar to the richly colored space where they arrived at right after entering Holy Precincts, there was a chalk white path that stretched straight deeper inside with the pillar where Hajime was standing as the starting point. However, the surrounding wasn’t richly colored like the first space, but closed in a darkness that was like an abyss.

The chalk white path that was stretching in a straight line looked extremely visible. At the end of that chalk white path, it was connected with a stair that led to above.

(This is not a mineral huh…)

Hajime whispered a little in his heart while looking beneath him.

He used transmutation’s derivative skill ‘Mineral Appraisal’ to investigate the chalk white path and didn’t receive any reaction back. He also used his sensing skills at the surrounding darkness but there was no reaction.

(Well, there was only one path. There is no meaning in sparing some thought for the unknown or trap after this far.)

Hajime began to walk calmly in the quiet space that was too silent.

In the first place Hajime had no problem with doing something like erasing the sound of his footstep, but right now he was consciously not erasing his sound. Regardless not only Hajime’s footstep, even the sound of his clothes rustling or the sound of his breathing couldn’t be heard at all. It was as though the surrounding darkness was thoroughly absorbing all the sounds leaving none behind.

In that world without sound, Hajime stared straight ahead while advancing. He walked while thinking of her beloved who was waiting ahead. Fury toward his enemy and sorrow toward his beloved mixed inside his eyes, those eyes were filled with abyss exactly like the surrounding darkness.

Hajime’s legs approached the stair. Looking up from below he could see the top of the stair being enveloped by faint light. Without pause, Hajime unhesitatingly threw his body into the light.

His field of vision was dyed white.

The space where he came out at was white everywhere. Whether above or below, or everything at the surrounding, as far as his eyes could see there was only pure white which made him unable to grasp any sense of distance. Despite the certain sensation that he felt by stepping on the ground, but when his gaze lowered there it became difficult to be aware of the ground’s existence there. It felt like he would fall below without any end in sight.

“Welcome, to my domain, of its deepest area.”

A voice called at Hajime who was looking around.

It was a lovely voice that sounded clear. The familiar voice of his beloved sounded pleasant in his ear like a flowing stream.

But, right now he felt something slightly cloudy in it. Surely it was because the will contained inside the voice was rotten the core, Hajime thought. A scowl was slightly appearing on his eyebrows.

At the same time, a veil of faint light shining behind him suddenly vanished. And then, the existence of Hajime who was clad in clothing that had black tone looked like a drop of ink that dripped on a pure white canvas.

Suddenly the space ahead of Hajime’s gaze was swaying.

It was as though the curtain of the stage was raised, the swaying space was cleared and behind it, there was a tiered platform with a height that was nearly ten meters. And then, there was a young beautiful woman sitting on the throne installed at its peak.

Wavy hair of radiant golden threads, white and smooth exposed shoulders, voluminous twin hills peeking out from the largely opened chest part, long and slender beautiful leg stretching out from the slit of the dress. Despite being slender on the whole, the woman also strangely looked sensually fleshy. Her legs were crossed, and she was resting her chin on her hand at the throne with a faint smile on her lips, that appearance looked like the personification of the word ‘bewitching’.

If an average man saw her, no, all human without any sex distinction would have their reasoning sent flying just by a fleeting glance sent by this woman, there was no doubt that they would then prostrate themselves before her with a tremendous emotion that was similar with faith. An overwhelming beauty to the degree that would make anyone unconditionally felt that was right there.

But, Hajime’s face was still expressionless, he was staring straight at that beautiful woman――who for some reason had the appearance of adult Yue, he was only staring fixedly without any particular emotion that could be seen on his face.

Surely that was because in contrast with the beauty of that appearance, ‘repulsiveness’ and ‘ugliness’ could be felt from those eyes and smile that seemed to expose what were inside.

Whether the person himself was aware or not of that was unclear…Yue’s body, Ehitorujue that took over that body was grinning broadly while his mouth was opening once more.

“What do you think? While I was seizing this body I was also trying to make it grow while I was at it. I can brag that the result is quite something I think? Hm?”

Ehitorujue said such thing with a tone that obviously sounded like he was enjoying this, to that Hajime was intentionally sighing deeply and shrugged lightly.

“It would be perfect, if only the filthiness inside not oozing out like this. Your score is minus a hundred. Everything is wasted just by you being the one inside there. This has already gone far past ugly. If you don’t notice it yourself then how about I lend you a mirror?”

“Fufufu, what impudent talk. But, I understand you know? In your heart you are not as calm as your appearance. Your blood is boiling that your beloved lover is played around freely with like this right?”

“Isn’t that obvious. What are you doing acting all wise like that? A warning from me. It’s better for you to not open your mouth too much. After all the more you speak the more your lowliness get exposed.”

It was a well executed poisonous tongue. During that exchange, Hajime’s expression was still expressionless without change. That indifferent tone eloquently indicated that what he said wasn’t sarcasm or anything but something that came from the bottom of his heart, which caused Ehitorujue’s eyes to twitch in reaction.

And then, with a smiling face that was obviously a mask no matter who saw it he opened his mouth softly.

“I command in the name of Ehitorujue――’prostrate’.”

The Divine Statement was spoken with extremely natural tone――it was the manifestation of god’s will that made anyone obeyed without question. Once this ‘foul play’ caused Hajime to struggle on the ground desperately, and now hearing this once more Hajime staggered in place…

DOPAN-!!

“――”

And he responded with a shot.

The bullet was blocked by a barrier in front of Ehitorujue, a ripple was spreading in the air.

“…Divine Statement has no effect at all?”

“Just how many times you had used that in front of me huh. You think a petty magic trick like that will keep working forever?”

“…”

Ehitorujue’s eyes narrowed toward Hajime who was pointing Donner’s muzzle straight at him. But, his composure didn’t crumble by any means, instead he held out his hand that wasn’t supporting his cheek in an inviting gesture.

Immediately at the areas around Donner & Shuragen, ‘Treasure Warehouse II’, all the artifacts that Hajime carried, the spaces were warping like jelly. But the spaces immediately returned to their original shape with a snapping sound as though there was something that got repelled away.

“…I see. So you came here with countermeasures prepared.”

“Rather, you thinking that I will come without doing that is the crazy one.”

“Don’t get cocky, irregular young boy. You really showed much arrogance just by defending against Divine Statement and Heaven Existence.”

“It doesn’t matter how you are looking at me, ****** *******. I’ll say it one more time, the words that I told you at that time.”

“…”

With a click, Hajime fixed Donner’s aim at the heart of Ehitorujue while declaring clearly and loudly.

“――I’m taking back Yue. I’ll kill you. It will be the end with that.”

The white space didn’t absorb the sound. Rather it made the words echoed powerfully with dignity.

The expression of Ehitorujue that was bombarded with those words warped evilly, showing how he would enjoy trampling on that determination, during that his crossed leg went down and he lifted his resting cheek, before he suddenly stood up. And then, while glaring down from above with the throne behind him, an immense pressure began to leak out. Platinum magic power was painting over the white space.

“Very well. This will be the last entertainment in this world. Let’s play for a little bit then.”

Ehitorujue’s body was gently floating up.

He lightly spread his hands while his abundant golden hair was undulating, the sleeve of his black dress flapped.

At the same time, the platinum magic power light converged rapidly with Ehitorujue at the center and it formed a shape on his back.

What appeared on Ehitorujue’s back while shining brilliantly was three layers of ring halo. The size of those halos, with the floating Ehitorujue as the center the first halo had a diameter of around two meters while the third halo had a diameter of more than ten meters.

Countless light spheres were slowly being created from those halos. The number of those spheres really should be expressed as the number of the stars in the sky. But, in contrast with their splendor, the pressure emitted by those spheres was absurd. Every single one was obviously hiding a power that could easily destroy a human and could possibly change even the geography.

The figure of Ehitorujue with gigantic halos behind him, served by countless stars, and clad in platinum light, would make anyone comprehended, truly if anyone who didn’t know of the ugliness inside saw him then he was indeed emitting divinity that was worthy to be revered as ‘god’.

In respond Hajime was,

“No holding back. ――I’m going all out.”

Resplendent crimson light burst up. A whirlwind of magic power that spiraled wildly flapped Hajime’s black coat and wrapped his body in crimson color. Even in front of Ehitorujue’s power, his one eye didn’t show any sign of faltering, unnoticed it was shining with clear crimson like red spinel.

It was Limit Break’s last derivative skill ‘Supreme Break’. At this moment, Hajime’s specs swelled up five times over in one go. Then he activated Sky Step’s last derivative skill ‘Light Speed’ which reinforced his perception ability to a different magnitude.

At the same time, countless crosses were lining up midair behind Hajime. On the black fuselages that should be called as a color of darkness, a red pattern was carved, the total number of those crosses was seven hundred.

――New type versatile offensive drone Cross Velt

While being two sizes more compact than the crossbit until now, it was clad with sinister crimson light that made one felt a lump of ice sliding down their spine. Perhaps that spectacle should be called as the grave markers of the enemies slaughtered by the demon king.

‘You too will be added to this funeral procession’, the current Hajime who was wordlessly asserting that was emitting unprecedented rage and killing intent while being silent, he was emitting might that was truly worthy for a person who was trying to achieve godslaying.

Dazzling platinum halos and countless twinkling stars.

Violently wild crimson storm and dark funeral crosses.

The two sides resented and bemoaned each other while the space between them creaked, where they were about to swallow at each other.

Ehitorujue pushed out one of his hands with an elegance that looked as though it had been calculated thoroughly until his fingertips.

“Now, this is the beginning of the game. First――dance for me!”

Right after that, a lot of light stars rushed toward Hajime. And it wasn’t something that simple, the great number of platinum lights from the halos behind Ehitorujue were flying out with a motion that was depicting geometrical pattern. The meteor shower of light would even make anyone watching to feel a certain kind of artistic quality from it. There were lights in a spherical shape, then there were also lights that drawn a curve like a blade, and also lights that were approaching while rotating like a boomerang.

“A dance invitation from you son of a *****, I refuse. ――Full burst!”

Hajime snorted at Ehito’s invitation and gave his order.

At the next moment, all the crosses pointed forward simultaneously and the seven hundred Cross Velt fired all at once. All of the bullets fired were electromagnetically accelerated, furthermore all of the bullet heads were a special bullet that released multi-stage shockwave concentrated to a single point――Burst Bullet.

The platinum meteor shower and the crimson bullets filled the space to the brim. That scene was just like a war in middle age, where both armies were yelling war cry just before they clashed. Those two armies that were even more atrocious than death god clashed and destroyed at each other right in the middle between their commanders. Thunderous roars and violent impacts, and flashes were surging out to the degree that one could be deluded to think that it was the birth of a star.

A great number of meteors were flying off, bullets clad in crimson were extinguished. The meteors and barrage of bullets were struggling for supremacy with their destructive power.

“Hou, so you can endure this. Then how about the next move. Don’t you die so easily okay?”

Ehitorujue made a smile that displayed his joy, and then he waved his arm elegantly once. Then the brilliant radiance of the halos behind him intensified, right after that zuzuzu lights in humanoid form manifested. The silhouettes of person that were formed from light itself were also carrying two large swords made from light in their hand, giving them resemblance with the apostle.

“Their ability is at the same level with the apostle. However, amidst the illuminating attack of these halos, can you also deal with these attacking apostles of light that are moving independently in the end?”

Even while he was saying such thing, the apostles of light were created in large number. With Ehitorujue at the center and the halos behind him, the number of the apostles of light had already easily surpassed a hundred.

But, in front of such view that could be said as despairing, Hajime only snorted “hmph”. And then, he spoke. The soul of language to summon his own army.

“Battle of resource is the domain of transmutation master. You are still using these old puppet dolls even at this stage, aren’t you too behind the time? ――Come, ‘Grim Reaper’.”

Crimson magic power overflowed from the ‘Treasure Warehouse II’. The magic power that swelled up together with an intense flash scattered everywhere like explosion wave, although only temporarily but the space that was full of platinum light was dyed with crimson. Like that, a beat later the flash settled and then,

“This is…a golem army, is it?”

Ahead of the murmuring Ehitorujue’s gaze, a great number of monster swarm clad in crimson light could be seen. However, their body was formed from mineral that looked even harder than steel, behind their sharp fangs there was gun muzzle, while doors or missiles were attached on their back or stomach, their claws were vibrating in super speed where everything that they touched would be torn apart, the body of the golems were overflowing with bizarreness.

――Hajime’s exclusive one man army Grim Reapers

Wolf shape, great eagle shape, spider shape, large turtle shape, large monkey shape, there was an abundant variation of the golems, it was an army of living golem. Their numbers easily surpassed a hundred, furthermore they were fully loaded with hybrid weapons inside their body. These were the massacring army of the demon king who knew no pain and no fatigue.

Ehitorujue whose corners of the lips were lifted up and Hajime whose eyes narrowed in absolute zero let their command resounded at the same time.

“Apostles of light, exterminate the unsightly monsters!”

“Death gods, tear apart the useless puppets.”

Right after that, the light apostles flew out while shooting light beams, the metallic monsters roared while charging forward. The light apostles who were moving in high speed that trailed afterimages behind were surprisingly followed by the mechanical wolves who rushed through the air with rippling wave in their wake and afterimages similarly trailing behind. And then, the wolves deployed a small type gatling gun from their back and also firing a cannon from their widely opened mouth.

The large eagles that ignited their thrusters and climbed up in one go were trampling the battlefield by scattering cluster bombs like heavy rain from high above. The large turtles were letting loose large amount of missiles from their back, transforming into fixed batteries. The light apostles who approached near to aim at the turtles were blocked by the large monkeys who were forming a wall with the large shield they carried, and then the spiders charged through the gaps and carved apart the shell of the apostles using the sonic wave they generated.

Naturally there were also grim reapers that were done in by the light apostles, but each time a grim reaper got lethally damaged they would self-explode that swallowed the surrounding, even at a minimum they would bring their killer to accompany them in death.

“To rival my magic with amount of resources…it is really something unthinkable for a human. However, if it is said in reverse, even the specialty of the irregular can only rival me at bes――”

“Don’t yap, you worthless god.”

Hajime fired off Donner & Schlag, cutting off Ehitorujue who was speaking ridiculingly. There were two sounds of gunshot. But the flashes that cut through the air were six streaks.

Inside the clashing fierce storm of destruction, those bullets slipped through swimmingly and sniped the caster Ehitorujue.

GIIIIIII-

With such hard sound resounding the bullets were halted before the eyes of Ehitorujue. The positions of the stopped bullets were before his head, heart, and his four limbs. While those shots were a sniping that was like threading through the eye of a needle, but not even a single shot shifted for even a millimeter from their target. It was a special move that fired bullets through a space overflowing to the brim with shockwave and barrage without any deviation at all.

The first bullets emitted shockwaves consecutively within an instant to a pinpoint spot. They were burst bullet. The shockwaves that were directed to a pinpoint spot made a fatal crack on Ehitorujue’s barrier just with one shot. And then, the second burst bullets right behind those first bullets that were fired with the same trajectory pushed in as though pile-driving the first shots and pulverized the barrier right away.

PAAAAAAN Faster than the resounding sound of pulverization, the magic bullets of simultaneous attacks on six vital spots approached to pierce Ehitorujue.

Ehitorujue quietly lifted his hand toward that. Even if he did something like that, the electromagnetically accelerated bullets should be unstoppable. It was obvious that a bullet would easily bite a hole into that palm and bore into the heart behind it, was how it seemed to be but…

“So you broke my barrier. Furthermore your personality that unhesitatingly aimed at your lover’s heart even though she possesses automatic regeneration…you are making me enjoying this, irregular.”

The palm and chest of Ehitorujue who was saying such thing with the corner of his lips raised didn’t seem to receive any kind of damage.

The cause of that was surely the small whirling black sphere generated ahead of that palm. Most likely it was gravity magic ‘Severance Catastrophe’. It swallowed the bullet and then crushed it with its super gravity.

His delicate control that could do such thing, also his reaction speed that could sense electromagnetically accelerated bullet and stopped it, were absurd as expected. It was unclear whether it was because he planned to play around or perhaps because of his dignity as a god that considered being touched was a disrespect to him that he didn’t rely on the automatic regeneration.

Even during this few moment of offense and defense, there was a meteor shower that slipped through the barrage of Cross Velt and reached Hajime. The light stars the size of a fist rushed at Hajime.

Hajime was in front of the swarm of lights that completely filled his field of vision, however, his expression showed no unease at all.

“――fuu”

He shortly breathed out.

At the next moment, the swarm of light bullets passed through Hajime’s body. While small strange sounds of jijiji- were resounding, the bullets of certain death meaninglessly passed through Hajime as though they were attacking an illusion of him.

“Hou, that’s splendid.”

Ehitorujue spontaneously leaked out words of praise.

What was the cause that made the light stars slipped through which made the enemy spontaneously praised in admiration? The cause was nothing special. Hajime was merely evading the lights in high speed with the necessary minimum movement. That was all. The sounds of jijiji- were the sound of the light bullets grazing Hajime’s clothing. That was just how barely he was evading the lights, by seeing the attacks through until the millimeter degree.

For ordinary person, Hajime looked like he was not moving, but with Ehitorujue’s perception, the reflected spectacle was as though Hajime’s body was making many layers of shadow clones blurring in the same spot to return to their original position.

“Well then, how about this?”

Ehitorujue waved his hand relaxedly.

Immediately several stretching lights that were moving with an irregular motion like twisting snake were fired from the halos. It didn’t stop there, huge light bullets with diameter around two meters were spewed out in large amount like soap bubbles toward Hajime.

“Chih”

Hajime clicked his tongue.

Hajime used ‘Ground Shrinker’ and ‘Air Force’ tp leap away from his spot. The light whips powerfully struck the place where Hajime was standing just an instant before while the light bubbles were flying off all over the place leaving not a single gap in space.

Cross Velts were flying in all directions and the Grim Reapers were commanded to aim at Ehitorujue from all angles. However, just by a single wave of a hand, Ehitorujue pulverized every machine that got close to him.

“…”

Hajime’s eyes were narrowing from seeing that scene while he made his ‘Treasure Warehouse II’ shined.

Right after that, a huge weapon was gripped in his hand. From a glance, it was the gatling railgun ‘Metsurai’ with six rotating barrels. However, its size was completely different. It was enlarged by two sizes bigger. Furthermore, looking closer all the six barrels, each of them consisted of also six barrels.

――Super large electromagnetic acceleration gatling cannon Metsurai Disaster

It was a gatling cannon with 6×6 rotating barrels where each barrel had the same size with the barrel of the original Metsurai. It fired off seventy-two thousand round per minute, this weapon went even beyond being evaluated as a monster, an outrageous weapon where the idea of creating it could even be called as stupid.

Hajime pulled the trigger of such outrageous weapon.

VOO–!!

Such strange sound like the air itself was rupturing was resounding. Metsurai Disaster that instantly generated a squall of cartridges, pulverized everything in its line of fire――the meteor shower, the light bubbles, and even the light apostles just like scrap papers before approaching Ehitorujue.

The approaching attack was already like a muddy stream of crimson light, a storm of destruction in the same meaning of natural disaster that swallowed everything in its path.

“That’s something dreadful. But, what meaning it has if it doesn’t hit? ――’Great Vortex of White End’.”

Ahead of Ehitorujue’s two hands that he stretched forward, there was platinum light whirling. That sparkling vortex looked just like a silver river.

Right after that, the crimson muddy stream of magic bullets that broke through the likes of common obstacle like they were nothing, was split into two in front of Ehitorujue as though a single stroke had bisected it, and then the attack was swallowed by two silver rivers at two sides. Naturally not even a single magic bullet reached Ehitorujue.

“…So even this doesn’t reach. Good grief.”

A meteor shower rushed from the back at Hajime who was swearing reflexively. Perhaps they were even teleported that the many light stars had circled behind Hajime without him realizing, they approached to swallow him whole.

Sometimes with a movement that didn’t even leave afterimage, sometimes with a swaying motion like fluttering wind, Hajime was evading while using Donner and Metsurai Disaster, added with Cross Velts he detected the gaps of the meteor shower and fired crimson flashes toward Ehitorujue. The mechanical monsters that were unfolding a fierce battle with the light apostles were also launching an attack at Ehitorujue if they found an opening.

The platinum lights that beautifully dance boisterously in the white space and the rushing crimson lights that weaved in between displayed a view that should be called as superb which would surely steal the heart of the viewer watching from the side.

Amidst that view, without relaxing his offense and defense at all while handling Hajime’s shots and the Grim Reapers’ attacks, Ehitorujue was showing a composed smile and talked to Hajime.

“Come to think of it, irregular. How did you finish off Aruvheit? He too was more or less my retainer that possessed divinity. Even if it was you, I don’t think that he would be killed that easily.”

The revolving light stars took a great detour while aiming at Hajime from all directions, Hajime was intercepting them with his Donner spinning like a wheel while he snorted and responded at Ehitorujue.

“Hah, that snob is a god you say? Don’t make me laugh. He easily died while begging for his life unsightly. Even the monster in labyrinths has more guts than something like that.”

“Hou, easily you say.”

Light bubbles buried the space to the brim. Hajime stored in his Metsurai Disaster and in exchange he took out ‘Agni-Orkan’ and launched missile swarm to the front.

Terrific thunderous roars and flame blasts rose and a hole was created on the light bubbles cage.

Hajime instantly rushed through and he aligned the aim of Agni-Orkan at Ehitorujue and pulled the triggers.

But, at that moment Ehitorujue snapped his finger. At the same time suddenly thunders rained down from empty space. Those thunders that were focused and compressed to the limit already became spears made from lightning. If it had to be named, then it would be the lightning spear fired from god――the ‘Lightning Divine Spear’.

“tsk”

Without even any time to react using his perception skill, the sparking platinum spears that flew in lightning speed from Hajime’s blind spot within a few meter easily pierced Agni-Orkan. Just with that, the frame of the artifacts warped, in addition, the combustion powder packed inside the missiles caught fire which caused a great explosion.

Although Hajime had immediately thrown away Agni-Orkan and withdrew from that spot, the missiles that boasted tremendous might even by their lonesome were exploding all at once from really close range, in addition the lightning divine spears were also rupturing which scattered its compressed lightning to all direction, Hajime was unable to avoid getting damage. The blasts and thunders penetrated through his ‘Vajra’ and his clothing which was tougher than it looked because it was made from tough metal and monster hide, which clearly told just how terrible the radiated force was.

“Guu…(lightning speed attack from random coordinate that is instantly invoked…as expected, this guy is still holding many hands yet)”

Hajime was whispering in his heart while groaning unintentionally, Ehitorujue who glanced at such Hajime continued his talk as though nothing had happened.

“Nothing you could hide from me. I know already. You invoked a concept magic right? The situation at that time could be said as extreme for you. Although not even in my dream I could imagine you would produce a concept so powerful that could even possibly defeat Aruvheit, that was unexpected even for me…”

“…”

Hajime who lost Agni-Orkan displayed a look that pondered something for an instant, then he scattered explosion hand grenade at the surrounding which blown away the light bubbles while he took out Metsurai Disaster once more. Like that he held back Ehitorujue while he controlled Cross Velts and placed one of them above Ehitorujue’s head.

“Perhaps, you have even created a concept of ‘godslaying’? And then, you was hiding that trump card close to your chest, and holding the hope that you can do something with that you came until this far. Fufufu, how cute.”

Ehitorujue didn’t even glance at the Cross Velt above him, far from that he didn’t even close his mouth while swiping his hand overhead.

Just with that the Cross Velt that was going to shoot was cut with an invisible blade and exploded. The loaded bullets scattered around lethally like a frag grenade, but even those were repelled at the space before Ehitorujue and didn’t reach him.

Hajime saw that happened, but he didn’t even click his tongue, he closely observed the state of Ehitorujue who was talking while basking in joy and he quietly narrowed his eyes. Ehito who didn’t even pay any attention to such Hajime then licked his lips smoothly.

“By using that, it’s possible to separate the soul of me and the vampire princess, and kill only me, that’s what you are thinking correct?”

“…So you find out. Well, I also don’t have any mood to lie. My trump card is powerful you know? That calm expression of yours is going to warp into terror and regret soon.”

“Fuhah, so you still believe that the soul of this woman is safe. That figure of yours howling while clinging to a nonexistent illusion, is truly, comical to the extreme.”

Saying that, Ehito snapped his fingers once more.

Right after that, Hajime’s movement came to a sudden stop with his body pitched forward.

“――”

The cause was obvious. The Metsurai Disaster that Hajime held was caught in a distorted space. That space distortion was in a square block shape that tightly pressed together. Metsurai was fixed at the center of that.

Almost at the same time, a spear of thunder came flying once more from an empty space without any advance sign.

“****-”

While swearing abuse reflexively, Hajime tried to release Metsurai Disaster by storing it into ‘Treasure Warehouse II’. However, as though that action had been foreseen, Ehitorujue whispered “――’Manifestation of Perceived Nightmare’.”

Hajime’s neck flew off. His four limbs were plucked off, and his heart was gouged.

“KAAAH!!”

A loud yell of fighting spirit surged.

The source of the yell was from Hajime who was thought to be dead. The scene just now was the illusion that was prepared by Ehitorujue. The illusion was so real that if the victim wasn’t careful they might die for real just from that. Hajime exploded the magic power in his body and used the momentum to invigorate himself and blew away the illusion.

But, it didn’t change that his consciousness was stolen for an instant. The compensation for that opening was his Metsurai Disaster.

The divine lightning spear stabbed. Metsurai Disaster met the same end like Agni-Orkan.

――Strong

Hajime honestly appraised his enemy.

Deployment of technique, the scale of invocation, power, every single aspect was easily surpassing Yue of before. There was also no sign of his magic power running out. The great number of meteor shower fired from his halos might be moving almost automatically, there was no sign at all that Ehito was having trouble in controlling them, the light apostles were also created without end, and even with all that he was still rapidly invoking age of god class magic that was extremely powerful.

If it was anyone else than Hajime fighting here then they would instantly be killed inevitably.

As though to further cornering Hajime who had completely lost two of his prided artifacts, Ehitorujue opened his mouth exultantly.

“It echoed quiet lusciously.”

“Aa?”

“The vampire princess――Yue is it? The scream of your woman, it was really meltingly sweet.”

“…”

Hajime’s expression fell out.

“With the ownership of her body stolen, she who had become only a soul resisted admirably. But, the more she resisted the more intense the pain running through her. …Ku-ku-ku-, it was visible for me, the figure of the vampire princess enduring desperately with clenched teeth inside this body. But even that didn’t continue forever, she couldn’t endure and screamed. And then, she felt terror feeling her soul vanishing from the edge, while trembling…her last words were, […Hajime, I’m sorry]. Fufufu.”

“…”

“After that she disappeared. Everything happened while she was tasting terror and despair. Do you understand, irregular? The hope that you came chasing doesn’t exist right from the beginning-! Fuhah, fuhahahahaha-”

Ehitorujue raised a loud laughter. Indeed, Hajime’s magic eye couldn’t see Yue’s soul, he could only perceive a silver soul taking root inside melding everywhere. It was as though that view was displaying the truth of Ehitorujue’s words…

Hajime wordlessly threw several hand grenades to the air. He shot them all using Donner. At that moment, the light stars around the hand grenades dropped on the ground altogether.

What Hajime used was gravity grenade――it had a special effect that created super gravitational area when it was activated. With that effect, the surrounding light bullets were felled.

Hajime’s hand was holding Schlagen AA. It completed its charging in a moment and the eighty-eight millimeter sniping cannon(Acht Acht) specialized in penetration roared.

The fired crimson flash charged straight through the barrage zone that was thinned by the gravity grenades just like going through a no man’s land.

Ehitorujue lifted his hand. Barriers were visibly layered by two, three layers before him.

The fang of Schlagen AA blasted the first layer of barrier, bit a hole in the second barrier after a moment of opposition, and smashed even the third layer of the barrier and assaulted Ehitorujue. But, the three layers divine barrier had obviously decreased the strength of the shot, in that state naturally it was unable to ignore the effect of the two white vortexes staying at both sides of Ehito. The eighty-eight millimeter shell had its trajectory vainly twisted and got swallowed into the vortex of compression.

“I am a god. As long as I have automatic regeneration than you attack won’t even make me feel itchy but…know that even touching me is an insolence.”

And then, even while saying such thing Ehito waved his hand in a complicated gesture with a wide grin as though saying that this was payback.

“――”

Right after that, the space all around Hajime including above and below burst open. What was produced from that was a tremendous impact. It was a space rupture that was even more detailed and powerful than the ‘Quaking Sky of Four Directions’ casted in the devil king castle. Furthermore, from behind Hajime, perhaps even using teleportation, a lot of light stars were already there unnoticed moving toward Hajime.

This too was also an overwhelming attack where there was no time to react and no place to escape. Hajime took out his variable great shield ‘Aidion’ to face this. The spherical shield instantly operated its gimmick and deployed to cover Hajime.

Thunderous roar.

The impact of space rupture from all directions blown away the first layer of ‘Aidion’ into pieces with one attack. The fierce impact was transmitted through ‘Aidion’ that caused Hajime’s left hand which was supporting it below to scream.

Storm of pursuing attack came right there. Light stars in immense number attacked one after another, not giving any time for the shield to restore itself. ‘Aidion’ which was swallowed by the storm of light looked shining just like a star.

Even so, its hardness that didn’t allow penetration should be called as an impregnable fortress.

But, even that defensive power was nothing more than an interesting side show for Ehitorujue, he suddenly lifted his hand and created a bluish white flame on his palm. And then, he blew it off gently to fly toward the shield.

The blue flame soared softly without any sound, it then impacted ‘Aidion’ that was still receiving concentrated fire――like that the protective wall was easily penetrated.

Right after that,

“GAAAAAAAAAA-!?”

A scream resounded.

The gimmick of ‘Aidion’ was released and from inside Hajime who was wrapped in flame leaped out.

Teleported meteor shower approached him in no time at all, the Grim Reapers defended Hajime as the substitute of their master which resulted in a rain of scrapped steel raining down. At the same time, Cross Velts were also called closer from the surrounding to lay out barrier, but they too were pierced by lightning divine spears by the dozens and exploded to all direction. While clenching his teeth to the sacrifices around him, Hajime broke through the encirclement and compressed his crimson magic power with an expression that warped in pain. At the next moment, he converted the compressed magic power into impact and just barely blew away the blue flame and the rushing light stars.

At the same time, ‘Aidion that was left behind’ had its iron wall broken and light stars rushed inside from the opening, it then received attacks from inside and outside and got pulverized into pieces.

“Haahahahahah, what happened with your big talk from before? You have turned into a really shabby appearance right now.”

Ehitorujue laughed in amusement.

Ahead of his gaze, there was the figure of Hajime breathing roughly with burn injuries here and there every single part of his clothing damaged by fire. It also appeared that he had converted a considerable amount of his magic power into impact to blow away the blue flame and light stars, so his magic power had decreased considerably. ‘All Element Resistance’ and ‘Vajra’ were reduced to mere consolation as protection in front of the attacks’ might, Hajime couldn’t help but shudder from that.

“Haa haa, just now was…Yue’s…”

“No, it was mine. It seemed the vampire princess could use it, but from the beginning this magic was something that I used. It penetrates every obstacle and destroys only its target. It’s called ‘Divine Flame’. How is it? It has quite a good flavor isn’t it?”

“…”

Hajime didn’t reply. Rather than that he was pouring his mind to convert his magic power into healing power to heal his damage even just for a little. If possible he wanted to drink healing medicine but, whether Ehitorujue would allow that or not, was unclear in the end…he couldn’t show an opening after receiving a fierce attack.

If Shia and others were here, they would undoubtedly stiffen from shock seeing Hajime being cornered this overwhelmingly. In actuality, even Hajime himself couldn’t help but smile bitterly inside from witnessing the true power of Ehitorujue who had completely seized Yue’s body.

But, naturally Hajime didn’t let that show in his expression, in exchange he struck Ehitorujue with a gaze of defiance and persistence.

“Hmm, even when I told you that your beloved woman was already gone, you still don’t show any sign of breaking…”

“Obviously. Just why do I have to believe your words? If you like ******** then just talk to yourself until you are satisfied.”

Ehitorujue smiled wryly from the way Hajime talked. It was as though he was waiting for Hajime’s recovery, he relaxed his attack and talked.

“Your existence is truly irregular. Because of Freed’s appearance, the balance of the game was almost broken, so in order to make it more enjoyable I brought in people with power from another world yet…you become a strong person that not even my favorite could bare his fang to.”

“…Why, did you do something like summoning limited at just this time?”

A war game of human versus devil. The nasty game that Ehitorujue held. His words about Freed breaking the balance made Hajime slightly scowled. It was slightly surprising that Freed’s labyrinth conquering was something irregular outside of god’s will.

And then, about great labyrinth’s conquering, Yue’s uncle Denreed also did the same thing three hundred years ago. However, from what Hajime learned from historical fact, at that time there was no record of hero summoning being performed and he also didn’t hear any story about anything like that.

Why it was only at this time, such question was only something natural to be thought of by a person who got dragged into it. Though Hajime going along with Ehitorujue’s story also had the purpose of merely buying time to recover.

“Different from in the past, there was no capable person in this present era that was capable of opposing Freed you see. Never I imagined that other than the vampire princess, even the dragon race is also still surviving. Both of them were hidden skillfully. …If there is no good pawn in this world then nothing could be done except by providing it from another world.”

“…Another world, huh.”

“Correct. Although the connection to your world is completely a coincidence. It was a result that coincides with me searching for a person with high affinity that could possibly become my vessel. Even for a god body, crossing the boundary of the world is not something easy. To say nothing of a soul without a vessel, even directly interfering with outside Holy Precincts is difficult. As the result, I somehow succeeded dragging down someone from above world but…including an irregular like you, there were also a lot of extras coming along here.”

According to Ehitorujue’s story, Kouki was similar with Yue, he was chosen based on his possibility to become a vessel. Most likely Ehitorujue was using a magic like the compass of guidance to search. But, Ehitorujue who had no vessel that was a flesh body could only wield his power completely within Holy Precincts, furthermore it seemed that his power was repressed in the earth because that world had superior rank so his effort didn’t go well.

The result of that was the summoning of all the classmates. In other words, everyone else other than Kouki only seemed to get ‘dragged in’ unintentionally by god. There was no story more annoying than this.

“Although, thanks to that the best vessel that I thought had been lost three hundred years ago was discovered, that’s why this could be said as a windfall. Fufu, with this I can exhibit my power in full even outside the Holy Precincts. Crossing over to another world is also easy.”

Most likely even the body of an apostle was insufficient as god’s body because it would lower his divinity. If that wasn’t the case then he would not be this delighted from managing to obtain a vessel.

Ehitorujue opened and closed his hand basking in joy. Hajime then asked something that he had actually wondered about all this time.

“Ehitorujue…what are you?”

“What a really abstract question that is, irregular. But, no matter what is said, naturally the answer has been decided. I am the god that created and ruled over everything.”

Ehitorujue introduced himself as the transcendental creator god and also the ruling god.

But, Hajime snorted to that.

“No, you or no god or anything. You didn’t create this world, you are also not ruling over everything. You are not a supernatural existence that mankind imagined You are merely an existence that is possessing power mightier than mankind.”

“…Hou. With what kind of basis you are saying such thing?”

Perhaps he got his interest attracted from that, Ehitorujue then asked Hajime back.

“Isn’t that simple? Your perception cannot detect Yue who was at the bottom of the abyss, and also the dragon race who hid outside this continent. Your strength only reaches this continent, even then it’s only at the scale that doesn’t reach the abyss. Power at that level is just too tiny for the creator right?”

“Ku-ku-ku-, to call someone like me as tiny. And? If I am not a god then what am I?”

Hajime thrust his answer with an expression that vaguely looked like he was chewing a bitter bug.

“…You are a ‘human of another world’ the same like us.”

“Hmm. Because I am not a god but I possess a mighty power, then I must be a human from outside world the same like you all…that’s your reasoning.”

“Not only that. In the first place it was already strange by the point of time that you know about the concept of ‘outside world’. ‘Because there is none in this world then search for a capable person from other world’…such idea won’t come out unless you know about the existence of another world right from the start. Even in our world that is overflowing with fantasy entertainment that concept is only a wild idea. If you are an existence in the level that is able to create the world then I can accept that, but just like I said just now, you are not an all-knowing and almighty supernatural existence, based on that it’s only natural to think that you know about the existence of another world by the same reason like us.”

Hearing those words, Ehitorujue went “hmm” and nodded once, then he began to clap dramatically.

“Splendid, perhaps that’s what I should say. Indeed I am a human from another world. Originally, I only reached the height of magic. Although, through the passing many months and years the gathered faith granted my divinity that sublimated my soul, through that there is no doubt that I am a god.”

And then, he suddenly lifted his hand. Right after that, thunder boomed in empty air, blue flame exploded, strong wind stormed, the air froze, white smoke whirled.

For Hajime, those were a sight he was used to. However, the dimension of the power focused there far surpassed what he had seen in the past.

Five heavenly dragons were created. They were the magnificent incarnations of atrocious tyranny that Yue created from the fusion of gravity magic and the highest class elemental magic. Those heavenly dragons were fiercely glaring at Hajime with dark red eyeballs.

The presence of these heavenly dragons was clearly different with Yue’s heavenly dragons. Hajime’s magic eye detected materials other than the core of the heavenly dragon that was formed from magic. That pulsing dark red ore was clearly magic stone.

It appeared metamorphosis magic was used on the heavenly dragons which transformed them into a monster. Perhaps the material to form them was gathered by using space magic. Not only monster, there was also the presence of apostle from the dragons. Hajime was thoroughly knowledgeable of how troublesome these heavenly dragons were, now these dragons were added with the function where they could move independently separated from the caster’s control to attack the prey, these caused Hajime to sweat coldly in his heart.

(I cannot overwhelm him in resource battle, now on top of that, there is also these troublesome newcomers in addition…well, I already imagined that this won’t be easy. If I resolved myself, I can do this.)

Ahead of the gaze of Hajime who was talking to himself in his heart, the five heavenly dragons were coiling in the air with Ehitorujue at the center.

That figure of the adult Yue obeyed by the magnificent dragons was exactly like a goddess in a legend. No, any goddess from any mythology would surely be overshadowed in front of the current Yue who was obeyed by the heavenly dragons with halos behind her. There was no doubt that even the goddess of beauty Aphrodite would flee barefooted in front of her.

The person inside that body which made that divine beauty to be spoiled opened his mouth with a repulsive grin.

“Now then, irregular. You have recovered a little haven’t you? We have to begin the game once more any time now. During that time, let’s reminisce a bit about the past. You are going to struggle as long as you can right? It has been really a long time since I talk about myself. Entertain me-”

At the next moment, the five heavenly dragons simultaneously roared, violent killing intent and pressured weighed down on Hajime. At the same time, the meteor shower from the halos also resumed coming. The white space was filled to the brim with the heavenly dragons turned monster and the torrent of lights.



 

[Vol 8] Chapter 21 – Mankind’s Struggle (Second Part)



Circle-warning.gif This chapter is translated by Cobalt
and is rehosted with due permission.

The fortress, at the front area.

There the apostles who were dropped down to the ground using gravity generation device ‘Gran Farensen’ were opening a fierce battle that was worthy to be called as mortal combat against the soldiers of the empire.

“oOOOOOOOOO-”

One of the empire’s soldiers raised a war cry while rushing at an apostle.

The large sword of the apostle was elegantly swung while emitting silver light, with a slash the head of that empire soldier was lopped off. And then her returning sword lopped the head of the empire soldier at the opposite side. The soldier’s armor could defend against the disintegration ability for several hits before giving out, so the apostle was aiming at the part where there was no armor.

“Damn it-, they are just too strong-! Our side is already breaking the limit twice already here-”

“You monsters-! Just die already-”

The specs of the apostles were already dropped by sixty percent, furthermore their movements were obstructed, in addition their side was fully equipped with age of god class artifacts, despite so the number of their allies that got defeated when facing an apostle was still overwhelmingly a lot. That fact caused the soldiers of the empire to hurl out abusive language.

“FUNNURABAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-” (TN: Some kind of war cry, Kurita from Eyeshield 21 often use this.)

At that time when the soldiers were unconsciously getting cold feet from the apostles’ fierce attack, an angry yell that for some reason made a chill rushed through their spine and their groin tightened resounded. And then at the next instant, a fist that was like rock was swung furiously and pierced the back of the head of an apostle, the fist then pushed toward the ground without stopping――and it punched through.

The one who appeared behind hanging over the apostle whose head was pulverized, was a giant of a man, his whole body was covered by the provided set of equipment and his appearance was no different from other soldiers. However, the soldiers didn’t even praise that man for defeating an apostle, instead for some reason they were drawing away.

“Araaaan? What’s wrong everyone, are you all taking distance from moiiiii?”

“Hiih, forgive me!”

Thick lips and beastly eyes were peeking out from the opening of the helm. The man possessed inhuman level of muscle that was obvious even across the armor. Braided hair sprung out from the top of the helmet, a lovely pink ribbon was attached at the tip of the hair. That man who was a little bit strange was wriggling around while winking at the soldiers with feminine tone. It really was unavoidable for the soldiers to take even more distance while saying “Forgive me” reflexively.

After all even an apostle who was about to charge exactly right now came to a stand still with a twitch…

“NUURYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-”

“DOOOSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-”

Even more throaty war cries resounded. When they looked, similar with the giant in front of their eyes――the monster nesting in the clothing shop at Brook city the shop manager Crystabel, an army of giants whose body was wrapped in so much muscle to the degree that made any onlooker wanted to say ‘you guys don’t actually need armor ain’t it?’ which was further equipped with similar set of equipment like everybody else was rampaging violently there.

One giant was hugging an apostle from the front, and then without even any time to activate her disintegration ability the apostle was bear hugged until death, and then another giant moved to another apostle with an artistic pile driver that pulverized the head of the apostle.

What was terrifying was, the embraced apostle received puchuuuu a feverish kiss from the giant, it was unclear whether it was for taking the aposlte by surprise or merely because of his tastes. While the apostle who received pile driver, perhaps because it was an irregular technique but the hugging direction was reversed from the usual pile driver, so the face of the apostle became exactly buried into the crotch of the giant in the end.

“How insipid this iiisss”

“Playing with a doll cannot make me fired up at aaallll”

The two giants who defeated two apostles also wriggled around while saying out such impressions with a feminine tone. The expressions of the two apostles who had been defeated and stopped functioning looked strangely teary eyed…but surely that was just their imagination.

The bizarre squad that was formed as a commando unit――also known as the manly women squad. The women(?) snapped their neck around to look for their next prey, and when they had finished designating their respective prey, the apostles who were confronting other soldiers shivered simultaneously. And then their gaze swam around expressing their wariness, which caused several of them to be taken by surprise and defeated.

They obstructed the movement of the apostles with mere (sticky) gaze and even forced the apostles to stiffen for an instant. That bizarre great contribution was decreasing the number of the apostles with certainty and backed up their allies. It backed up the ally…supposedly.

While monsters of a different kind were rampaging violently in the battlefield, a fierce fighting was unfolding at a slightly distance place.

One of the empire’s soldier readied the rifle he was provided with and fired in full-auto from middle range, nailing down an apostle in place. It was a hybrid weapon with excessive firepower that wasn’t influenced by the specs of the user. As expected even an apostle would have to be fixed in place if she defended against the swarm of flashes using her large sword.

However, an apostle wouldn’t be finished just with that. As though giving a return gift, an atrocious bullet that wasn’t outdone even by the railgun flew out――it was a counterattack using silver feathers.

The empire soldiers surrounding the apostle were mowed down. There were also people who barely endured using their defensive equipment or sword, but the low-level soldiers had their exposed flesh gouged out with certainty and their lives expired there.

gachin That sound of the bullet running out resounded. The empire soldier who was checking the apostle in place using his shooting was trying to reload the magazine in panic then.

Not letting away that opening, the apostle was going to fire silver bombardment. Despair flashed on the face of the empire soldier.

At that time,

“ZEAAAAAAAAAAH!!”

A loud scream of spirit that was clearly drawing a line compared to common soldier gushed out.

A large sword swung down from a sword held overhead at the apostle who was going to fire a silver flash.

The apostle looked annoyed while she lifted her large sword to block that attack…

“――”

The large sword that was swung down bent like a whip and its trajectory changed due to the holder’s arm, the vertical swing was transformed into a horizontal slash that made the apostle gazed in astonishment. And then, even when the apostle tried to defend but her movement was obstructed by the crimson light coiling around her and her neck got lopped off with her eyes still wide open.

The man who finished off an apostle alone, was the emperor of the empire who was emitting off unbelievable aura of supremacy――Gahard D Hoelscher was showered in the blood of apostle while he turned at the soldiers who got cold feet from that apostle’s fierce attack and raised a loud voice that sounded like explosion.

“You bastaards, don’t get cold feet-. Roar up! Fight until you turn into waste! This battlefield is a legend! All of you ******** are the spinner of the new legend! Do you want to get laughed by the guys in the future huh-!”

This battle where the existential fate of the mankind was staked on――it was certainly a legend itself seen from the viewpoint of the future generation. They were all the actors on this grand stage that would be talked without end at the future.

The soldiers of the empire and the mercenaries that were overflowing with ambition got roused up by those words. Fierceness lit up in their eyes, they blazed up with the desire to carve their existence in history!

Gahard’s violent passion swept over the battlefield.

“Imagine it. Whose figure is standing behind you ********!? If you ******* get defeated, then that guy will die next-! Can you permit that? You cannot right!? Then blaze up your killing intent! Whether they are an apostle or whatever, who the hell cares, devote yourself to destroy all the enemyyy!”

The soldiers of the kingdom and the adventurers looked back over their shoulder for a moment, right now, even in this moment their eyes were seething violently with killing intent toward the silver monsters wielding fierce might. For whose sake they were standing in this place. That was obvious. It was to protect their friend, their lover, their family! This was a battlefield, where defeat was unforgivable!

At that time, the apostles who were offended by Gahard’s existence fired silver flashes at him all at once.

“Shield-, form up!”

Gahard immediately reacted. Just with that command, the imperial soldiers who had gathered around Gahard unnoticed combined their large shield and became the defensive wall for Gahard. The silver flashes were temporarily blocked with the special large shields that were also of Hajime made.

“Attack-!”

Gahard’s command surged once more.

Different imperial guards that were standing by behind the large shields kneeled and fired their anti-material rifle from the gaps of the shields.

The apostles who had just fired their silver flash were countered by the flying flashes which gouged their body and made them tumbled down.

And then, the moment the silver flashes stopped coming, Gahard rushed toward another apostle and then using his ever-changing sword attack that warped like a whip from the natural stance he began an equal fight against an apostle.

“Follow his majesty-”

“Surround and kill them-. They are not an opponent we cannot win against!”

“Don’t let these dolls doing whatever they pleased more than this-”

With that as the trigger, the allied force’s fervor rose and they battled with the apostles using similar teamwork. The soldiers wouldn’t shrink away anymore no matter how many of them were killed, that mettle and resolve that believed they couldn’t be defeated was gradually excelling the specs of the apostles.

In a corner of the fortress.

There a man that had been closing his eyes from the battlefield all this time quietly opened his eyes. And then, with a powerful voice that while sounded solemn yet contained passion, he called at the commander Liliana.

“Princess Liliana.”

Just with those words, Liliana guessed what he wanted to say and judging that it was certainly the time she handed down the command.

“Yes, Adol-dono. Now that the battle is moving toward a land war, it would be extremely bad if we get sniped from above the gravity barrier. …Please show how the strength of the dragon race that rules over the sky will usurp the air superiority in front of all these people.”

“Fufu-, acknowledged.”

With solemn and powerful footsteps Adol went out to a terrace that continued toward the courtyard where they dragon race people were standing in a row. His brethren below him, roughly three hundred people were filled to the brim with fighting spirit and looked up straight toward their clan head Adol.

“The persecution of five hundred years ago. There is no way for us to forget that. All of you who survived that time and made an oath for the vindication of our honor, and also all of you who were born since then lamenting all the irrationality while living in hiding…no need for even a drop of mercy or reservation-! Roar following your rage! The sky is our territory! Make all of them know that! All dragon race…we are departing-!”

” ” ” ” “OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!” ” ” ” ”

They all roared simultaneously.

That was the signal of the revolt of the proud race who had endured the rage and humiliation for five hundred years until now. All of the dragon race rolled upwind while flying to the sky at the same time.

The barrier of gravity was made undone with good timing by Liliana. The dragon race used that chance to rise to the sky, and then at the next instant they were all wrapped in light.

And then, the figures that appeared then were the flock of dragon that was the conqueror of the sky. They flapped their wings majestically and their pupils that split vertically glared at the puppets of god. The dragons emitted unbelievable pressure from their body alone. Right now, all of the dragons were fully equipped with Hajime’s artifact, turning up their majestic appearance even further.

Among those dragons, a majestic scarlet dragon that boasted a conspicuously huge body raised a roar along with an enormous pressure. Regardless of the distance of seven hundred meters that separated him from the ground, the rippling vibration of the air was also conveyed toward the allied force soldiers on the ground.

Right after that, it was as though the roar just now was the signal for the opening of the battle, three hundred dragons fired their breath attack simultaneously. The flashes that each had their own color based on the element of their forte rushed at the apostles who were dancing in the sky with a haughty face as though they owned the place.

The apostles wrapped their body with their silver wings and entered a defensive posture.

However, the breath of the dragon race bit and tore those defenses and exterminated the apostles.

{Hou, as expected from the spouse that Tio recognized. It’s astonishing for our strength to be raised up until this far.}

Adol raised a pleased voice seeing his breath that was displaying a might that was ten-odd times the usual. Adol and others who were equipped with similar equipment like the armed black dragons had their specs raised up by the sublimation magic that was enchanted into their armor. Naturally there was also the effect from the cheatmate and the limit break artifact ‘Last Zell’.

{Kuh, I won’t recognize him-! That kind of brat’s――}

An indigo blue dragon――Ristas made a voice that sounded vexed somehow. But, he held back his tongue after seeing an apostle who rapidly closed in on him in the middle of his speech swinging her large sword, yet that sword was splendidly blocked by the armor on his body and instead the apostle got blown away by the shockwave that was released by the armor.

Even though he wasn’t doing anything but the enemy got blown away. It felt like he got protected by Hajime that made his feeling to get really complicated.

{Then, you can just try to steal her. After all, that man too had said that he will accept anyone’s challenge.}

{Uguh}

There was no way he could do that. He could clearly imagine how he would be instantly killed the moment he challenged Hajime. The tone of Adol’s voice carried a tinge of teasing somewhere in it.

Ristas who was at disadvantage in this talk flapped his dragon wings and accelerated instantly to attack the apostles. It was like he was saying ‘I’m concentrating in defeating the apostles!’

The other dragon people were also smiling wryly at Ristas who was still young while beginning to wield their strength fully.

As expected from the ruler of the sky. With their jumped up specs and maneuverable midair battle, and also the blessing of the age of god artifacts, the competed against the apostles in more than even battle. The conflict where the air superiority was put on the line entered into a mortal combat where dragon roars and silver flashes mixed all over just like a presentation of a space war in science fiction movie that was worthy of being in legend.

The powerful roars of dragon resounded through the reddish black sky, the allied force that was on the ground raised their war-cry at that gallantness while their morale was rising.

In a corner of the battlefield――at the position nearby the choir, there was a group that was clearly making a great contribution which drew a line from other soldiers and sacred knights at the area.

“UOOOOOOOH!!”

Along with a war cry a man made a step that split the ground and charged an apostle with a body blow――Nagayama Juugo the let his fist that was like a rock fell on the face of the apostle before she could do something.

The special gauntlet artifact of Hajime transmitted impact into the internal and destroyed the inside. Whipped up flesh and blood flew out from the noble face of the apostle and dirtied Juugo’s cheek with blood splatter, but he only fixed back his stance in a calm state just like his taciturn appearance.

An apostle vertically slashed her large sword from overhead stance toward that Juugo behind him.

However, with a backstep Juugo slipped into the bosom of the opponent smoothly and like that he crashed the apostle on the ground with a splendid shoulder throw. The ground was smashed into a radial shape from the excessive might and formed a small crater. Juugo stepped on the neck of the apostle whose movement was obstructed for an instant from the impact and gave her the finishing blow.

Juugo finished off two apostles in the blink of eye. Although the apostles were weakened and he himself was superhumanized, but the way he was fighting was splendid that made it clear that he had constantly trained without negligence.

There, two additional apostles arrived that approached Juugo in a pincer attack.

But, at that moment,

“――Wind blowing from the bottom of the earth, dye the thing with life white――’White Majestic Breath’!!”

White smoke rode with the wind and rushed through the air like a snake, it whirled and became a protective wall around Juugo. The two apostles that approached Juugo were slightly entangled by the white smoke, yet they used their silver wings and blew them away while withdrawing for once.

“tsk, petrifaction.”

The spectacle of the body part that was touched by the white smoke petrifying creakingly from the tip made the apostles showing an expression that seemed to want to say ‘how impudent’ while they attempted to use magic power of disintegration to unmade the curse.

“I won’t let you.”

The caster that blew the white smoke of petrifaction――Nomura Kentaro waved a conductor stick artifact. Immediately the white smoke coiling around Juugo in protection parted into two trails and attacked the withdrawing two apostles.

The apostles judged that it would be dangerous for them to get hit with that in their current state where their magic resistance was lowered so they attempted to withdraw further, but unnoticed the ground swelled up and bound their legs and their attempts didn’t bear any fruit. The apostles pitched forward from the sudden restrain. That became a fatal opening.

At the next moment, the white smoke that Kentaro manipulated swallowed the two apostles whole.

What were left later were only two artistic sculptures that were completely made from stone.

Other than them, there were also Nakano Shinji and Saitou Yoshiki who had gotten back on their feet after Hiyama’s betrayal and Kondou’s death, they were unfolding a really great contribution with bloodcurdling look, while protecting the hole in their formation were Tamai Atsushi, Aikawa Noboru, Nimura Akito unfolding a fierce battle against the apostles without taking even a step back.

They were all perfectly supported from behind by Sonobe Yuuka, Sugawara Taeko, Miyazaki Nana, Tsuji Ayako, and Yoshino Mao.

The members of Ai-chan bodyguard squad were able to operate almost at the same level with Juugo’s party and Shinji and others who were already fighting at the front line since the very beginning were because since Hajime and others departed from the capital, they encouraged their heart thinking that at this rate they would be no good and so they performed extra hard training since then.

Other than them, there were also the other students whose heart had been completely broken, even though they were unable to go as far as fighting directly, but with their abilities that had been heightened they were launching support magic from the rear, performing healing magic, using rifle or magic to add in laying out barrage, and so on. They too were desperately backing up the other’s battle.

Every one of them had their broken heart to be lit up once more by Hajime’s speech at the devil king castle. If Hajime’s speech at that time were merely words, then the moment an apostle appeared before their eyes their heart would surely break again because it was only supported by paper thin words. However, everyone of them had seen Hajime.

He lost one of his arms and one of his eyes, what he had gone through even changed the color of his hair, he was in a tattered state and even his beloved lover was taken away. The wailing that he raised because of his lover’s disappearance was something that caused them to feel pain in their heart. Even so, at the end he stood back up and proclaimed that he would crush everything and take her lover back. That appearance of him at that time was too powerful, burning their soul that were smoke-stained all this time.

It wasn’t for the sake of the world or anything like that. It was merely a wish for returning home. A wish of not wanting to let their friend died. In order to grant just that much wish, they had to fight with everything they had leaving nothing to spare, finally they were convinced of that and they mustered their courage.

For the front line group, this support that they received came from a group who even though their heart was once smoke stained but they were still a group of cheat holder from another world.

As expected, even though the enemy was the apostles but with their specs lowered, taking on the classmate group who had been strengthened put them at disadvantage. Seeing the apostles being exterminated one after another, the allied force soldiers at the area raised their acclamation.

But, at that time, one of the apostles that broke through the front line rapidly approached one of the girl student.

“Hih!?”

The female student reflexively screamed.

But, at the next moment, the fear of death changed into shock.

The head of the apostle flew up with a plop, the body that lost its strength slid in vain beside the girl student.

Furthermore the apostles who were trying to surround the front line group had their necks reaped up in turn from the outside and their lives expired instantly. Regardless when they moved their gaze over there, other than the corpses of the headless apostles, there was nothing and no one there.

One of the apostles turned her gaze around at the surrounding with a grim gaze toward this obviously strange situation.

“Kuh, just where in the world the attack came fro-”

“Right in front of you here! ********!”

The apostle was startled that her murmur was replied right from the front and her gaze returned forward. In her eyes, the shadow of a kodachi being sucked toward her neck was reflected. And then that became the last view of that apostle.

Displaying a thorough covert action(thinness of shadow) that couldn’t be noticed even by apostles, this ghost crossed over from crowd to crowd and in an instant, it approached to reap the target’s head.

Cutting down the apostles who had the figure of a human female was a really great burden mentally. What became salvation was that all the apostles had the same appearances, their cold figure where no emotion could be felt made anyone that saw them felt that they were like a puppet.

Coupled with the miserableness of having a shadow so thin that made even the worst enemy to show expression of “Eh? He is actually there!?”, the young man with the vocation of ‘Assassin’――Endo Kousuke was earning kill point that was the highest among his classmates while half giving in to despair.

“As expected from you, Kousuke-! I don’t know where you are though!”

“Aawesome, Kousuke! Though I don’t know where you are!”

“Endo-kun do your beeest! Though I cannot see your figure doing your best!”

“Eh, ah, I see, Endo-kun is also fighting! Thanks for helping ‘kay!”

With a drop, something shining fell from Kousuke’s eyes. It appeared there was a rain falling down. If he said it was raining then it was raining.

There, “Ufufu” a voice that was slightly filled with bewitching tone resounded.

Kousuke who slipped inside a crowd peeking for an opening made by apostle felt something chilly in his spine before he turned his gaze over there. What he found there was a woman from rabbit race, she was giving a glance at Kousuke.

“You, your presence management is really skilled. Perhaps even I am no match against that.”

“He, ah, is that, so?”

The rabbit ear female smiled widely toward the perplexed Endo. Kousuke’s cheek unconsciously turned red from seeing that smile. In the first place, the rabbit race who was the greatest popularity as treasured slave in general had well-arranged face and figure. The female who was talking at Kousuke right now was also an amazing beauty.

Having such a beauty, added with her lovely rabbit ears on her head smiling at him, the virgin young man with the history of having no girlfriend was equal with his age had his heartbeat increasing without stopping. Although there was also the fact that he was feeling stimulation from being in a battlefield right now.

But, that violent throbbing in his chest that felt similar from heart fluttering was immediately supplanted by a cramping face.

“My name is Ranainferna Hauria of Rapid Shadow. I rushed like a gale, sneak up like a shadow, and presented a single lethal attack, one of the stealthy hand of Hauria race!”

“…I, is that so.”

“But, when I saw you, I became embarrassed to introduce myself with that nickname. That’s why, it’s vexing but I’ll hand over the nickname of ‘Rapid Shadow’ to you. Your name?”

“…Endo, Kousuke.”

Kousuke was unable to say that what was embarrassing was actually introducing one’s own nickname. If he was asked ‘do you like a beautiful Onee-san?’, then Kousuke’s answer was decided already.

“Then, from today you are ‘Rapid Shadow’…no, you have surpassed me so…you can introduce yourself as ‘Kousuke E Abyssgate of Rapid Fang Shadow Claw’ then! It’s vexing for me though!”

“No, that’s fi――”

“Well then, so that both of us won’t die, let’s reap the enemy’s neck with our all♪ See you! Kousuke E Abyssgate of Rapid Fang Shadow Claw!”

“…”

Kousuke already wanted very much to give a retort like ‘how can you say something like “let’s reap their neck♪” with such a lovely smile’ or ‘just where did this abyssgate something came from’, but the most shocking thing for Kousuke was that Rana had discovered him when he already even used his skill to kill his presence. She had discovered him.

And then,

――Do you like beautiful Onee-san, with rabbit ears on their head?

“Kousuke E Abyssgate of Rapid Fang Shadow Claw, has arrived!”

It seemed that a love that budded in battlefield really existed.

The claw and fangs of Kousuke began to become even more well-executed, it was to the degree that anyone who knew him might suspect that he had received some kind of other strengthening. He went on to take the head of all the apostles. (TN: Here the writing of Kousuke’s name changed, from the normal kanji of Kousuke into the katakana of Kousuke E Abyssgate)

On the other hand, nearby such classmates there was one other person who was making a strikingly great contribution. It was Aiko.

At the rear, she kept glancing at ‘You Can Do It-, Agitator! Compilation of Lovely Speech Learned Case by Case’ that was handwritten by Hajime while in a certain interval she encouraged the allied force so that their moral wouldn’t plummet using words that the classmates felt like they had heard from somewhere. She was also raising her voice for the sake of her own battle.

“I command in the name of Hatayama Aiko! O transient life, stand up once more and destroy the enemy!”

Right after she said that, several of the apostles that should have been defeated already were standing up in a swaying motion. And then, they attacked the apostles who were supposed to be their ally with a force that looked as though they had recovered their original unrestrained spec.

That was the effect of Aiko’s soul magic. She reproduced a pseudo-soul from her own soul and manipulated it to possess the flesh of the apostles. This magic combined ‘Soul Reproduction’ that created a transient soul and ‘Necromancy’ of darkness magic.

Aiko whose vocation as ‘Farming Master’ was the only non-combat vocation among the classmates if Hajime was excluded, became aware of her own powerlessness, since Hajime departed on his journey she became strongly conscious of looking for a way of fighting for the sake of protecting her students.

There she thought hard of how to make use of the soul magic that was her only advantage, and the result that she reached was this magic. It was really ironic that what gave her the hint was the betrayer Eri’s necromancy and soul bind, the aspect where this magic was making use of corpses also caused a fierce conflict in her heart, still Aiko took the plunge in developing this magic.

That time at the sky above the God Mountain, she had already stopped staying at a clean place while only making her students dirtying their hand.

Besides,

“Until he return, we absolutely won’t lose-!”

Yes, for the sake of the man who she gave her heart to despite understanding that such relationship must not happen, she absolutely wouldn’t lose. Because she wanted to meet him, one more time.

“Ahahah, good grief Ai-chan, her motivation of hiding it already dropped to zero isn’t it?”

“If Ai-chan mentioned ‘he’, then there is also one person it can possibly be isn’t it.”

Sonobe Yuuka and Miyazaki Nana grinned a bit at each other while glancing at Aiko.

“Nagumo-kun is seriously a demon king. It should be impossible to even make one’s own teacher to fall for her student.”

“There are also several girls in class that look like they fell already…a real harem is formed right in front of our eyes, what a sight. Well, exactly because of that they can think of something like ‘me too’ though.”

“Normally just by looking at his relation with that child named Yue, anyone would draw back already. Like, when you see a girl that is too earnest toward a boy, you will give up then, something like that. I wonder if this is also the attraction of the demon king. We too have to be careful, if not we are going to get charmed inadvertently too.”

“Isn’t that righttt”

This time the two of them smiled wryly. And then, they looked up to the sky together.

There, they could see the figure of their female classmate who had earned the most kill point in this battlefield. She rushed through the sky freely, using two large swords, or black silver flash, or black silver feathers, or magic, she used them all depending on the situation to overwhelm the apostles.

Four jet black wings mixed with silver radiance spread on her back and dress armor with black tone covering her body. Her hair that was fluttering from the caressing of wind was also black. That figure with an appearance that was worthy as a fallen angel which was slaughtering the apostles who looked like angel, no matter how anyone looked at it that person should be called as a general of a demon king.

Despite so, the angel side was the force that was trying to devastate the mankind, and the fallen angel one was the force trying to protect the mankind, it was really an ironic story.

That rampaging fallen angel which was Kaori was clad in silver black light while moving with a speed that left afterimages trailing behind, right now she was cutting down one more apostle.

Two apostles who aimed at that moment swung their large sword horizontally. Kaori blocked those using her twin large swords and black silver wings and then she rotated with fierce momentum. Immediately the two apostles were repelled away and their lives came to an end when black silver feathers pierced their forehead without delay.

Just how many apostles had she slaughtered with the addition of those two Kaori wondered.

“There is no end to this…”

Kaori complained like that unconsciously.

“Then, give up and fall.”

The one who replied was an apostle. When Kaori noticed, she was completely surrounded in a sphere shape, she was literally buried from all directions without any opening left.

And then, at the next moment silver flashes were fired. The apostles ignored the possibility of friendly fire against their compatriots in front of them and fired simultaneously without any reservation or mercy, they all aimed at the center of the formed sphere encirclement and fired.

However, Kaori was unshaken.

“I don’t know any words like giving up you know?”

Kaori made such frivolous talk before attempted to make a breakthrough from the front in a straight line. She used her twin swords as a shield and charged to the torrent of light.

The apostle whose gaze met Kaori’s was convinced that Kaori would break through and she readied her twin large swords.

Right after that, Kaori whose whole body was smoking came through, regardless of her state the glint of her eyes didn’t weaken even by a little bit and she approached the apostle rapidly with fierce momentum. And then, she shot out black silver feathers, aiming accurately at spots like shoulder or ankle in a dirty method.

Similarly the apostle fired her silver feathers in the attempt to offset the attack. However at that moment chain of light stretched out from below her feet and constricted the apostle’s movement for an instant.

The restrain was immediately disintegrated and dispersed, but that was enough. The black silver feathers caught the body of the apostle and broke her posture greatly. Kaori arrived at that timing. She drew back the large sword on her hand to the limit, and in an instant, she dealt a stab in god speed.

gi gi gi The sound of fellow large swords scraping at each other resounded, but in the end Kaori also had the momentum of her charge which the apostle was unable to neutralize, like that she was then skewered by Kaori’s large sword.

But, it seemed that it was still within the apostle’s expectation. The handle of the skewered sword――the hand of Kaori that grasped there was gripped tightly and the apostle restricted Kaori’s movement.

There silver feathers rushed in.

The attack intended to bury the apostle together with Kaori.

“Even though she is your comrade but you all treat her too lightly.”

Kaori who whispered that while making an exasperated expression prioritized at giving the finishing blow to the apostle before her eyes without feeling concern against the rushing silver feathers.

The eyes of the apostle opened wide slightly.

Although currently their specs were limited, but their disintegration ability was still working in full. Because Kaori had the same flesh with the apostles she would be able to resist the disintegration if she activated the same ability, but even so she would still be overwhelmed by the amount of attack and bore damage to the degree that couldn’t be ignored. Kaori herself should also understand that. Despite so, just why…that was what the apostle pondered.

Right after that, the body of the apostle was bisected by Kaori’s sword, almost at the same time Kaori was swallowed by many silver feathers.

“She is supposedly able to trace our experience but…after all she is just an imitation in the first place. What a foolish act.”

“That’s not actually true.”

The words that one of the apostles who fired the silver feathers whispered were immediately replied to.

The eyes of the apostle narrowed quietly from hearing that voice which didn’t sound uneasy or agitated at all.

Ahead of the apostle gaze, she could see the figure of a wounded Kaori at the spot where the silver feathers were fired at.

As expected, she could be damaged but she was merely putting up a brave front. The apostle who made that judgment deployed innumerable silver feathers to deal the finishing blow wordlessly. The other apostles were also deploying their feathers at the same time, so Kaori who was at the center of the attacks looked like she was drowning in a sea of stars.

But, just before those silver feathers could be fired the apostles reflexively stopped their movement completely.

The reason was because the wounds of Kaori were healed in the blink of eye before their gaze. With speed and vividness that resembled Yue’s ‘Automatic Regeneration’, even the wounds that were pierced by a silver feather or the gaping open hole returned to their former unblemished state, not only that even her clothing returned to as good as new.

The apostles couldn’t see her using magic. Apostle body also wasn’t provided with a function of automatic regeneration.

The bewildered apostles gazed fixedly at Kaori――and they noticed, behind the forelock that was swept by the wind, on Kaori’s forehead, there was a cross crest shining silver black that was carved there.

“That is…”

“‘Holy Crest of the Fallen’――this is my magic. I used this before the opening of the battle. It’s not as great as Yue’s regeneration, however even if I’m wounded it will activate by itself and heal me, really a convenient magic.”

Metamorphosis and regeneration composite magic ‘Holy Crest of the Fallen’――by carving a cross that shouldered the role of a magic circle on a part of the body, this magic would activate regeneration magic in a prescribed time. This magic could even be called as a powerful version of auto-regen. Furthermore, by using metamorphosis magic the holy crest that was like a tattoo could be erased.

“…However, if we continue to fire saturation attack, sooner or later the damage should surpass the healing. Your magic power is also not unlimited.”

Hearing Kaori’s words, an apostle intentionally said out words to pull herself together. It was unclear whether the apostle was trying to persuade herself with those words or if she was seriously thinking so…

Kaori made a fearless smile. It was a provocative smile that was something Kaori from before would never make by any means. The influence that she received from a demon king somewhere or his wife was keenly conveyed through that action.

“You have two misunderstandings there.”

“…What?”

Kaori’s atmosphere made the apostle asked back with her greatest possible vigilance.

Toward such apostle, Kaori prepared her twin swords and spread her two pairs of wings widely while leaking out her words in a small volume.

“First――”

“――!?”

At the next moment, Kaori’s figure vanished and appeared right behind the apostle. She was in the stance of swinging out her sword.

“If I will it, then I am able to avoid any kind of saturation attack.”

“To, too, fast――”

While the other apostles surrounding them were bewildered, the apostle who Kaori conversed with until just now was gazing in astonishment with half her body sliding down diagonally and blood spraying everywhere.

Kaori swept her large sword to shake off the clotted blood, the apostles who witnessed that returned to their senses and fired simultaneously.

But,

“――’God Speed’.”

Kaori’s figure had already gone by the time they fired, at the next instant two apostles were bisected and fell toward the ground.

Even when the apostles moved their gaze to that spot in shock, just as expected Kaori’s figure was already gone by the time they looked, and another apostle at a different place was bisected again.

“Spa, space teleportation?”

One apostle raised a questioning voice. But, right after that, she felt the wind gently stroking her body and a diagonal split appeared in her field of vision. Like that her consciousness fell into darkness then.

“No way that’s true. I am not in possession of space magic just so you know. This is merely me moving at high speed.”

“Nonsense-. Something like a speed that we cannot detect is just-”

“I can produce such speed. More accurately I am merely shortening the time though?”

Saying that, the apostle who talked with a shrill voice from shock was instantly cut apart by Kaori.

Regeneration magic ‘God Speed’――a magic that shortened the time affecting every single event. If the time for an attack to reach an opponent was shortened then it would become a god speed attack, if the time for traveling was shortened then it would be possible to move with a speed that could be mistaken as teleportation.

If the root of regeneration magic was traced back then it was a magic that interfered with time. It was merely that the usefulness of this magic stopped at ‘regeneration’ as the limit if used on the human body. Since Kaori obtained this magic from Meljine, she had trained in it all this time until now. It was the first age of god magic that she obtained and something that fitted her perfectly who had the role as healer, so her attachment to this magic was also especially all the more.

As the result, just like her success in creating the hour crystal, Kaori also became able to directly interfere with time although within a limit, her possession of the body of an apostle was also a factor in her mastery of this magic.

Of course there was also demerit, this magic consumed a vast amount of magic power for every single use. That was the reason why Kaori didn’t immediately use it right after the battle started…

Seeing her brethren got exterminated one after another by an overwhelming speed that they were powerless to do anything against, an apostle changed the aim of her argument. Perhaps it was also her scheme to make Kaori got agitated even just by a little.

“Indeed, you are strong. As to be expected from someone who serves that irregular. However, a war is not something that can be influenced by an individual.”

“What do you want to say?”

“Look at the surface. Even while you are facing all of us, the people are dying continuously. It seems there are also places that are putting a good fight, but in the end they are humans after all. They cannot avoid the accumulation of fatigue and damage. Before long they too will be reduced into mere corpses.”

“…”

“We are still arriving here from the Holy Precincts you know? There is nothing that you can protect. Everything, is just a pointless struggle.”

Kaori stopped moving and looked back at the talking apostle quietly. And then, she gently smiled at the apostle who was pointing the point of her sword at her while proclaiming mankind’s death and opened her mouth.

“Your second misunderstanding. Something like the amount of damage, or something like the amount of magic power…just who are you saying that to?”

“What are…”

“Even if my body has changed, I am ‘Shirasaki Kaori’. I possess the vocation ‘Healing Master’, and I am the ‘healer’ of the demon king(Hajime-kun)’s party you know?”

Saying that, Kaori held her large sword in reverse grip and pointed the tip to the surface. That sword which had been added with improvement by Hajime so that Kaori could go all out in exhibiting her ability as ‘Healing Master’ shined brilliantly in black silver color.

And then,

“――’Mighty Breath of Heaven Turning’.”

Right after that, a single black silver drop fell toward the ground from the tip of the large sword.

That drop when it reached the height of several meters from the ground, it went KA-! with light exploding from it that spread a ripple of black silver through the whole battlefield. Two layers, three layers, the black silver waves surged above the allied force.

Then, at the next moment a soldier of the allied force that should have died already opened his eyes with a snap. And then he raised his body with a bewildered look and touched all over his chest that should have been slashed open, when he realized there was no injury there he tilted his head further.

There were also others, people who were gouged out by silver feathers or killed by elemental magic woke up one after another. And then when they understood that their body was somehow alive with their wound healed, they immediately stood up and rushed forward in order to assist their comrades who were fighting the apostles.

Not only the people who had died, naturally even the people who were still alive but got wounded were also healed in the blink of eye.

“Wha-, they are revived-!?”

From above, the apostle who confirmed that situation exposed her shock as though the claim of the apostles that they were emotionless was just a lie.

Soul and regeneration composite magic ‘Mighty Breath of Heaven Turning’――this magic picked out which were the allies using soul magic and carried out convergence-fixing-attachment of the souls that were in the process of dispersing, moreover it performed healing using regeneration magic. As expected, in the case where the corpse didn’t maintain their original shape like being bisected until the body become in pieces or the head was gone, or the time of death had gone past ten minutes, the effect of this magic wouldn’t work on the corpse that was in those states, but other than those cases all the allies inside the radius of four kilometers with the black silver drop as the center would have revival and healing performed on them by this army use recovery magic.

Even with just those properties, this magic was already like a joke. However, the show of Kaori’s true ability didn’t stop just there.

“――’Divine Binding of Layered Usurpation’.”

Different from the large sword that was held in reverse grip its tip pointing below, the other large sword was held in front of Kaori’s chest with its tip pointed straight above. And then, along with that proclamation, the readied large sword became clad in silver black radiance.

It was like a black hole that swallowed the galaxy, and it exhibited a result that didn’t contradict that appearance.

“ts, this is, my strength is leaving-”

Even though they were already had their specs shaved off by the choir right now, but right now when they felt that their strength was shaved off even further the apostles showed their agitation.

Looking carefully, radiant lights were leaking out from all the apostles in the range of several hundred meters around Kaori, and then those lights converged toward the large sword Kaori held like a meteor shower.

And then, right after the lights were absorbed by the large sword, magic power was overflowing from Kaori’s body. Not only her consumed magic power recovered, it even looked that the magic power she possessed grew a lot more. Not only that, through the tip of the large sword facing the ground, a silver black drop fell to the ground once more.

Silver black ripples were spreading below once more like before. And the result, the movement of the allied force soldiers was obviously becoming better. The sharpness and power of their movement, and also their reaction speed were increasing.

“I just stole the strength of all of you.”

“Such thing…”

“It’s possible as you can see. I am a healing master. Transferring magic power to other people is also our role. Though it takes a bit of time to seize the magic power of you all.”

Saying that was easy but to actually do it was another matter altogether.

Soul and light element composite magic ‘Divine Binding of Layered Usurpation’――this composite magic designated its target using soul magic, and then it used sublimation magic to light element magic ‘Divine Transfer’ in order to transfer magic power to other people. It plundered the magic power of the seized opponent forcefully to recover one’s own magic power, and then that magic could also be reused for things like ally’s strengthening and so on.

Of course, normally even using sublimation magic stealing magic power from apostle without even touching them was impossible. What was helping Kaori in using this magic was the twin large swords her hands were holding.

――Demon Sword of Circle Calamity Anima Erunte

――Holy Sword of Gospel Bel Rexion

The demon sword plundered the power of the opponent and turned it into its food, while the holy sword made that power into unlimited power to share with the ally. These two swords exhibited their maximum strength when they were used together, a demon sword and a holy sword that exclusively assisted Kaori in her use of ‘Mighty Breath of Heaven Turning’ and ‘Divine Binding of Layered Usurpation’.

“…Even so, even so, all of you cannot win. We the apostles are infinite. No matter how many little tricks you all play, no matter how much you all struggle, in the end only the destiny of ruin awaits you all. Because that is the great will of the god.”

“Human won’t perish. Surely it will be the same result no matter what kind of world it is. Just like how a boy without any considerable strength crawled up from the bottom of the abyss by himself, even when human is swallowed by difficulty, they will surely find out their path to survival. You see, human just doesn’t know how to perish. As long as there is just one person who wishes to live, wishing to protect someone, their determination will force something like a mere ‘destiny’ to yield.”

The gaze of the apostle and Kaori crossed.

“…Then, please show me the proof of that.”

With those words as the signal, the fierce battle was restarted once more.

The apostles attacked Kaori in a group, and Kaori exterminated them who attacked her.

If she saw the allied force became exhausted she would heal them, in a certain interval she would perform revival. When her magic power decreased she would steal from the apostles, sometimes she would carry out support bombing toward the surface.

At the other places too, the dragon race people were holding back the apostles with fierce efforts, on the surface too every single person were continuing to fight to the death.

It was unclear just how much time had passed.

Even the shadow of the sun had already gone from the reddish black world, the people was gradually losing their sensation of time. If they didn’t have Kaori’s healing magic, perhaps the allied force would collapse already since a long time ago. That was just how endless the force of the apostle was.

Even so the allied force soldiers believed that Hajime, the ‘Sword of Goddess’ who stepped into the Holy Precincts would bring an end to this for them, with that belief they mustered their willpower. There was already a lot of soldiers who met their end because the revival didn’t make it in time.

Gradually the sensation of being pushed back by the violence of number began to rule over the allied force.

But, at that time, suddenly one soldier who looked up at the sky above God Mountain whispered with small volume.

“Oi, what the hell is that…”

Ahead of that soldier’s gaze, there was the scene of the miasma reaching toward the surface with an obviously growing momentum.

Right after that, the muddy miasma overflowing from the crack of space increased in force all of a sudden.

And then, the miasma fell and covered all over the surface of the collapsed God Mountain, without stopping the miasma flowed and headed toward the fortress. Ahead of the miasma there was the capital, it passed through and touched the grass plain in front of the fortress. Just like the dust cloud that was produced when God Mountain crumbled, the black miasma approached them with a terrific force like an avalanche.

Reddish black lights were materialized in succession inside that miasma. Right after that, a great number of roar rose and countless monsters leaped out from inside the miasma. It seemed that it was the second wave of the monster army.

Furthermore, several thousand apostles also flew out all at once from the crack in space.

“Oi oi, a battle force augmentation after this far. Bring it on…this is a time to say something like that but…this is really bad huh.”

With a body that was dyed bright red from the blood spurt of the enemy, Gahard’s expression turned like someone who just had bitten a bitter bug. Not to mention the other soldiers, their expression were turning into despair.

Even though it was already absolutely the limit facing the apostles who were assaulting them without any pause, but after this long, tens of thousands of monsters swarm and several thousands of apostles were coming again――perhaps this deadlocked state would crumble for the worse like this.

“First and second division, concentrate at the front! Don’t let the monsters ride the momentum and charge into melee battle-! Stop them in place-!”

A formation was immediately formed by Gahard’s command.

The earthquake was spreading, the air was rumbling. The sound of the monsters charge and the roars’ shockwave were getting closer.

Looking at the overflowing large swarm of monsters while taking along an avalanche of enormous miasma behind them, damp sweating was flowing all over Gahard’s body. The dragons and Kaori were also held back in place by the similarly overflowing apostles. The cheat group from another world was also having their hands full with protecting the choir squad.

The distance was approximately one kilometer.

The expressions of the allied force soldiers were convulsing from the excessive pressure.

Perhaps this is hopeless. Unintentionally anyone was giving off that atmosphere. It was at that moment,

“――’Kalpa of Destruction’.”

The ground vanished. Along with the monsters.

“――’Kalpa of Destruction’――’Kalpa of Destruction’.”

A voice of a woman resounded thrice. That voice resounded with clarity even at the battlefield which was filled to the brim with noises.

But, rather than that voice, Gahard and others were shocked even more by the spectacle happening before their eyes.

The leading pack of the advancing monsters was completely vanishing into the bottom of the earth altogether. They were unable to even raise the scream of death agony.

Right after that, the voice that excessively reverberated and excessively irritated the listeners, the cause of this phenomenon showed her appearance sluggishly from a gate that opened at the plain in front of the allied force.

“Yahoooo☆ Appearing when the situation is in a pinch, the world idol, Miledy-chan has arrived-! Ahahaaa, isn’t this the greatest timiiing! Just-as-ex-pec-ted, me♪ A woman that can read the mood! Everyone of the allianceee, falling in love with me is-no-good-y’know♡”

What appeared was a giant golem, and a really tiny humanoid wearing a smiley mask, clad in a milky white robe riding on its shoulder. Miledy’s appearance that looked like she was screwing around a lot was taking a pose that felt like ‘Kyarurun☆’ toward the allied force army from the giant golem’s shoulder while making ‘tehehe-pero’ expression. The smiley face mask was somehow looking like that by some unknown mechanism. (TN: Tehehe pero. Imagine winking while chuckling tehehe and the person’s tongue sticking out.)

Including Gahard’s, the time of the allied force army was stopped.

Everyone without exception was having a genuine confusion of “Just what in the world is that” while at the same time their expression was turning into an indescribable irritation.

There an explanation came from Liliana toward the allied force. According to her, this person was a helper that Hajime and others called for, putting aside her annoying speech and conduct, this person was really quite useful. It was unknown what she had been doing until now, but she finally arrived right now, something like that.

“Geeezzz, everyone, what a tough crowd all of youuuuu. ‘Perhaps this is hopeless’…you all seemed to act pointlessly serious like that so I tried to enliven this placeee. Yet now you all are making Miledy-chan’s good will to go to wasteee, hmph hmph, Miledy-chan is extremely angry here!”

The irritation gauge of Gahard and everyone else almost exploded with that.

But, even while acting screwing off like that, Miledy pointed one of her hands at the approaching miasma behind and said a word.

“――’Severance Catastrophe’.”

The star of catastrophe created above the miasma immediately began to swallow the miasma with outrageous force. There was also the figures of monsters that were mixed inside the miasma there.

“Geeez-, daring to be a nuisance of Miledy-chan is something uuuunforgivable! Punishment timeee. ――’Demolish Yoke’.”

The gap between her screwing around voice and her chanting voice was absurd.

A voice of absolute zero resounded only in that instant of chanting.

The result from that was different from before, the feet of the monsters left the ground all at once and they flew beyond the sky with a preposterous momentum. Gravity was the resultant force from gravitational pull and centrifugal force. Therefore, those who had their gravitational pull severed would be flown away to the beyond.

The ten of thousand monsters were curbstomped by a lone person while helpless to do anything. Even the monsters who escaped the range of the large scale magic were exterminated by the rushing giant golems and knight golems one after another before the monsters could reach the allied force.

The allied force didn’t know that this person was one of the ‘liberator’, but even so they greatly comprehended that this was a helper that Hajime relied on. That this person was similarly a monster class character.

The advance of the monster of the ground was managed by Miledy and her golems, and then the monsters who broke through that was somehow managed by the allied force, like that relieve was slightly spreading among the soldiers.

But, that relieve was immediately crumbling right after.

The apostles who overflowed from the crack in space before this gathered into a single cluster. Their number was approximately a thousand.

The thousand apostle that formed their ranks like a single spear completely ignored the attack of Kaori or the dragons and began to descend in a straight line.

Naturally, anti-air artillery was also fired from the surface, but even while the apostles were falling one after another like scattered flowers, they relied on their number and kept advancing without hesitation. …They were heading toward the choir.

“tsk, I won’t let you-!”

{All hands, stop that apostle swarm-!}

With desperate look Kaori and Adol exerted all their strength to crush the large spear made from apostles.

Several hundred apostles were blown away in their descend to the ground, but even so the swarm of apostles that completely became a single cluster couldn’t be broken up completely…

“No good-, run awaaay!”

Kaori who was unable to oppose that pressure raised a scream while getting blown away.

Right after that, the large spear of apostles was emitting silver radiance like a divine spear that was thrown by god while stabbing at the barrier of the choir squad.

And then, before the people in the area could do something about the divine spear, cracks were spreading on the barrier that was protecting the choir squad…finally, the barrier was completely pulverized along with a thunderous sound.

The powerless members of the choir squad were vainly scattered to death before that tremendous might.

At this moment, the wedge that bound the apostles was broken.

The apostles of god exerted their ability in full.

Bloody wind was sweeping over the battlefield. Here and there silver lights were bursting up, the allied force soldiers that were making their resistance in those areas were instantly turned into a lump of meat in an instant. Their heroic war cry was turning into a mere scream.

“This is only a stopgap measure but――’Demolish Yoke’.”

Miledy was maintaining the picture of hell behind her while exercising the magic that cut loose the target from gravity toward the battlefield. The targets were easy to understand. The conspicuous silver magic power. She was only selecting those as her target.

Right after that, the apostles were simultaneously blown away to the sky. They were spinning while pulled until the distance of a kilometer from the ground instantly.

But, for the apostles in the strengthened state who had recovered their specs, this magic was really nothing but a temporary measure against them. They immediately fixed their posture. There the apostles who turned into the divine spear gathered. They didn’t stop there. As though to invite despair for mankind, a great number of apostles were coming out further from the crack in space.

The reddish black sky was filled to the brim with apostles to the degree that they could be mistaken as stars in the sky. And then, the apostles of god, as though to declare that fighting bit by bit was troublesome already, it even seemed to say that right now they would forget all the humiliation of the apostles of god being killed, they would merely rely on the overwhelming violence of number and began to focus their silver magic power.

The protection by the great barrier was already gone. The anti-air artillery and sniping attacks were shooting down the apostles with certainty. The dragons and Kaori were also exterminating the apostles who weren’t moving because of their concentration in focusing their magic power and they were falling like flies from the sky.

However, the apostles didn’t pay them any heed. They abandoned their dignity, they didn’t give any care of the damage done to them, they were merely focusing a light of destruction for the sake of destroying the mankind. No matter how many of them were killed and killed, the apostles’ number were replenished one after another, their number that was focusing their magic power was just too many that the rate of the allied force annihilating the apostles couldn’t catch up.

Right now, if the silver sun was fired, the result wouldn’t end with merely tremendous damage toward the allied force. The result that arrived would be ‘the defeat of mankind’.

“I won’t let you, absolutely-!”

Kaori glared at the sky with a gaze filled with determination while lifting both her hands above. In anticipation of this situation, the crystals that were placed in certain places on this battlefield reacted to Kaori’s will. Those lights connected to each other with lines of light and formed a single enormous magic circle.

――Kaori’s exclusive use Large scale protection barrier stone ‘Shutzengel’

This artifact assisted the barrier magic of Kaori who wasn’t a barrier master to deploy a large-scale barrier that was even more powerful than the great barrier using an enormous magic circle that covered the whole battlefield.

“Perish.”

“――’Indomitable Holy Severance’–!!”

When the silver sun was fired, a super large scale protection wall covering the allied force was deployed at the same time.

The silver spear and the black silver barrier collided.

Thunderous roar.

Flash.

The world was filled with those two things.

“Guh, UuuUUUUUaAAAAAAAAAAAAA-!!”

Kaori’s scream burst out.

The impact felt like she was stopping a comet in its track, the pressure felt like it was crushing her. Her black silver wings were flickering, her altitude was gradually dropping.

The black silver barrier was Holy Severance that was enchanted with disintegration ability. Therefore it neutralized the apostles’ disintegration ability and changed the attack’s nature into mere bombardment. But, even so it was a full power bombardment formed from several thousand apostles, it caused cracks to form on Kaori’s barrier by pure might. Kaori was resisting that using regeneration magic that instantly restored the barrier.

Her magic power was flowing out from here in the blink of eye.

Kaori gritted her teeth while maintaining her altitude and the barrier desperately.

The apostles didn’t circle behind the barrier to attack from the rear, perhaps it was because of their minimum dignity as apostles of god, they were merely adding to the silver bombardment continuously to smash the resistance from the front.

{All hands, deploy barrier! Don’t let that girl shouldering this alone-!}

Adol’s angry voice roared. The dragons gathering behind Kaori laid out their barriers one after another to layer with Kaori’s.

“This should lighten up the burden more or less. ――’Calamity Sky’.”

Miledy’s gravity magic created gravity spheres around the part of the barrier that was directly impacted and weakened the bombardment by scattering its might.

Other than them the people on the surface that could use barrier magic――with Liliana and the classmates in the lead, all of them deployed their barrier and supported Kaori. The people who couldn’t use barrier magic were also desperately supporting Kaori by using another effect of ‘Shutzengel’, the effect of transferring the magic power of the soldiers to Kaori, in that way they were sending their magic power to help.

A few second passed, or perhaps it had been several minutes.

The world of thunderous roar and flash that felt like an eternity finally announced its end.

At the same time the barriers were also dispersing.

“Haa haa, we, endured…”

Kaori who had endured through the disintegration bombardment of several thousand apostles were breathing heavily.

Her complexion was obviously looking exhausted. The dragons at her surrounding were also the same. Liliana and others and also the allied force soldiers on the ground who had mustered their magic power were also in similar state. The expression of everyone was turning grim.

Even so they had pulled through. Thinking that Kaori was smiling while she was going to activate ‘Divine Binding of Layered Usurpation’…

A silver sun was illuminating the world once more.

“We the apostles of god are infinite――hadn’t we said that?”

Not only their number, their magic power was also infinite. The glaring apostles were whispering so while creating a new silver sun.

Kaori’s magic power recovery wouldn’t make it in time.

She wouldn’t be able to endure if they were attacked one more time by that.

Not only Kaori, all people of the allied force who looked up at the sky also realized that.

Despair,

Resignation,

Were filling the heart of them all.

The silver sun was falling down from the sky. It was the end…everyone thought like that.

But…

Kaori quietly lifted both her hands with her breathing still ragged. Her strong gaze that didn’t show anything like even a spec of resignation was staring still at the light of direction directly, a fire was burning in her soul, she scraped up even the fragments of magic power still clinging somewhere inside her――

She didn’t abandon her will to fight.

She didn’t give up.

It was unclear just how many people among the soldiers of the allied force could see her figure. If they could see her, then surely they would shed their tears from that noble and beautiful appearance without any doubt. Just like Adol and others whose heart was stolen by seeing that gallant figure from right beside her.

“Even just a second longer is fine. We are going to survive!”

If they could only just survive a second longer, at that time, perhaps that person that she loved the most would bring the end to all of this.

No, surely he would end all of this.

She believed that.

That was why, even at the verge of death, even just for a fragment of a second she wouldn’t give up!

The whole world was dyed silver.

The barrier that she could deploy looked so frail like a toy.

But, for a second.

Without any doubt, the attack was stopped in that second.

At the next moment,

“…Fufu-, see, just as I thought!”

Kaori made an expression that was enchanted from affection and unequaled trust. Ahead of her gaze, there was the scene of the silver light dispersing with a puff and the swarm of apostles slumping powerlessly.

Right after that, like a marionette that had its controlling string cut, the apostles stared at nothing with lightless gaze and they were falling to the ground like flies.

{This is, no, wait, what in the world is that…don’t tell me, is that Holy Precincts?}

Even while feeling bewildered from seeing the falling apostles, Adol’s voice was caught from an even stranger situation.

Ahead of his gaze, there, space itself was shaking, the sky was in an abnormal state where various sceneries which were projected like video recording were appearing and disappearing. It was as though there were several different worlds at the sky above, the sky looked like it was going to crumble and fall off anytime now.

That situation was like the prelude of the world crumbling, furthermore the atmosphere was starting to rumble which spurred on that bad imagination even more.

“Hajime-kun, Yue, everyone…”

Kaori too felt deeply moved only for a brief time, her expression immediately changed into a worried one. Looking closer the crack of space was also trembling, it looked like that it might vanish anytime.

With her state that had run dry of magic power, Kaori flapped her silver black wings to head toward the trembling space while maintaining her consciousness that was going to sink into darkness even now.

There was a person who caught her shoulder tightly.

“Leave them to me. To the one loved by everyone through many months and years, this Miledy-chan, ‘kay☆”

Saying that, Miledy Raisen stopped Kaori with an extremely gentle voice that ran counter with her tone.



 

[Vol 8] Chapter 20 – Mankind’s Struggle (First Part)



Circle-warning.gif This chapter is translated by Cobalt
and is rehosted with due permission.

Turning back the time a bit.

The surface of the world was completely changed by the erosion of dark red color that looked like the eyes of a monster. And then, a crack of space that exposed the abyss appeared at the sky of such bizarre world.

After Hajime and others safely jumped into that crack of space which scattered muddy black miasma――the gate that connected toward Holy Precincts, the apostles of god that swarmed that place turned on their heel still with an expressionless face.

What was reflected in the inhuman eyes looking down from the great height, was the crowd of people who displayed their insolence by trying to oppose god’s will.

” ” ” ” “Judgment of god.” ” ” ” ”

Those words were murmured in one voice.

If the people at the ground heard those words, surely they would object “There is not even a speck of reason for us to be judged!” with a loud voice.

But, the puppets of god that wouldn’t even lend any ear to that objection swung their twin large swords once, then they flapped their wings and began to descend all at once. They only revised their orbit using their silver wings. Next, the large number of apostles rapidly approached toward the allied force mostly by freefalling while leaving a silver trail behind like a swarm of meteors.

Thinking of the apostles’ spec, in this battlefield where bug character like Hajime and others were gone, there was no existence that could possibly stop these women. Even if there were a lot of people in possession of item like the artifacts that could launch flash(Anti-Material Rifle) which covered the penetration of Hajime and others into Holy Precincts, but there was no reason that mere ‘human’ could hope to match them.

Therefore, for the apostles what would be starting from here on wouldn’t a battle, it would be a curbstomp without any doubt, just a light work like mowing down grass.

…was what they thought how it was supposed to be.

That thought only continued until their whole field of vision was buried in barrages of bullets.

“Attackkk!! No need for even a drop of mercy or reservation-! Pound away with the intention of using up all your ammooo!!”

An amplified command resounded among the allied force, at the same time bullets barrage were fired without pause from the whole allied force soldiers.

Every single soldier aimed rifle gun toward the sky and pulled the trigger, each time the trigger was pulled the internal mineral that had been enchanted with ‘Lightning Clad’ electromagnetically accelerated the pseudo-full metal jacket bullet and fired it.

The all out firing from all the rifle guns that had been distributed to all the soldiers of allied force became several millions of flashes just for the first wave attack that pierced the sky.

Furthermore, the large gatling railguns that were fixed at the fortress and trenches completely blanketed the sky with flashes simultaneously. The number of the gatling railguns in total was a thousand. A thousand of the monstrous railguns with twelve thousand shots per minute roared simultaneously.

That wasn’t all.

In addition, a thousand stationary large Orkan released a few hundred missiles loaded inside them almost at the same time. The spectacle of orange fire trail rushing to the sky all at once could be described as a masterpiece.

Regarding the weapons, the people with fast understanding were given priority to be a shooter, they had practiced handling the weapon until the last minute, so the weapons that were the hybrid of top of the line modern weapon and alternate world fantasy could muster their fury without taking too much time. The characteristic advantage of modern weapon where ‘it wasn’t influenced by the skill of the individual’ was exhibited in ample here.

In an instant, the sky was completely covered by swarms of flashes and missiles, they easily swallowed the apostles who kept descending down.

The swarms of railguns that already should be called as a wall mercilessly gouged out the apostles, opening wind holes in their body one after another, the swarms of missiles grandly scattered flame blast and shockwave everywhere and bloomed crimson lotus in the sky. The apostles that got dragged into that blooming were toyed around inside the storm of explosions and their body burst and scattered.

However, even though the first wave of the apostles got easily killed because they let their guard down, the enemy over there was the apostle of god. They immediately put their guard up, weaved through the barrage, slashed away the flashes, or used their silver wings for defense and forcefully broke through to approach their enemy.

“Naïve.”

The one who was lifting the corner of his lips in fearless smirk was the sniper of Hauria race who played a very active role when Hajime and others stormed the Holy Precincts. It was ‘Bardfeld of Certain Death’, ten years old.

Across the scope that was enchanted with ‘Foresight’ which displayed the future position of the enemy as a phantom image, he stared at an apostle that slipped through a flame blast and naturally pulled the trigger with quiet breathing.

Immediately, a cannon shot that was specialized for penetration similar with Schlagen became a flash, with a superb timing it attacked the apostle who was going to move to attack right now, the flash then cleanly blown up her head.

Scenes similar with that were also accomplished here and there by the grand flashes that were fired from everywhere in the fortress and trenches. This feat was achieved by the sniper team that was fully equipped with the improved version of Schlagen.

Perhaps judging that such snipers were a danger, the apostles followed the line of fire and directed their gazes toward the snipers that included ‘Bardfeld of Certain Death’ and they flew out all at once at them…

This time, it was the golem soldiers who were standing by at the back of the snipers, with gatling cannons in both hands and missile pods equipped on their shoulders, they began simultaneous strafing fire to protect the snipers.

“――”

The apostles gulped and attempted to evade.

But it was too slow. At this point of time, the snipers were already catching the prey across the scope. Faster than even their mind, their finger leaned on the trigger and quietly pulled. It was as though their body had known the best timing.

The result was just a matter of course. The sky was decorated with blooming crimson flowers once more.

Even though this was supposed to be an easy work that was equal with a mere slaughter, even though the monsters were supposed to be already gone from this place, for some reason it was only the apostles who got killed one-sidedly. Weren’t they the apostle of god? Weren’t they standing at far away height that human couldn’t possibly arrive at, created by the supreme existence as the greatest fighting strength?

The apostles naturally narrowed their gaze.

“Know how futile your resistance is.”

One of the apostles whispered.

Right after that, they stopped descending and rained down silver bombardments all at once from long range toward the ground.

It was a silver colored squall.

It was a really beautiful and fantastical spectacle, but the tragic result this local heavy rain would bring about was the very definition of atrocity itself.

Some part of this was offset by the barrages of bullet, but the bombardment that came from apostles whose body was clad with silver magic power in strengthened state slipped through the barrages mostly intact and approached the ground.

…And then,

“Great Barrier start up!”

It was held back above the allied force.

The improved great barrier that was activated following the command of the commander Liliana, blocked the meteor shower of death.

Against the silver flash that possessed disintegration ability, even if it was the great barrier that was an age of god artifact that had protected the capital of the kingdom for many years, originally the best it could do would be to hold on for a few moments. But, right now the great barrier that had been applied with Hajime’s improvement was spreading in rainbow ripple and firmly protected the allied force.

The great barrier that originally was deployed in three layers with the strength of each layer depending on proportion with the range was now focused into a single layer which increased its toughness. Naturally, it was also strengthened using sublimation magic. By no means it could perfectly oppose the disintegration ability, but it was capable enough to make the apostles to spend some time breaking through.

And then, the time that was bought from that was for the sake of showing the next hand to recover from the hopeless situation.

The blow from the first barrage was merely a surprise attack against the arrogant apostles. With these women who literally had specs that were in a different league compared to human as the opponent, they would surely adapt after the first attack. Therefore, the humans had to carry out the plan so they could fight the apostles.

That plan was,

“To the choir squad. Please give the fall toward the puppets who proclaimed themselves as angel!”

The order of Liliana that was amplified in sound resounded in the battlefield.

The target of that command was the people who looked like clergyman that gathered at the rooftop of the fortress, there were even women and children included among them.

With a solemn atmosphere that didn’t suit the battlefield, everyone put their hands together in front of their chest with uniform movement, taking a praying pose. All of them were the clergymen of the church who spread the teaching of the holy church in the remote region, that was to say they were the remains of the holy church. They were people who had separated from the central church, or possibly they had too much of pure faith that they were driven away from central as troublesome people.

Those people who were in a sense were the true clergymen followed the direction of an aging man clad in priest clothing standing in front of them, then they opened their mouths slowly.

” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” “――――♪” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ”

A melody resounded.

It was a holy song. A song that blessed the people and condemned the people that trampled on peace and love. A solemn melody of sacred protection and judgment.

A magic circle was floating beneath the choir. Through the crystals that were put here and there on it, the power of the holy song itself was amplified to terrific level.

That song which pushed through the explosive and thunderous sounds of the weapons and resounded throughout the battlefield naturally reached the ears of the apostles who were launching all-out bombardment to break the great barrier.

Immediately,

“――, this is, my strength-”

One of the apostles leaked out a surprised voice.

That was surely something that couldn’t be helped for her. After all, the proof of strengthening that was the silver light which enveloped her body had dispersed, in exchange there was crimson light coiling around her before she felt her strength leaving her body like water that flowed out from a container with opened cork.

Once the pope Ishtar invoked this magic――’Holy Song of Supreme Degeneration’ toward Hajime who was facing the apostle Nointo at the sky above the God Mountain. It was a brutal magic that combined the effects of obstructing the target’s movement and weakened their strength as long as the song was resounding.

Now this song had its effect amplified using sublimation magic, in addition, it was also enchanted with the words of power that stopped the body function of Kaori and did her in before, Hajime reproduced the effect using soul magic and enchanted it through the medium of crystal pillars.

As expected, driving the apostles until they went out of service or completely weakening them were impossible, but the song was still able to obstruct the strengthened state of the apostles, in addition, it also could drop the specs of the apostles until nearly sixty percent of their original specs.

“Tsk, eliminating.”

The gazes of the apostles were directed at the choir which was the source of their abnormality. They planned to prioritize eliminating the choir.

Several of the apostles formed a group and they began to lift their large swords simultaneously. Right after that, their magic power was focused and formed a swelling silver sun.

Although only a bit of time had passed, but the great barrier was already screaming from receiving disintegration ability from countless apostles. If it got hit by the focused silver bombardment, it would surely become unable to endure this time and got smashed.

“But, that too is within expectation. Please prioritize the apostles whose movements are stopping!”

Liliana’s command resounded for the third time. That command was conveyed to all leaders of each squad, then they further gave that instruction to the subordinates under them to prioritize targeting the apostles who were concentrating in the focused bombardment.

The swarm of fire lines reached out from the ground toward the sky, the thickness of this wave was by no means diluted. It wasn’t diluting at all. The people with high shooting ability obeyed the command and sniped at the unmoving apostles simultaneously.

The apostles who weren’t involved with the focused bombardment defended against this attack. Using their twin large swords, their silver wings, feathers, they intercepted the attack. However, with their specs that had been forcefully lowered down and the crimson light that was coiling around their body and hindered their movement, so they were unable to deal with surging waves of the excessively mighty attacks which weren’t depending on the user’s specs.

One apostle, and then one more apostle, the apostle who were supposed to be absolute strong person were slaughtered with wind holes opened all over their body.

“Irregular-, even when you are not here you are still making a nuisance against us-”

The crimson light was coiling around the apostles mockingly. That was the radiance of the monster who had driven them away many times over. Seeing that light, the voice of the apostles who proclaimed that they were without emotion or anything turned a bit rough. They vaguely visualized in their mind a white-haired and eye-patched young man giving them a middle finger with a fearless grin.

However, it didn’t mean that the allied force was able to shoot down all the apostles, finally the focusing finished and the light of devastation was emitted from the silver sun.

GOU! The atmosphere shook, the silver bombardment that was the result of the focus of fifty apostles hit the great barrier.

The rainbow ripple undulated fiercely, biki biki with cracking sounds cracks entered the great barrier.

“You guuys, put your spirit in iit!”

Such angry yell resounded at a corner of the fortress where the artifact of the great barrier was positioned. That was the angry voice of Wolpen who was the chief transmutation master of the kingdom. The artifact whose cracking was spreading due to the severe burden was repaired in real time using transmutation by the craftsmen led by Wolpen. Their hands were equipped with fingerless gloves that raised their transmutation ability. It was a romance glove that was a quality product of Hajime.

“Chief-, it’s impossible already-! It cannot hold out!”

“Chih, can’t be helped then. Abandon the great barrier! After activating the small scale barrier, we are going to concentrate at multiple barriers for the choir!”

” ” ” ” “ROGER-” ” ” ” ”

After the great barrier was smashed, Wolpen and others activated the small scale barrier that defended temporarily against the bombardment that might pierce through, like that they ran around busily. They abandoned the barrier that protected the allied force and poured all their strength to the barrier artifact that focused on protecting the choir.

The moment they abandoned the transmutation for repairing in real-time, the cracks on the cylinder artifact spread all at once, and then a beat later the sound of pulverizing was echoing while small pieces flew everywhere.

That sound of pulverizing also resounded from the rainbow great barrier outside the fortress.

Similar like what was once seen at the kingdom capital, sparkling fragments were scattering and vanishing.

The apostles flapped their silver wings and flew in all at once. Their target was apparent at a glance. It was the choir that shaved off their specs until sixty percent.

Right now the rooftop where the choir was located at was enveloped by a multi-layered rainbow barrier that looked like the great barrier. By compressing the barrier into small scale and making it multi-layered, on the whole it had a hardness that surpassed the great barrier. But, if it was aimed by concentrated attacks then it would be surely got smashed through in less than a few minutes.

“Uu, aAAAAAAAA-!!”

One of the holy knights that was placed outside the barrier as protection for the choir raised a war cry and brandished his sword. He shook off his body that was naturally paralyzed from the majestic appearance of the approaching apostles by screaming.

“A nuisance.”

The knight’s torso was easily cut by the large sword that was slashed horizontally and he got blown away.

Yes, the knight wasn’t bisected, he was blown away. In addition, there was a strange numbness in the arm that the apostle swung.

That fact made the apostles unconsciously stopped moving. With the attack of the large sword that was enchanted with disintegration ability, then even though they could only use forty percent of their strength it should be easy to bisect a single human into two. Despite so, she was unable to do that.

“HAAAAAAAAA-!!”

“-”

From the back of the apostle whose movement stopped because of the mysterious phenomenon, a new knight launched a vertical splitting attack from above along with a loud scream that had not even a speck of hesitation. The apostle didn’t even use her large sword and blocked the attack with her wing, but not only the attack opposed her disintegration ability, it even made unpleasant sound giiiiiiiiii resounding before the knight sword sunk in. The apostle gazed to that in astonishment.

There, a scolding flew from that knight.

“Don’t falter! We are a knight. Protecting is exactly our duty! Protect this place!”

“Captain David…guh, forgive me. Let me assist-”

The knight that was previously blown away stood up even while coughing away, a scratch in a straight line was left on his armor. He then slashed at the apostle with fierce momentum.

It was as though that became the signal, the knights――the former holy church’s sacred knights that were led by the Aiko protection squad captain, David, the ‘Goddess’s Knights (self-proclaimed)’ faced the flying apostles one after another.

And then, using their ******* swords that raised high-pitched sound while looking misty, the gauntlets that brought about the effect of ‘Strong Arm’ just by putting them on, and the leg armors that similarly granted the effect of ‘Strong Leg’, they assaulted the apostles while barely enduring the attacks of the apostles. Even if they were damaged by the attack that they couldn’t endure, their armor somehow protected them from great harm.

“…Don’t tell me, all of this strength come from artifacts?”

One of the apostles murmured.

David and everybody else, the knights, they were all equipped similarly with a ******* sword, gauntlets, and also black armor and simple helmet.

Black armor――this artifact was enchanted with ‘Vajra’ that was continuously active and ‘Impact Conversion’ that activated the moment attack touched the armor. Even the knight that got hit by an apostle’s attack managed to pull through somehow with this.

And then the ******* sword was the so-called ‘High-Speed Vibration Sword’, just the sword itself possessed a considerable sharpness, on top of that it could release high-speed vibration using magic power, causing it to be able to disperse the disintegration ability even if only to a certain degree. And then, the helmet was enchanted with ‘Light Speed’, it was a degraded version but it was attached with the function to expand the user’s perception.

All those equipment were basically a set and they were distributed to all the soldiers. In addition, before the battle began cheatmates were distributed so the specs of all the soldiers were also raised.

The plan was to weaken the apostles while at the same time making every single one of the allied force soldiers into a superhuman. As the result, the knights were able to oppose the apostles barely.

Even so, that was as far as it went, in the end they needed a group just to attack a single apostle before they could finally match the apostle.

At present even now the apostle that David slashed at was blowing away the other knights and repelled the vibration sword of David.

“Kuh――”

The apostle swung down her large sword toward David who was clenching his teeth due to his unrecoverable posture.

At that moment,

“First one.”

“Eh?”

It was unclear whether that amazed voice was leaked by David or by the head of the apostle that was rotating in the air…

Like a joke, the head of the apostle flew casually and left behind its body. A beat later, busha―! amidst the blood spray that spurted grandly, that guy was there before anyone noticed.

It was a man with his body wrapped in black clothing that covered everything until his lips, a one lens type sunglass on his eyes, thin and sharp short sword――a kodachi held in reverse grip in his hand. On his head, fluffy rabbit ears were fluttering.

“The color of your blood is filthy, just like this dark red world…”

The man swung his kodachi sharply to swipe away the blood clotting it while pushing his sunglasses using his middle finger, then his lips suddenly distorted in nihility (it was unseen because of the mask though). However, that man then introduced his name without being unable to hide his atmosphere of “The me right now, is totally sparkling!”

“This head of apostle, has been definitely received by this dark hunter demon of the wriggling darkness, Karmvantis Elfalight Rowderia Hauria.”

Correct, it was Karm. It was only the clan head of rabbit race Karm Hauria.

At the surrounding, the apostles who were held back desperately by the knights were approached stealthily from behind, then their head flew away with a splat by the many people of Hauria clan.

The rabbit ears of the man caressed the kodachi lovingly while he directed a pitying gaze at the collapsing headless apostles.

“My bad. But tonight Julia is feeling quite hungry.”

A rabbit-eared woman was covering one of her eyes with her hand while whispering.

“Don’t you know that you are the bad one? After all, you are making my other self to awaken…”

A rabbit-eared girl in the first half of her teens was staring to empty air with a philosophical gaze.

“…This is, the will of the world. Then, I can only obey that…”

A rabbit-eared youth about the same age was holding his left arm while groaning.

“Kuh, raging as you please again-! Calm down, my left arm-!”

A beat.

The rabbit-eared people wearing sunglasses and black clothing looked at each other face and then they nodded at each other with really satisfied expression.

And then, the apostles returned to their senses suddenly with a ‘hah’ and the moment they were going to assault the rabbit-eared people, with a superb timing as though the apostles’ breathing was completely read through the rabbit people’s figure and presence suddenly vanished and they slipped between the knights.

A strange air flowed in the battlefield.

“U, UoOOOOOOOOOO!!”

David slashed at another apostle as though nothing had happened at all. It appeared that he had become a man that was quite able to read the mood. Surely he discerned that he must not get involved with that lot.

The apostles were also rushing toward the choir in order to obliterate them while putting up their guard somewhat. They would keep getting targeted even if they just stiffened in place, so although it wasn’t with their whole force, but a number that was quite many compared to other places was heading toward the choir.

It appeared that at the sky it was already filled to the brim with apostles.

But, at that time,

{Flying is not permitted nano!}

A really cute voice of a little girl resounded, and then at the next moment, the apostles who were above the barrier protecting the choir were staggering with their balance crumbling like a bird whose wings were plucked, without any change the apostles were felled to the ground all over. With great care they were dropping at spot distanced from the barrier as though they were pulled there.

There, a figure of a golem with back armament that looked like parabola antenna deployed could be seen. It appeared the voice was resounding from the telepathy stone speaker version attached on that golem.

{Bel-chan, do your best!}

Listening to the young voice――Myuu’s voice that resounded once more, Bel-chan who was also known as the living golem ‘Belfegoor’ waved his hand languidly while using the area gravity manipulation artifact “Gran Farensen’ that he shouldered on his back which pulled at the flying apostles and dropped them down.

Beside ‘Belfegoor’ that dropped down several dozens of apostles altogether, a further six golems appeared.

And then, with some kind of mechanism, BAANG! a thunderous sound was raised and colorful blast flame rose behind them while the golems took a cool pose. Surely if the golems could yell then they would say this without a doubt.

――Great Sin Squadron Demon Ranger, has arriveeeeed!!

Like that.

The movement of the felled apostles stopped for a moment seeing that uselessly refined posing and the act that let them knew of wills that were unlike that of a golem.

There, a command from the golems’ princess was handed down.

{Everyone, kill them all nano!}

The princess easily declared something terrifying with that lovely voice. It made the listener wanted to see the face of her parents. The gentle voice “My my, ufufu” of one of the parents that was standing at the side of the small commander was leaking out from the speaker.

But, regardless of the resounding soft voice, the starting attack of the Demon Ranger was really severe. Each of the seven rangers was displaying superb teamwork while defeating the apostles one after another.

“This is a good time. Let the puppet who can do nothing but looking down at people know what it means to fall. All Gran Farensen, activate!”

The moment Liliana’s command resounded, the gravity generation devices placed on all over the battlefield activated all at once. As the result, the apostles who were at the position between the ground and five hundred meters high fell on the ground all at once. That scene was just like a pitiful bug whose wings were plucked. And then, the one waiting for them below were the soldiers of allied force with the preparedness for death. The heroes who shouldered the existential fate of mankind.

Great numbers of apostles were dropped on the ground, however, they didn’t show anything unsightly like fainting after impacting the ground, they used their twin swords to blow away all the soldiers who came at them. Silver feathers that were scattered all over here and there, or possibly the silver flashes surged up and blown away the soldiers.

“…Even by dropping us to the ground, even if you harden your body using artifact, but in the first place you are all merely human. There is no way you can win against us. Hang down your head obediently and receive the judgment of god.”

One of the soldiers got pierced on the stomach by a large sword and he vomited blood. But, even with a mouth smeared with blood and his ghastly condition, that soldier made a fearless smile on his lips.

And then,

“LIMIT BREAAAAAAKKK-”

“-”

Magic power in unthinkable amount welled up from the soldier’s body from who knew where. And then, even with his stomach pierced, using the sword that he didn’t let go even then, he cut off the right hand of the apostle that was holding the large sword which pierced him.

“-, why, that ability…now, even so it’s only to this degree after all. Even with that rare ability you possess a single arm is――”

“But, a blind spot is definitely created yeah?”

Even the last attack that was unleashed by betting one’s life using a skill that was the rare between the rare among mankind, stealing a single arm of an apostle was the limit. The apostle who was about to say that was interrupted by a voice that resounded from the direction of her lost right arm.

The apostle who couldn’t swing her right arm immediately tried to drive away the owner of the voice using her silver wing, but faster than that the attack of that person――Hoelscher Empire’s emperor Gahard D Hoelscher bisected the body of the apostle.

The apostle’s body was split into two, but even so she didn’t die instantly with her astonishing life force and directed her gaze at Gahard. And then her gaze turned into astonishment.

“That, radiance…”

That radiance was――the radiance of ‘Limit Break’.

Gahard grinned fearlessly while grasping tightly a crimson orb the size of a small stone dangling from his neck.

“This is a battle where the existence of mankind is put into stake you know. It will be too lukewarm if we cannot break merely one or two limits isn’t that right? Now then, I also just have gotten used with this normal limit break. The last limit breaker left behind by that monster, how about I show it to the underlings of the ****** god huh!”

While saying such thing, in front of the apostle whose eyes opened wide Gahard then,

“Limit Break(Supreme Break)–!!”

The magic power enveloping Gahard jumped up a magnitude higher. Like that he split the head of the apostle who at that time was trying to fire her last silver bombardment, at the same time,

“Informing all the heroes of allied force-!! Break your limit, and fight–!!!”

Immediately following, it resounded in the battlefield, that voice.

“Limit Break-!”

“Limit Break-!” “Limit Break-!”

“Limit Break-!” “Limit Break-!” “Limit Break-!”

“Limit Break-!” “Limit Break-!” “Limit Break-!” “Limit Break-!”

“Limit Break-!” “Limit Break-!” “Limit Break-!” “Limit Break-!” “Limit Break-!” “Limit Break-!” “Limit Break-!” “Limit Break-!” “Limit Break-!” “Limit Break-!” “Limit Break-!” “Limit Break-!” “Limit Break-!” “Limit Break-!” “Limit Break-!” “Limit Break-!” “Limit Break-!” “Limit Break-!” “Limit Break-!” “Limit Break-!” “Limit Break-!”

The last strengthening plan that Hajime left behind. It was this.

――Humanity’s whole force’s limit break.

Other than the basic equipment that were the artifact armaments, the whole forces were also provided by one other thing. That was this necklace attached with a small crimson orb. This artifact made it possible for common soldiers whose body might break from it without taking a dose of cheatmate to activate ‘Limit Break’.

――Grade style limit break artifact ‘Last Zell’

Using it for the first time brought about Limit Break, and after waiting until the body got used to it so that the body wouldn’t self-destructing from the radical strengthening, the artifact would bring about the derivative skill of Limit Break, ‘Supreme Break’ next. Of course it was a double edged sword that couldn’t hold out for long, but in any case it would be the end of mankind if they didn’t win this battle. If this was to be a battle without next time, then they would use up their soul until the very last drop.

Gahard who faced a new apostle readied his sword while throwing at them words that represented the heart of mankind.

“Don’t you dare-, to look down on human-!”

The decisive battle between god’s apostles and mankind――the second curtain of it was now raised.



 

[Vol 8] Chapter 19 – Dragon God Manifestation



Circle-warning.gif This chapter is translated by Cobalt
and is rehosted with due permission.

Going back in time for a little.

During the time Shia was embroiled in a mortal combat with the platinum apostles, Tio was also in the middle of a fierce fighting.

Tio unified the armed black dragons with the new black dragons which were transformed using the black whip of slavery, with them Tio challenged the abnormally powerful monsters that filled the surrounding to the brim while enduring the aurora breath of the white divine dragon and Freed’s variegated chantless-limitless storm of magic, bearing damage that wasn’t few in the process.

The number of monsters that were turned into black dragons using the black whip of slavery was already nearly a hundred. The number of the dragons’ fighting force had become doubled. In addition, with Tio’s regeneration magic ‘Boon of the Dragon King’, they became an astounding battle force that should be called as the undying black dragon army.

But, even so, the one who was cornered in this fight was Tio.

(…Hm. The ‘Fix It J’ at mine hand wouldst be used up soon. When it becomes difficult to evade the aurora completely, it will cause mine damage control to be harsh.)

Tio took out a new magic medicine ‘Fix It J’ to reduce the additional effect of the aurora and then she gulped it down in one go while making a bitter face.

The aurora breath of the Uranus was excessively powerful. It was exactly like the main cannon of a battleship. Even just its aftershock granted the additional effect of obstructing healing magic and worsened the already existing wound to the target, so completely avoiding that attack was next to impossible.

Not only that, the Uranus didn’t only have aurora breath as its attack, it was also creating countless aurora bullets that floated in the area where they would then flew around like a strafing Gatling gun.

Furthermore, Freed’s all elements magic in full burst and silver feathers, his silver bombardment, and space magic was pressing on Tio like a surging wave, then the gray dragons above that couldn’t be handled by the black dragons would also launch a heavy rain of aurora one after another.

Tio who was continuously enduring through that in paper-thin difference could be said as astonishing. But, if the magic medicine ‘Fix It J’ that Tio only had several bottles remaining was used up, then that situation would also crumble down, she was placed in a brittle equilibrium right now. The moment Tio became unable to nullify the effect of the aurora showering down on her and she couldn’t evade, Tio would surely become cornered in one go at that time.

How much her dragon scales were already broken, how much her blood had flowed out…

Even if she used regeneration magic, there was a limit to the amount of her magic power. Not only for regeneration, her magic power was also being consumed in great amount for her breath attack and metamorphosis magic. To put it bluntly, her situation was gradually getting worse.

Freed also understood that, even now when a hundred of his monsters had been stolen by the black whip of slavery, his composed expression didn’t crumble.

Tio was aiming to overturn the situation by turning the monsters into black dragon before she became unable to endure anymore, that was what Freed was thinking, so now that he was looking at Tio’s situation where it became difficult for her to heal, on top of that the difference in battle strength where his monsters were still five times the number of the black dragon, he became convinced of his victory.

Looking from his slightly distorted lips, perhaps he was already planning to make sport of Tio until she died. Perhaps in his heart, he was already laughing, looking at the fool who was meaninglessly resisting in desperation for a result that was already obvious to see.

While vaguely guessing that thinking in Freed’s heart, Tio was flipping over at midair even now to evade the aurora breath, she swung her whip in a world where up and down was reversed to hold back Freed, at the same time she counterattacked at the Uranus with super thin breath attack from the tip of her gun finger that made a gun shape.

While confirming that her attacks were easily repelled by a barrier of space magic and the white divine dragon’s claw, Tio grumbled in her heart.

(Muu, I compressed that attack considerably already. That damned white dragon. To flick away mine breath attack entirely like that. Is that the revenge for previously? The subordinate monster is just like the master. It is making a disgusting grin.)

A fierce barrage of attack approached Tio. Light bullets and silver feathers, plus great number of magic.

Tio activated the space ripping magic enchanted in her whip and tore apart several of those attacks with the meandering movement of the whip that looked like a snake, she weaved through the gap that was created in the barrage and passed through. But, as expected she was unable to perfectly evade, the attack that impacted the edge of her body shaved off her dragon scales.

And then, an aurora breath attacked Tio at that timing. GOU-! It blew away the atmosphere while approaching Tio, annihilating a part of Tio’s right shoulder and one of the dragon wings growing on her back.

“Kuuuuu-, that’s effectiveee”

While leaking out voice unconsciously from the pain that she already didn’t remember how many times it had been, Tio used a certain power and immediately used regeneration magic to regenerate her dragon wing before she rebuilt her posture from her midair tailspin.

However, what was regenerated was only her dragon wing while her shoulder blade was still bleeding mostly unhealed. Wondering whether Tio’s regeneration magic had finally become unusable, Freed’s faint grin became even deeper.

In contrast, Tio was sighing while pondering in her mind.

(Good grief, if Goshujin-sama is the one who did this to me then I would hath reached one or two climaxes already. Even without the side effect from the ability’s activation, that kind of attack only granted me pain, and above all, it feels disgusting.)

Surely even Freed who was planning to torment Tio until death would be troubled without end if that only made Tio happy instead. No, before that he would undoubtedly draw away in revulsion.

(The black dragons art increasing favorably. At this rate it wouldst be possible to overturn the difference in battle force. …However, in the end, will it progress that well…. Above all, to head to Goshujin-sama’s location with mine own strength and then face against the god…as expected, I hath to prepare that ahead then. In that case, I will need some time…)

Tio who squeezed out a conclusion from wracking her brain repeated attacking and evading the attacks while lamenting the inconvenience of her own trump card. Then she suddenly talked to Freed also with the intention of buying time.

“Which reminds me, thou. What happened with thy brethrens? They should have crossed into the Holy Precincts along with thou shouldn’t they?”

Tio who suddenly chatted lightly at him despite her cornered situation made Freed retracted his grin and he narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

Tio made a wry smile at such Freed.

“What’s wrong, as thou can see, I can possibly increase my battle force for more than this. At this rate, it seems I can somehow manage this somehow don’t thou think? So I am just making a little probe here.”

Freed nodded once while grumbling “Fumu” toward Tio who was transparently conveying her true motive.

And then, looking at Tio who was harboring hope that she could possibly overturn the difference in battle force at this rate if the devil race didn’t participate in the fight, Freed was making a pitying expression while opening his mouth.

“Let me say that it is a needless worry if you are feeling apprehension about the possibility of participation of my brethrens. All members of the devil race are sleeping at another domain. After all they need to have the strength that is worthy as the vanguard of the god residing in their body before we arrived in the new world.”

“I see now. However, this made me wondering though. Why art thou following someone like that Ehitorujue? That guy incited war from the human race side. Because of that there were a lot of devil race people who died isn’t that correct? Dost thou not have any ill feeling for that?”

While getting hit by a light bullet once more that caused her dragon scales and blood to be scattered, even so Tio repeated her question calmly.

Freed kept the intensity of his attack without any slackening and returned a sentence.

“Everything is according to god’s will.”

As though it was only obvious, as if that was the truth, Freed said that without any hesitation or sadness on his expression.

Tornado was generated from the four pair of wings of the Uranus which crumbled the balance of Tio. The aurora breath that was fired at her at that timing burned half of Tio’s body. The damage surpassed the reduction effect of ‘Fix It J’ toward the secondary ability of the aurora. Because of that Tio grimaced due to the additional effect that was invading her body while she drained up a new ‘Fix It J’ and used her regeneration magic.

However, she was unable to heal herself completely, her constricted waist and burned skin that were exposed from her torn clothes stayed unhealed. Her sleeve was also stayed torn up from her shoulder blade and her white graceful arm swelled bright red.

Cold sweat was perspiring from her skin as though to express her pain, even so Tio repeated her question.

“Even so won’t thy comrade become unable to rest in peace? If Ehitorujue didn’t summon people of another world here, the Goshujin-sama also wouldn’t arrive here. In that case thou wouldn’t lose several thousand of thy brethrens like in that day. If the people who hath departed, see thou right now…what art they going to think I wonder?”

Hearing those words that sounded like provocation, or even possibly scorn, Freed suddenly stopped his attack. Not only Freed, the attacks from other monsters including Uranus also stopped coming.

Inside the silence that suddenly visited, a severe earthquake thundered from far away. It was surely the sound of Shia rampaging. But, Freed and also Tio didn’t move their gaze there.

Did some kind of change of heart happen in him? Was rage welling up in his heart, or else he wanted to defeat Tio’s impudent argument? Tio didn’t understand what was going on in actuality, but for the time being this situation was something that she would greatly celebrate for. After all for the time being Tio had the need to receive nonlethal pain from the enemy for a while.

“The likes of you, don’t you dare to talk impertinently about our matter.”

“Even if I’m not being impertinent, but I could not find even a single factor in Ehitorujue’s way of doing thing that I can possibly give my approval forth.”

“But, your premise is mistaken. There is no right and wrong in what the god is doing. The intention of the lord is exactly the true path. Therefore, all of my brethrens whose life were scattered, they are all martyr. There is no way they would regret it or anything, surely they will also take pride in what I’m doing.”

Tio sent an exasperated gaze at Freed hearing those words.

“The true path, is it. In the end, thou art merely stop thinking for thyself. That’s a blind faith. To put it in another way thou hath been brainwashed. Since the first place thou were already a religious fanatic, but even so I could see thy pride as a devil race and thy affection toward thy brethrens. But right now thy art completely a controlled puppet.”

“That’s what I called as an impertinence.”

Freed cut off their talk for once, then he sent a pitying gaze at Tio before started talking once more.

“The many wars, the many hardships, all of those were the trials that god handed down to us. That great person was searching, for existence that is worthy to walk together with him. And then, the one who overcame those trials and got recognized by that great person is only our race, that’s all there is to it. The me who was unable to grasp that divine will and instead insulted that great person as a pagan god, that foolishness makes me want to vomit right now. However, that great person forgive this foolish me, and not only he welcomed me in, he even granted me the qualification to be the retainer of god. This depth of god’s mercy…why, are you unable to understand it?”

Freed who began to get into a trance while talking caused Tio to groan “oou” in repulsion inside her heart. Freed talking like this was also because of her provocation, but he was even more unsightly to see than she expected.

And then, the content of his talk also felt in perfect form in a certain meaning. There were truly a lot of places that were fully loaded with double standards she could throw retort at. After listening this far, perhaps it could even be said that it felt refreshing instead.

“Just like thou said, in the first place it has become like this because I am someone impertinent. Leaving that aside, ‘qualification to become retainer’ thou said? Doest that referred to that transformation to an apostle?”

“Correct. First my lord had elevated me to an apostle’s rank. And then, eventually I will climb to the rank as retainer god, similar like Aruvheit-sama. It’s truly something awe-inspiring, but now that Aruvheit-sama has died, I am serving as my lord’s immediate follower. In that case, my race will become the follower of me who is the follower of god. That is to say they will become the people chosen by the true god――a divine race.”

Perhaps feeling the extraordinarily great honor that he received, or else, perhaps he was imagining how his own race would rule over the people at the new land as the race of god, whatever the reason Freed’s expression was turning into something that might be prohibited to be broadcasted to public while he kept talking even to the topic that he wasn’t asked for.

But, at that time, space undulated as though to obstruct the talk of Freed. No, it was a generation of immense power to the degree that it made them thought that space was undulating.

When they spontaneously directed their gaze at the direction of the power, there a faint blue magic power was pulsing like heartbeat while winding up. And then, several of the platinum apostles leaped forward yet they then got blown away instead, they could see such spectacle at the far away.

“Impossible…the apostles are being pushed back? Absurd-. The first until the fifth apostles had been strengthened by my lord’s power to a great degree already-!”

Freed’s expression changed from a look of ecstasy into a look of shock as though he had been showered with ice water.

That was just how hard it was to believe seeing the scene of someone who regardless of battling five platinum apostles at the same time, far from matching the apostles, this person was even gradually beginning to overpower them.

But, for Tio who believed in Shia from the start, she replied back with an extremely composed tone.

“What art thou feeling surprised for. Among all of us, with the exception of Goshujin-sama, the one who is the most monstrous is Shia just so thou know. That person is without any foundation like being a vampire, dragon race, or apostle’s body, even if we look back at her ancestor, she is only a demi-human which mean she also doesn’t hath talent in magic. To say further, something like a rabbit race is a race that is the most cowardly in the world. That maiden overturns all that with just her feeling. The likes of the soldiers of the self-proclaimed god who hath no ability other than soaking in joy from belittling other people at best, there art no way they would be able to rival her with just some strengthening don’t thou think?”

Tio talked as though it was the truth of this world.

Freed could only leak out a murmur of “…impossible” to Tio’s words.

And then, he shook his head as though to shake off something, and then he glared at Tio with a gaze that contained coldness.

“I have to go to support the apostles. Tormenting you to death end right now. You can quickly meet your end.”

“Don’t say that. The main event will be from here on just so thou know.”

“Nonsense. Your scheme won’t result in anything. The difference in battle force is impossible to overturn. You are already wounded all over. Further, just I and Uranus are enough to be your opponent.”

Freed quietly raised his hand. It was as though he was saying that if that hand got swung down then the scythe of the god of death would be swung down on Tio’s neck. Answering its master’s will, the white divine dragon roared and its eyes glinted with killing intent.

The fact was that there was five times difference in their battle force. There were still a thousand of Freed’s monsters remaining against the two hundred black dragons.

But,

“I don’t remember saying these art all of my black dragons though?”

Tio smiled fearlessly.

And then, she resounded the command to revolt simultaneously.

“Awaken! Reborn! O children of dragon king――’Dragon King’s Corpse Life Army’!”

Immediately the land squirmed.

No, more accurately the monsters who fell on the ground from the mortal combat unfolding at the sky――that great number of husks were moving like sludge.

At the ground right below where nearly a thousand monsters were lying down, their husks were dyed reddish black and the scenery became a painting from hell. There the first cry of newly born life rose, the husks’ shape was gradually firming up, and then the long necks there that were rising up looked like the lid of hell that was sliding open.

One body, and then one more body, those things that were born from the heaps of bodies and streams of blood unfolded open their wings vigorously and flapped, those large bodies were floating up in order to hasten to join at their king’s location.

“What, is that…”

Freed’s movement spontaneously stopped, his eyes narrowed while looking down at below while he whispered. Tio then answered that whisper.

“What is necessary for black dragon transformation is not only this black whip of slavery. How much dragon scale and blood doth thou think I hath scattered in this battlefield?”

“What? Don’t tell me, you used a part of yourself as the medium?”

“Fufufu, now, this is the celebration of thy birth! Raise the grand roar fitting for a dragon!”

“――”

It was Tio’s――the dragon king’s command.

The black dragons who were just born, and the black dragons who were dancing in the sky simultaneously answered that command. Breath attacks in black color of Tio’s magic power light were fired in countless number.

Skewering flashes pierced the sky from the ground. Flashes were rushing horizontally from back and front, left and right. The black flashes that were fired almost at the same time formed a cage of heat ray that put the monsters of Freed at the center with no place to escape.

The shriek of death agony rained down from the sky.

Soul and metamorphosis composite magic ‘Dragon King’s Corpse Life Army’――this magic was using Tio’s own blood and scale as the medium, where the soul magic Dragon Soul Reproduction and metamorphosis magic Sixth Heaven’s Demon Transformation were applied on the monsters’ corpse to create black dragons.

By offering flesh and blood, making use of corpse, it created a new army――in addition, the created dragons were all black dragon with an evil and atrocious appearance that could be mistaken as an evil dragon. It could be said as a worthy deed for a woman who looked up at a man who was titled as demon king that she called as goshujin-sama…perhaps.

Normally someone who listened to detail of this magic would feel one or two repugnances, but Hajime who listened to the report about this magic instead said “To be able to make use of the killed opponent, that’s really ecological. What a convenient magic huh” and looked a little envious. As expected from the man who was called as demon king or demon god. And then, Tio who blushed and fidgeted around shyly but happily after getting praised like that could also be said as having enough quality to be a female general of the demon king.

“How’s that? Thy monsters hath been reduced considerably with this don’t thou see?”

The corpse life army that was created was roughly consisting of four hundred dragons. Combined with the armed black dragons and monsters that were turned into black dragons using the black whip of slavery, then the total number of the army could reach six hundred dragons.

And then, with the simultaneous breath attacks just now, the monsters of Freed that got slain were roughly three hundred monsters. If added with the numbers of monsters who got heavily injured and became unable to fight satisfactorily then the number of the victim would jump to five hundred. The remaining monsters in good health and all their limbs intact were more or less five hundred.

In other words, the condition had been overturned.

Although Tio’s appearance was wounded all over, but her figure who was standing imposingly in midair with black dragons obeying her in the background was truly worthy to be called a dragon king.

As for Freed, he took a slow glare at the battlefield, and then he suddenly lifted the corner of his lips.

It was as though he was looking at the struggle of a bug that had all of its wings already plucked out, as if he was laughing mockingly at a person who ran desperately at non-existence hope, that smile was awfully warped, expressing his ugly emotion.

Freed’s mouth opened. His eyes were muddy like dark sludge in his expectation to trample the other party’s hope. And then with a voice that was filled to the brim with scorn and ecstasy,

“I don’t remember saying these are all of my monsters though?”

Right after that, a pillar of light rose up from the obelisk.

Furthermore, it didn’t seem to come only from the obelisk in front of Tio’s eyes, the same white light was also rising to the sky one after another from the islands other than the floating islands where Tio and Freed were at. That implied that there were the same obelisks at the surrounding floating islands, this scene was enough to stir up unpleasant premonition in Tio’s heart.

“…Hmmm. As expected, it won’t go well that easily. If I hath to say in Goshujin-sama’s style, then this must be a ‘template’.” (TN: I guess what she mean by template here is something like cliché or trope I guess.)

Tio was reflexively making a bitter look while whispering that, while at her field of vision the worst situation was coming into view.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

It was a fierce war cry that made the whole space rumbled.

Above and below, back and front, left and right, like a wriggling wall, everywhere she looked at there were monsters, monsters, monsters, a swarm of monsters.

Not only at the floating island where she was at right now, all the islands floating at the surrounding were also wholly covered with swarms of monsters.

Just how many their number could possibly be? Several thousand, several tens of thousands, the monsters’ number wasn’t at that level anymore. Even hundreds of thousands weren’t enough at all to express their total number. Most likely the monsters here were in the millions.

“Although they are a level inferior compared to the previous monsters, I think their number has compensated for that for more than enough, don’t you think so? Now then, Tio Claus, the sport is now over. Prepare to be trampled down.”

Right after that, Freed swung down his arm.

That was the signal for the trampling.

The monsters in a great amount of numbers simultaneously rushed at the black dragons.

(-, no matter what this number art just too many. As for Shia…looked like she is victorious, but as expected she cannot immediately move. If she is attacked right now she wouldn’t last even for a bit. Thinking about the future, I wish the time could pass a little bit more yet…it can’t be helped! A woman is all about guts!)

Although the armed dragons were somehow fighting hard, yet the black dragons other than them were in the middle of raising scream of death agony right now. Tio made her decision.

Until this point of time, she was thinking about after this battle, she was taking safety margin as much as possible while continuing to save her power so she would be able to support Hajime later with the greatest strength possible that she could muster but…now she flung off that thinking to the wind.

This method was a dangerous method where she could possibly die instantly is she mistook even a step.

However, she could only do that in order to activate it instantly! For the sake of her friend, and then, for the sake of her beloved master, she didn’t hesitate!

“Cooome on, o white dragon! That indomitable that still hath not hit me properly, now I’ll receive it head on without evading, so put thy spirit and fire it at me!”

While saying that provocative sentence, Tio swung around her whip like a tornado around her and cut apart the swarming monsters while her other hand was firing her compressed breath attack.

The black compressed breath that was specialized for piercing became a streak of light and pierced the monsters on its line of fire and arrived at its target the white divine dragon.

Uranus seemed to hear Tio’s provocation, it dispersed the approaching breath merely with its roar while its eyes were sparkling with killing intent as though to say “Then take this if you can”, it then fired an extra-large aurora.

DOU! A bombardment that looked like the main cannon of a space battleship firing that came out in science fiction movie approached in a straight line at Tio while turning the allied monsters into dust just from its aftershock.

Tio drained up in one breath the ‘Cheatmate Dr’ that she wasted no time to take out, she then threw away the container while performing partial dragonification.

Both her arms swelled up and turned into dragon arms covered in dragon scale and sharp claws elongating out. Furthermore, her whole body became covered with jet black dragon scales leaving no spot exposed, she crossed her arms and took a defensive posture to protect her vital spots.

Freed saw her doing that and guessed that Tio was seriously not going to evade to receive the attack. He made a sneer thinking that she had resigned herself already. That was only natural he guessed. There was no way she could come out safely after getting hit by the aurora. He could see no merit in doing that, that was why it was only natural for him to think that she was now accepting her death graciously.

But, just before the aurora hit, he saw the powerful and resolute gaze of Tio that was visible from the gap between her crossed arms, and he got caught in a violently bad premonition.

He was about to call at Uranus to stop the dragon’s attack unconsciously, but the aurora had already got fired by then. It was impossible for him to make it in time, and right then,

ZUDOOOOOOOO-!!

Tio’s figure was swallowed into the aurora along with a thunderous sound and she vanished from sight.

A track of light divided the sky horizontally.

Inside that light of devastation,

“――—!!!”

Tio desperately endured while raising a wordless scream.

The prided dragon scales that dragon race boasted as the hardest were annihilated in succession. While feeling aware of the unpleasant sensation running through both her blocking arms, an abnormal storm of agony that assaulted her whole body made her gritted her teeth with a force that might break her teeth.

It was an intense pain that might make her mad.

Tio understood that her body was being annihilated from the edge. She hallucinated the shadow of death slithering up on her body. This wasn’t like the sweet pain that Hajime granted her, not even for a bit. She was undoubtedly able to listen to the scream that was raised by her dying body.

The damage that had already far surpassed the scope that could be described made her consciousness almost got blown away to the beyond. While she was barely taking hold of her consciousness, Tio endured it through to the end with her spirit, and then…

(…I can do this-)

Conviction.

At the same time, she took out the variable large shield Aedeon from ‘Treasure Warehouse II’ in front of her eyes, it blocked the aurora just for an instant. The white breath of devastation was easily annihilating the shield that was just a pile of metallic mass without any ‘Vajra’ or ‘Transmutation’ or even magic power for regeneration poured into it, but even so the quality shield of Hajime’s made definitely protected Tio’s body from ruin during a few seconds.

Just that much was more than enough. With a flap, Tio leaped out from the torrent of aurora. And then, she was falling to the ground while white smoke was rising from her body and she impacted on the ground with a thunderous sound.

The ground was gouged from the impact and dust cloud rose up grandly.

“Eh, Tio, san?”

Shia’s words felt caught up was surely not only because of her exhausted body.

Shia was obviously looking shocked from seeing the disastrous appearance of Tio.

Tio replied with a bright voice in order to reassure Shia.

“Yes. This is, every, one’s, belo, ved, pervert, Tio, san he…gafuh…gehah”

“No no no, this is not the time for saying humor with a body that almost died like that! There is no person or anything that like Tio-san when you are in your pervert mode! All the mankind would only draw away in revulsion against such pervert desu! Wait not that, healing, quickly healing!”

“No, person, likes me…the whole mankind, will draw away…how, cruel. Gofuuu, haa haa.”

While taking out magical medicine of healing from her own ‘Treasure Warehouse II’ all flustered, Shia was making a sharply piercing retort with a voice that was oozing with unease. Even while enduring a tremendous pain, Tio’s tone was changing from feeling a bit of pleasure and she was going ‘haa haa’ in a different meaning. As expected, the pain given to her from her comrade felt sweet.

Shia was crawling toward Tio who was lying down spread-eagled in a tattered state, magical medicine in hand. But, before Shia could reach Tio, a silver feather flew in high speed and disintegrated the medicine container at Shia’s hand.

Shia came to her sense and when she looked at the direction from where the feather was flying, there was Freed riding above Uranus there glaring at Shia without hiding the scorn in his expression.

When Shia looked above, there was a swarm of monsters there in which the expression of like the number of stars matched it perfectly. Her surrounding was also completely buried in monsters, she couldn’t see the edge of the island at all. It was as though the ground was covered by undulating dark clouds.

Shia and Tio were surrounded completely in a hemisphere shape.

Because Shia had acted recklessly in her battle with the apostles, she was in a state where she couldn’t immediately fight, as for Tio it should be rather left unsaid. She was heavily wounded to the degree that it was mysterious that she was still alive.

In other words, this is a situation of checkmate from all point of view.

“A power that could drive away the strengthened apostles of god is something to be feared…but it appeared you have completely used up your strength. It’s already over for Tio Claus too. This is the end of the path of the fools who went against god. Obediently receive this judgment.”

Shia directed a chilly gaze at Freed who haughtily proclaimed such. And then, when her mouth opened to talk back,

‘Fuh, fuha, fuhahahahahah, gehah, kafu-, hahaha-”

Shia swallowed her words hearing Tio’s laugh.

“…Have you lost even your mind? That’s understandable. After all you should be tormented by unimaginable tremendous pain even now.”

“No, no. Nothing, wrong, with mine sanity. What art funny, is, thy humor. Fufu.”

Tio ghastly distorted her blood soaked face while directing a sharp gaze that was unthinkable coming from that wound-riddled body. Pierced by those golden eyes with slitted pupils that were increasing in radiance, Freed unconsciously took a step back.

The bad promotion that he felt before Tio got directly hit by the aurora swelled up further, a chill was circling in his whole body as though something unknown was crawling around.

But, he ignored the chill using his fury toward himself who was pressured by these two who were already at the death’s door no matter he saw it, and he kept up with his haughty attitude.

“Hmph. What can you do this late with that kind of state? Do you think you can manage something somehow with the likes of the black dragons? Or else, don’t tell me, are you thinking that your master would return here so conveniently?”

“Perish, the thought. Just that, the one, ending this, is me.”

Tio’s body was shining with black colored magic power light. Even though she was supposedly unable to move, her body was making creaking sound while she scolded her trembling legs to stand up. Without paying any mind to the blood that was dripping down, only her lips were showing a deepening fierce smile.

Freed put himself on guard.

He tried to deal the finishing blow judging that there was no need for any question. In concert with that, Uranus also opened its mouth wide. Light of annihilation was converging inside it.

And then, in that moment just before the last flash was going to be fired,

DOKUN—!!

Pulsing sound resounded in the space.

Not only that, a tremendous pressure that was even accompanied by physical impact rushed through the dome-shaped space, causing Freed and Uranus to slightly staggered. There were even monsters in the surrounding who fainted.

The center of that pressure was without doubt Tio.

Despite being just a step away from death, she was emitting an impossible pressure.

DOKUN—!!

Pulsing was spreading at the whole space once more.

The abnormal pressure was heightening second by second. It even caused a hallucination as though their heart was being grabbed tightly.

DOKUN—!!

The pulsation spread for the third time.

Whether one wanted it or not, they were made to understand this instinctually. That it was an existence that one must not lay their hands on.

What they felt was fear.

What was hard to believe, what he didn’t want to believe, was that this swelling pulsation of power easily surpassed the white divine dragon that could be said as the culmination of Freed’s effort.

(I, impossible. Just what in the world, something, something is happening-. Is she not actually dying? Is she bluffing? Something…something like this, it’s as if, as if this is the same with that monster-)

With his body stiffening unable to be aware of his trembling arms and legs, Freed spouted out such words that were filled with confusion and agitation in his heart. But then he came back to his senses all of sudden when he noticed Tio who had stood up completely, she had pulled Shia close to her and gazed at Freed with narrowed eyes.

If he had the free time to be paralyzed, if he had the time to lament how unbelievable this was, then he should attack them with no question asked instead. Even with the situation turning bizarre like this, it didn’t change that Tio and Shia were in exhaustion, it would be enough if he attacked simultaneously along with the surrounding monsters. Freed was feeling anger at his own stupidity after this late like that.

With that fury, Freed who was scolding himself raised up his arm.

“Tsk, attack-! Don’t let them do anything-! Kill them right now-!!!”

A command that sounded like a shriek.

All the terrified monsters couldn’t immediately react. Be that as it may, the monsters that were in the number that was far more than enough to destroy just two people obeyed that command, including the Uranus they let out their killing intent.

There, a voice resounded.

The voice that possessed a solemn echo sounded like it was descending from the sky despite how the speaker was right there in front of them.

“Observe closely. This is the zenith that I, the dragon race Tio Claus had arrived at.”

Right after that, a storm of killing intent was released.

At the center of that was naturally the aurora breath of Uranus.

But, all those attacks couldn’t hope to wound Shia and Tio.

If the reason was asked, it was because just before the attacks were launched, an extremely large flash surged and pierced the sky with Tio as the center.

Black――or rather the dark light that was like the abyss was rising straight to the sky, the monsters standing on its way were all blown away.

Although attacks were rushing at that flash’s bottom, the place where Tio and Shia were at, the dark light pillar rising to the sky while rumbling the space didn’t shake even a bit.

Far from that, it increased in radiance even further while still piercing the sky, in addition black ripple was spreading in the sky.

“What is, what is happening-!”

Freed yelled with even his confusion exposed.

Even while he was doing that, the dark ripple was spreading through the sky――

At the next moment, a flame blast licked all over the sky.

The radiant great fire was spreading crawlingly and in the blink of eye the sky was dyed red. What was manifested wasn’t sea of clouds but a sea of flame. The red sea that was blazing roaringly couldn’t be thought as the scenery of this world by any means.

Further in that flame sea of the sky, lightning surged.

Divine rumbling sound roared, not losing to the sound of the air bursting. The raining down thunders were randomly, carelessly, mercilessly, shooting out the monsters and exterminated them like scattering flies.

At that time, in the sea of flame and lightning, something undulated.

A black and shining twisting large body. The whole of that body couldn’t be seen yet, it was unclear just how big it was, a part of its body was jutting out from the sea of flame and thunder before sinking in again. It was just like how the divine beast leviathan was lurking in the sea, however, the aberrant pressure pouring down on the ground was far mightier.

“What, wha-what, is that…”

Freed was staring at the sky in a daze while whispering. All the monsters including the white divine dragon were also at the same state. All the monsters were similarly kept staring at the red sky in a daze.

There was no way that whisper would be answered. But, just when they were thinking like that, in that timing the thing swimming in the sea of lightning and flame displayed the whole of its true form.

Along with a tremendous roar.

GOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!

The sky fell.

The enormously tremendous roar that made the listener hallucinate that rained down from the sky in super wide range.

Due to that, the monsters who had difficulty in their defensive power were easily pulverized, while a lot of other monsters had their consciousness reaped and they fell on the ground.

Amidst that, what showed its figure was a gigantic dragon covered in dragon scale that shined black with its body clad in flame and lightning. It wasn’t a western dragon that imitated a lizard. It was an eastern dragon with a long meandering body like a snake. The whole length of its body might be more than a hundred meter.

Black dragon――no, if the white dragon was called as a white divine dragon, then the true form of this dragon that should be called as a black divine dragon, went without saying, it was the form of that person Tio Claus.

Soul and metamorphosis composite magic ‘Dragon God Manifestation’――using soul magic ‘Magic Clad Alignment’ that aligned the soul with magic so that the body could wear the magic itself with the highest class flame magic ‘World Destroyer Flame Wave’ and the highest class wind magic ‘Sky Miracle’, and then adding to those the metamorphosis magic ‘Sixth Heaven’s Demon Transformation’, secret medicine to strengthen the body, sublimation magic, and then, the ‘Pain Conversion II’ that was the derivative skill of characteristic magic ‘Dragonification’, only after using all of those at the same time this ultimate skill of Tio could be activated.

Tio was reducing the side effect of the aurora that was too strong while doing damage control. Even while doing that she was piling up the necessary strength for dragon god transformation using ‘Pain Conversion II’ by continuously bearing wounds.

She had received that much damage while healing herself to the degree that she wouldn’t die, even so, if at the very end she didn’t bear that heavy wound that brought her to the verge of death, she wouldn’t be able to pile up the strength for the dragon god transformation. In addition, she was unable to stock up energy by hurting herself, on top of that the damage couldn’t be changed into pleasure in the middle of the conversion, and then there was even the side effect of her sense of pain getting magnified. If someone with average mental strength attempted this, they would be driven mad assuredly before they could activate the dragon god transformation.

Originally Tio planned to take care of Freed with only her black dragons, and then she would rush toward Hajime’s position with a strength that was still heightened to maximum before unveiling this technique in the battle against Ehito but…

In the present situation where she forced herself to activate this technique, she might only have a minute to maintain this form. And then, after her dragon god transformation was released, she would surely become the same like Shia where she would be in a state where she couldn’t fight.

Therefore

(I’ll finish everything in this one minute!)

The golden eyes of Tio who accomplished dragon god transformation glared fiercely at the monsters below.

The monsters immediately drew back in fear. Only one, the white divine dragon who wasn’t drawing back, but in its eyes there was a fear and awe that couldn’t be hidden.

Tio’s roar thundered.

Right after that, many gigantic lightning surged from the sea of flame and lightning and mercilessly cooked the monsters swarm. If this scale was measured using the earth measurement then the scale could far surpass a level F5 storm. The monsters who tried to escape were all rolled up and embraced into blazing arms, they were annihilated there leaving not even dust behind.

“Impossible-, impossible-, impossible-, impossible-, impossible-, impossible-, impossible-, impossible-, impossible-! This, something like this is impossible-,! There is no way this is possible-!”

The thunders raining down from the sky was like a divine punishment. The tornado connecting the land and sky and swallowed everything into ruin was like the fire of hell.

Seeing that scene that should be called as the manifestation of heaven’s might, Freed felt like the divinity of the god that he held faith to was denied along with his faith, he was repeating words that denied reality in half-madness.

And then, he gave an order to the divine white dragon that was his best masterpiece.

“Deny that, Uranus! That, that existence, DENYYYYYY IIIIIIIIITTT!!”

GuUU, RUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—!!

Uranus answered its master’s command.

It opened its jaw and fired the strongest aurora it could as though to blow away his fear altogether, as though to grant its master’s wish.

However, that attack which was fired with its whole body and soul――

GOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—!!

The flash of darkness clad in sparks that was fired from the jaw of the divine black dragon Tio collided against the aurora midair. A beat later, the aurora was easily pushed back and the flash of darkness swallowed Uranus without stopping.

There wasn’t even a shriek of death agony.

The flash of black that erased even sound merely tore up the sky, gouged the ground, and without slowing down it annihilated a part of the floating island before vanishing at the space below.

No, the white divine dragon wasn’t completely annihilated.

Its lower body was blown away, its body that consisted mostly only of chest and head fell on the ground with a bam. Its dignity as a divine dragon had already gone without even a fragment remaining. Light was quietly falling off from its eyes, reducing the flesh into a mere husk.

“U, ra…nus?”

Freed stared at the white divine dragon with powerless voice.

That figure that didn’t respond even when he called made an indescribable emotion to well up in his heart.

The processing of information in his brain couldn’t catch up with what was happening.

Even though he was floating in midair, it felt like his feet was swaying unstably.

When Freed noticed, he was screaming.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-!!”

Giving only a glance at the millions of monsters who were exterminated with preposterous momentum, Freed glared straight at Tio and flapped his silver wings. In those eyes things like monsters or anything else weren’t reflected anymore, there was only flame of fury and hatred blazing there.

He fired silver flash with all his strength. He fired shockwave of space magic and tore apart the space.

But, all of those were easily dispersed just with Tio’s roar.

He couldn’t reach.

He couldn’t reach toward Tio who had climbed to far away height.

That was why,

“Gahah!?”

The shockwave of the roar that Tio raised――Freed was driven away just from the after wave from that.

Freed whose whole body was struck hard and stiffened as though he was paralyzed was then assaulted by falling thunder. KA-! The sky flashed and then at the next instant, a tremendous impact pierced his body, Freed was falling to the ground while white smoke was raising from his body.

His body struck the ground, and then after he bounced several times on the surface, he finally stopped and laid down spread-eagled.

In the eyes of Freed that were looking above at the sky, the scene where the monsters in the number that covered the whole space to the brim had been reduced to a degree where they could be counted by a glance was reflected. Whether he wanted it or not, he was made to understand that this was the end.

His violent emotions already disappeared, right now for some reason only emptiness was smoldering in him.

What is someone like me who was welcomed by god doing, giving up like this. I should resolve myself instead to walk the path of martyrdom to take the enemy together with me into death until the very end.

Even when he tried to persuade himself like that, as expected, his body didn’t even twitch. His body was unable to move because of the damage…not. The will power to move his body, just wasn’t welling up in his heart.

“I…”

At that time when Freed was about to whisper something, a black light fell from the sky toward him.

His awfully calm mind judged that it was a finishing blow for him. With this, it was the end for him.

But, at that moment, a shadow passed over the firing line of the black light.

KURYAAAAAAAAAAAAAA–!!

“Wha-!?”

Something roared and cut into the firing line, and with its body that something became Freed’s shield, it was…

“Uranus-!!”

Yes, it was the white divine dragon that should have already expired.

With its body that now consisted only of its upper body, Uranus somehow moved and leaped in front of the dark flash.

The white divine dragon whose body was in tatters from the edge slightly turned at Freed who was opening his eyes in shock while narrowing its eyes quietly.

He couldn’t hear any words even if he used metamorphosis magic.

Nevertheless, at that time, Freed was able to clearly understand what the white divine dragon was conveying to him.

Namely,

“Run away, huh…”

While making aurora to gush out from its remaining broken body, unbelievably Uranus was holding back Tio’s flash――that will, it was the will to not let its master Freed to die.

At that moment, a torrent of memory rushed Freed.

He recalled. At the time when he was nothing more but a mere devil race, why at that time he was attempting to challenge a great labyrinth.

(…I was merely, wishing to make a safe country, where nothing could threaten my brethrens. I pursued power for the sake of that. My brethrens were more important than anything. I thought that if it was for their sake then I could do anything. Yet despite so…’It can’t be helped because it’s the will of god’, huh…)

The white divine dragon was pressuring on him.

It was directing a criticizing gaze toward its master that wasn’t trying to run.

But, toward that white divine dragon, Freed only shook his head quietly and made a troubled smile.

He challenged a great labyrinth with mad desperation, actually he even almost died many times before obtaining the metamorphosis magic. And then with that magic this dragon monster was the first monster that he subdued. Since then this dragon had been his partner for all this time.

Even though it should have been dead for sure, yet it crossed over logic and rushed to him when he was in danger. He felt a definite bond in that act. Even though he himself had already forgotten even such an important thing before he knew it, his partner didn’t forget that even now when it was already dead.

Freed’s body was worn-out, he was already unable to move satisfactorily.

Then,

“…Sorry. Go together with me, partner.”

――Kurya

That voice sounded as though it was saying “Can’t be helped huh”.

At the next moment, the dark flash swallowed everything like a divine punishment――

After that, there was nothing left behind.

(If thou two weren’t charmed by that god…thou would be a good pair of master and servant, no, a good partners with certainty. But, thou were unable to resist or persist, art because of thy weakness in the end. Thou could make no excuse. Well, at the very least, this Tio Claus will remember the conclusion of the two of thou.)

Tio turned a solemn gaze fitting for a dragon god to the spot where Freed and Uranus were at.

That way of ending that Freed and Uranus showed at the very end, where they smiled wryly at each other holding a saturation of various emotions, for Tio it was something that for some reason she didn’t want to cast away as something trivial.

But, at that time, Shia’s voice resounded.

{Ti, Tio-saaaan. Won’t the time come any time nowww?}

Shia’s voice that reached Tio through telepathy came from inside the body of Tio that transformed into dragon god. So that she wouldn’t get dragged in, Tio sheltered Shia inside her body where it was the safest place. It was essentially the same like when she stored away her equipment when she turned into a dragon. Her body was longer than a hundred meters anyway so there was no problem for her to shelter Shia inside there.

{Yes. It’s frustrating but, mine limit will come soon. Let’s annihilate them all in one go!}

The time limit of the dragon god transformation.

Along with a terrific roar, a flash that dyed the world black rushed through the space. Thunders were becoming fiercer and fiercer and gigantic tornados of flame trampled the monsters to ashes.

And then,

{Kuu, thi, this is the limit.}

At the same time with Tio’s pained voice, the sea of flame and thunder covering the sky dispersed and the tornado became undone gently. There was almost no monster that could be seen. Even if there were monsters that survived they would be wounded all over or ran away at full speed already fearing Tio’s majestic appearance.

Right after that, the body of the black divine dragon went KAT! as though light exploded, then that large body vanished like a lie and Shia and Tio appeared at the midair.

As only natural, they lost against gravity and fell.

“Wait, Tio-saaan! This is midair desuu!”

“Ah, oops. I hath no spare energy. Shia, give me help.”

“Are you stupid-. Even I don’t have any spare energy anymore!”

They looked like they still had the composure to complain at each other, but in actuality they couldn’t even use ‘Air Force’ or body strengthening, far from that they didn’t even have magic power remaining to activate ‘Treasure Warehouse II’, so this wasn’t quite a laughing matter for them.

“Hiiiii! Even though we have won with great pain, yet we are going to die like this in the end, I don’t wanna desuu!”

“I, it’s fine! Black dragooonnn, heeelp uuussss”

Tio called the black dragons. Shia felt relieved noticing that they still had this method.

However, the voice of the black dragons that responded to Tio’s call sounded extremely far.

“Aa, that’s right. Because it was dangerous I made them to evacuate quite far. Perhaps they won’t make it in time…”

“Noooooooooo!! Hajime-saaaaan!!”

Shia started crying. While Tio was plainly flustered.

But, at that time, a white shadow rushed toward the two in super speed like a streak of flash.

And then, the arms of the two were firmly caught by rabbit ears, the catcher then kicked on the air and reduced its speed.

That was,

“Inaba!?”

“Is it Inaba!?”

“Kyuu!”

Yes, it was the kick rabbit Inaba-san.

Inaba was kicking on the air while gradually lowering their altitude, he then safely lowered Shia and Tio on the ground.

“Thou saved us. My gratitude to thou, Inaba.”

“Inaba, thank you very much. But, why are you here…”

“Kyukyuu! Kyuu?”

Inaba brushed off his rabbit ear with a swish as though to say don’t mind it. And then in exchange for answering Shia’s question, Inaba stiffened his ear at a certain direction.

When they looked there, there were the figures of Shizuku and others at far away waving their hands energetically at them while coming to their spot riding their skyboard.

Shizuku and others who closed the distance in the blink of eye landed down beside Shia and Tio.

“I’m glad that the two of you are safe. Looks like it was dangerous just now isn’t it.”

“I wondered what was going on when Inaba-san leaped forward, but really it’s great that the two of you are safe.”

“Ou, looks like you two got really messed up huh.”

“Haha…it was like looking at a myth happening just now. …Really, I’m glad that Shizuku and others stopped me…”

Shizuku and Suzu approached Shia and TIo who was lying down dead tired and made them drank magic medicine and put healing magic on them. Ryutaro was looking around at some of the floating islands that looked like they were going to crumble anytime with an astonished expression. Kouki was cursing “Are you idiot huh!?” and punching with his all the him in the past who acted hostilely at Shia and others while offering thought of gratitude at Shizuku and others once more.

“Shizuku-san and others too, you are all safe. Besides, it appeared that the idiot-san also seems to be reflecting. That’s great desu.”

Shia’s words made Kouki groaned “uu”.

“But, as for the other one…no, I doth not say anything. Everyone, thou all has worked hard.”

Tio was looking at Suzu with a bit of consideration, but as for the aforementioned Suzu, she was smiling with a clear gaze like a different person compared to before they parted, so Tio didn’t convey any word of consolation and merely gifted them words of praise. Toward that, Suzu’s smile turned even stronger.

“Nevertheless this is shocking. When we discovered the entrance that connected the spaces and tried to jump into it…”

“Sea of fire, tornado of flame, countless monsters, and then there was even a jumbo dragon exactly like in a myth. I already resigned myself for a bit there. The scenery made me wanted to make a U-turn because we mistook the room.”

Shizuku and Suzu turned their gaze at Tio.

It appeared Shizuku and others arrived at this space just when Tio was doing her dragon god transformation. The first scene that they saw right after crossing the space was an Armageddon…there was no doubt that their eyes at that time were flying out of their eye socket in shock just like in manga picture.

“Well, because that was mine trump card after all. Originally I wished to rush at Goshujin-sama’s side in the state of dragon god transformation but…that was a wish that was too high to achieve. Rather than that, all of thee hath caught up to us really quickly isn’t it? Even though thou hath no compass like us.”

“We weren’t really lost you know? After the clock tower got smashed, it took us a bit of time to search the other city but, when we discovered another entrance and used it, we arrived directly to here.”

“Hmm. As for us, from that ruined city there were several spaces that interposed between us until this space but…perhaps with the destruction of the clock tower, the arrangement of the connected space changed then. After all the compass should have displayed to us the shortest route.”

Possibly this might be the harassment from Ehitorujue. Tio thought about Hajime who went ahead and she sent a bit worried gaze at empty air.

The expression of Shizuku who guessed that Hajime wasn’t here as expected from Tio’s expression turned similarly worried and then she inquired about what happened.

Like that they listened to the rough gist of what happened from Shia and Tio, and then all of them nodded at each other in agreement to chase after Hajime in this case, it was at that time,

GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO —-

The space began to rumble.

Shia and others put up their guard at the surrounding wondering what was going on.

Ahead of the gazes of them, bari-, biki-, the space itself was cracking. It was as though the space was going to crumble.

Right after that, the floating island where Shia and others were at that was already greatly damaged became unable to endure the vibration that attacked the space and large fissures ran through the ground, a beat later, the island crumbled grandly.

In panic, they boarded their skyboard and evacuate to sky.

“Tha, that is…is that by any chance, the surface?”

Suzu was pointing at below while raising her voice.

The floating island was breaking. The space beneath it was wavering, from there they could see a ground at far below. The scenery there where there was a fortress and grass plain was also one that they were familiar with, and then a great number of people were clamoring there in that image.

Perhaps because the space was unstable, that scenery immediately disappeared and returned back to usual. But, the eerie rumbling was still not stopping, the spots of space where there was wavering faintly displayed places that they had visited before and also places they didn’t know before vanishing once more.

“…Surely this is because of Hajime-san desu. Hajime-san is fighting Ehito desu!”

“That’s right. This place art Holy Precincts. Then this place should be the place that is most affected by the god Ehito. For the space to become unstable might mean that this is just how much Ehito art being cornered.”

It was merely a hypothesis.

But, it was a hypothesis that they could believe because if it was Hajime then it was possible.

“Then, we too have to hurry then.”

“Yoosh, let’s get out from this place that might collapse anytime and link up with Nagumo-kun immediately.”

Everyone nodded to Shizuku and Suzu’s words.

And then, they headed toward the obelisk at the center floating island that was still barely floating.

Shia who was still staggering with her shoulder was supported by Shizuku with her shoulder while she touched her hand at the obelisk without hesitation.

“?”

However, nothing happened. When Hajime used his compass, there was no doubt that it was pointing at this obelisk, so there was no mistake that this was the entrance.

Shia touched the obelisk one more time, but as expected nothing happened.

“Why!?”

Shia who became desperate touched again, but no matter how many times she repeated the obelisk wasn’t reacting.

“Perhaps this art related with this unstable space. If I remember correctly, there art also obelisk at the other floating islands correct? Let’s try using those.”

Following Tio’s consideration, they headed toward the other obelisk.

…However, that obelisk was also not reacting.

And, at that time, the space shook once more.

And then, this time the space began to crumble from the edge.

Shizuku who got a bad premonition went toward the boundary where the place was beginning to crumble and threw a rock as a test. Her premonition was spot on. The thrown rock crumbled as though it was disintegrated and vanished without even leaving dust behind.

“A bad, situation is it…”

Tio’s grim voice rang awfully clearly.

“Even if we get swallowed by the crumbling we are going to be safe…something like that would be just too convenient isn’t it.”

“What about the obelisk that we used to enter into this space I wonder?”

Following Suzu’s proposal, they headed toward that place in a hurry. The crumbling was advancing rapidly. They understood that the space was shrinking down as though a cage was getting smaller little by little. Right now, even in this moment the floating islands that were caught by the crumbling were vanishing into dust starting from their edge.

“No way…we cannot even go back.”

Kouki murmured with a sorrowful face.

The obelisk that Kouki and others came out from into this place also didn’t react.

The crumbling was approaching.

They returned to the center floating island in hurry, but the crumbling was accelerating with increasing momentum. It seemed that even another space that they could see from the swaying space also didn’t escape from the crumbling. Even the world of the ruined city was vanishing from its edges.

“Is this…as far as we can go?”

Kouki murmured.

Shizuku and others gritted their teeth hearing those words.

“Hajime-san, Yue-san…”

With a strong gaze, Shia was staring at an empty space as though she was looking far away while calling the name of the two of her beloved.

Finally the crumbling was also starting to erode the center floating island.

They desperately wracked their brain. They wouldn’t stop struggling until the end.

Like that, rather than waiting for death just by sitting around, they would rather bet on the possibility that it was possible to teleport using the crumbling space because of the instability, so they resolved themselves to leap into the crumbling space, it was at that time,

KA-!

Light exploded.

When Shia and others turned their gaze there wondering what happened, there they could see a swaying space that reflected the grassy plain area at the outskirt of Hairihi Kingdom capital, from the other side a single arrow was spreading ripples while piercing space itself, such spectacle flew into their sight.

It was as though an arrow was stabbed from the other side of a mirror, Shia and others reflexively gazed in astonishment at such mysterious spectacle. Then the space distorted like jelly with that arrow as the center, and a hole with size that could be passed by a person was created.

And then, the person who passed through to this side from there was…

“Yahooo! This is eeeeveryone’s beloved, the world’s idol, Miledy Raisen-chan here☆”



 

[Vol 8] Chapter 18 – The Young Girl With Rabbit Ears is Excelling



Circle-warning.gif This chapter is translated by Cobalt
and is rehosted with due permission.

“UryaA!!”

With a cute and brave voice, Shia jumped out.

Body strengthening Level IV ― More precisely, this skill was one level above the magically operated derivation Conversion Efficiency Up III. This skill which could turn magical power into physical strength with a ratio of 1:3 had been evolved into Conversion Efficiency Up IV with sublimation magic, raising the ratio to 1:4.

At the same time,

“Fire!”

Tio issued her command.

GoAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!

Surrounding Shia and Tio were the swarm of monsters. Surrounding the swarm of monsters were the armed black dragons summoned by Tio’s artifact, which simultaneously fired breath.

It was a perfect surprise attack for the monsters who were struck from the rear by a series of breaths.

The poor monsters resembling prisoners locked in iron maidens were mercilessly penetrated and killed by black flashes resembling Tio’s breath attack.

The power was more than enough. It was around the same level as the aurora of the white dragon back in their first encounter. In other words, it was above the power of the reinforced ash dragons.

In fact, the breaths fired from the black dragons who numbered roughly one hundred instantly pulverized over two hundred monsters. That is to say, each breath was able to break through at least two monsters which boasted an unusually high level of defense.

Just where did these ridiculously powerful dragons come from? Freed grumbled as he directed the silver bombardment towards Tio. Even though he personally improved the level of the ash dragons to the level of the former white dragon, even though if received the assistance of god… Just how much effort and training would be required to go against that?

Even if Tio had a high aptitude with metamorphosis magic, if you were to compare her current skill with her skill back in the devil king castle, it was indeed an impossible development. No matter how you put it, her current level could not be reached in only a few days.

(In that case, as expected, the cause for this is the equipment attached to the black dragons. Such a thing as equipping monsters with artifacts… how absurd. That must once again be that guy’s doing. How annoying!)

Freed came to that conclusion and cursed at the white-haired boy who wasn’t here. Seeing his bombardment was repelled by Tio, he issued instructions to the monsters while preparing his next attack. That is, to eliminate the surrounding black dragons.

Following the main order, the large number of faithful subordinate monsters turned around and their new targets shifted from Tio to the black dragons.

Just as Tio planned. It was already bad enough that they had to face the platinum apostles, freed, and the divine white dragon, but if they also had to watch out for the attacks of the crowd of the monsters while fighting the other opponents, it would become unbearable.

‘Numbers against numbers’. She was glad she had anticipated such a situation and had been preparing for it.

These armed dragons were from a species of dragon that inhabited a hidden village, Tio’s hometown ― located on an island that could be reached by heading north on the continent until reaching a mountainous area, making one’s way through the mountains until the seaside, and then navigating through the sea for several hundred kilometers. Originally, their power level was not less than that of monsters on the upper level of the abyss.

With the strengthening obtained using metamorphosis magic, their power became on par with the middle-level monsters. Add to that the artifacts bestowed upon them by Hajime’s sublimation magic, however dirty that was, and their power rivaled that of lower level monsters. Finally, taking cheatmate into account (TN: The food Hajime made for them before the fight), their power could even be said to rival that of monsters in the lowest parts of the abyss.

Incidentally, even though the dragons used to be a different color, the fact that there were only black dragons was because Tio had used metamorphosis magic. The reason being something as stupid as: [The wife of the devil king (TN: refers to Hajime here) should be accompanied by evil dragons. Who says evil means black, right?]. The person herself showed a self-satisfied look.

Freed’s monsters simultaneously attacked the armed black dragons. Their number was still more than ten times more. Specs-wise they were roughly equal. Therefore, it should be expected that the black dragons would be overwhelmed by the enemy’s numbers.

However, that expectation would soon be betrayed in the truest sense.

First, as if to say the skies belong to them, the ash dragons simultaneously unleashed a series of breaths expressing their anger. Countless traces of light shone through the air. Totaling more than three times the numbers of black dragons, the series of breaths looked like a wall to them.

However, against the multitude of attacks which were expected to become direct hits, the black dragons performed evasive maneuvers that looked like barrel-rolls and successfully dodged the series of attacks, a little like someone finding gaps and weaving his way through a crowd.

These moves seemed like the movements of Shia, who knew the safety zones, made just before.

The origin was the helmet the black dragons were wearing.

This helmet covered the entirety of the head, until the tip of the nose, and had a Foresight ability. Unlike Shia’s foresight, this ability could not show a distinct picture of the danger beforehand, but once an attack had been fired, it did have the ability to sense the trajectory of the attack. They took precise evasive action according to this ability.

The black dragons counterattacked with breaths and mowed down the alarmed monsters. A monster with the head of horse which managed to slip through the black light dove towards a black dragon’s chest and swung its strong arm. The fist that was thrown into the part of the armor that covered the black dragon from its lower parts up until its stomach made contact and a dark red wave spread as the monster’s magical power was turned into a shockwave.

However, at that moment, a similar wave was caused by the armor, and the one getting blown away was the monster with the horse head. That was obviously the effect of Impact Conversion. The moment the armor the black dragon wore perceived a shock, it returned it. It was a reactive armor, so to speak.

In addition, a three-headed wolf and a black panther chimera launched an attack on the black dragon, only to be counter-attacked by its claws and tail. The two monsters scrutinized the counter-attack, as if they were mocking its dullness, and quickly dodged it. Or so they thought, but in the next moment, they fell on the ground with their blood splashing out.

Even though they should have certainly dodged it, their bodies had been split into two. The cause for this was the activation of Wind Nail which had been installed on the dragon’s claws and at the edge of its tail.

Though equal specs-wise, comparing the strength only based on numbers was presumptuous. The artifacts equipped could overturn the difference in fighting strength of both sides!

“Fufu, this is the result of my group work with goshujin-sama. Not bad, don’t you think?”

“Uranus! Mow them down!”

Ignoring Tio’s prideful moment, Freed twitched his eyebrows and gave the order to the divine dragon. An enormous torrent of aurora was fired in the direction of Tio.

‘How many times do I have to deal with that?’ Tio thought as she quickly went out the way of the incarnation of death which mowed down everything in its path. At the same time, she made a telepathic communication with the black dragons that stood in the path of the attack to urge them to evade.

The black dragons made a tailspin and performed an emergency escape, but as expected, it was impossible to perfectly evade the maxed-out death beam which made Tio feel her scales were being shredded just from the aftershock, and several black dragons sustained wounds.

Then, without a moment’s delay,

“― Boon of the Dragon King.”

Tio sang to herself.

Then, a black wave spread through Tio. The black dragons having lost their wings and limbs who were tumbling to the ground recovered in the blink of an eye, allowing them to keep flying.

Spirit magic and regeneration magic combined, Boon Of The Dragon King. This magic is a combination of regeneration magic and spirit magic, used to select only the black dragons as the scope of effect.

Just as the name of the magic suggests, the black dragons received healing from their own king. They raised a cry of great joy as they resumed the fight. The dragon king had protected them. No matter how wounded they had been, they showed no fear. Even if they were in a situation where they should instinctively prioritize evasion, they moved forward and swung their claws and bore their fangs at the enemy. As a result, this made the black dragons in superior position again.

And, Tio swung the black whip she was holding in her hand. Even though its length appeared to be five or six meters at most, once it was swung, it expanded to an impossible degree and took an irregular trajectory as it soared through the air. The speed of the tip of the whip was slightly above the speed of sound.

It was a horizontal slash aimed at Freed.

“Tch!”

Freed clicked his tongue, and tried to used the silver wings as a defense. However, the trajectory of the black whip suddenly changed and its tip struck the white divine dragon’s eyeball.

GuluaAAAAAAAAAA

Normally, even if the divine dragon’s eyeball were to receive a direct hit, its aberrantly huge stamina would not allow there to be even a single trace of a wound. But, the moment the tip of the black whip made contact, it followed the surface of the eyeball, creating a gap in space, easily tearing through the eyeball.

That black whip was naturally an artifact made by Hajime, and its name was Black Whip of Slavery. On one part of its design was attached a small Treasure Warehouse. Stored inside was the biggest black whip in existence, three kilometers in length. By pouring magical power, one could freely take more length out or in, effectively changing the size of the whip. At a glance, it was a whip that could stretch infinitely.

Furthermore, countless small pieces of metal were attached along the whip, so if one were to concentrate one’s eyes on the whip, one would see something similar to a cat’s tongue, or possibly the skin of a shark, that would shave off its target.

And, a space magic, Decapitation Silk, was embedded in those metal pieces. By the will of the user, it could cut off the surrounding space.

Although the divine dragon narrowly avoided another strike coming for its other eye, its pride had been damaged. It showed fury at the fact that it had received a wound. In its anger, it started mowing down the battlefield with its aurora.

Countless of its own allies were swallowed in the attack, but it didn’t hit Tio, which only made the divine dragon angrier.

“Overcometh by emotions on the battlefield? How inexperienced.”

Even if it had changed and its power increased, it had a long way to go as far as combat experience is concerned. It seemed the white divine dragon had lost its composure.

In a sense, against the white divine dragon leaving lots of openings in its attacks, Tio, showing the dignity of a senior, swung her black whip of slavery.

However, this time it was aimed at the three-headed wolf that was still staggering from the after effects of the previous aurora.

“GuGaaa!?”

The three-headed wolf let out a surprised voice at the sudden black whip of slavery that twined around its neck and tightened.

“Cometh to life, together with the first cry of birth, ―― Authority of the Dragon King!!”

The voice which carried Tio’s dignity resounded.

At the same time, the three-headed wolf screamed.

“GiiiaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA”

It was a strange scream you would totally never expect from this three-headed wolf.

The cause would be obvious for anyone.

“Wh, what, what are you doing!?”

Freed said in an unintentionally shaken voice.

That couldn’t be helped. After all, the three-headed wolf whose neck had been entangled by the black whip of slavery, underwent a sudden transformation while it was screaming.

In terms of seconds, it took approximately three seconds.

In this short timespan, the three-headed wolf turned into a monster that was covered in black scales. It grew thick, strong limbs and a tail, as well as sharp claws, and hard wings showing radiance ―― It had turned into a dragon.

Authority of the Dragon King, a combined magic made of spirit magic and metamorphosis magic. A spirit magic that took the information of dragon transformation from her own dragon race soul and copied it, Dragon Soul Reproduction, and a metamorphosis magic, Sixth Heaven’s Demon Transformation. This combined magic forced the monster to undergo a transformation into a black dragon.

Normally, no matter how high Tio’s aptitudes were in metamorphosis magic, it should be impossible to turn a monster, controlled by someone else at that, into her own underling in mere seconds.

What made such a thing possible was Black Whip of the Slavery. Its real worth didn’t lie in controlling its elasticity at will, nor in its ability to cut through the surrounding space, but in its ability to act as a device that assisted a compulsory change into a dragon. Using this black whip of slavery as an intermediary, Tio was able to force the usual monsters to turn into black dragons.

She could make the monsters she whipped obey her.

Maybe it could be said It wasn’t something fitting for an extremely ********* pervert, or maybe it could be said it was something too fitting for a pervert’s wildest ends. It couldn’t be helped that Shia and the others looked at Hajime in disbelief in lots of ways when he handed the black whip to Tio.

While Freed was shocked at the fact that one of his underlings had been snatched away, two more of his monsters were again changed into black dragons.

“As if I’m going to let you do anymore than that.”

A magical attack like surging wave was fired by Freed. The magic that contained all attributes rushed towards Tio to engulf her. At the same time, silver feathers were fired to cover the remaining gaps. And, to seal any means of escape, the white divine dragon unleashed its aurora.

Tio, without a moment’s hesitation, jumped inside the storm of the attack unleashed by Freed without fearing damage.

If she wouldn’t be able to avoid it, she might as well leap into Freed’s attack, was the conclusion she reached. This evasion action, which could be said to be reckless, was actually a success taking into account the power of the aurora and its after effects.

However, although most of Freed’s attack was repelled by her black scales, his magic, and most of all the decomposition ability, were pouring constantly and she sustained by no means only light damage.

As the pulverized black dragon scales reflected light, blood began slowly falling to the ground, and before long, it turned into a spray of blood.

“How unsightly. Now that you can’t rely on restoration from the stubbornness of your dragons and your magic, you’re showing such a disgraceful way of fighting.”

“I wouldn’t put it like that. Those are also legitimate tactics.”

“Foolishness. You just don’t understand the concept of abilities. I was surprised at your ability to snatch away my monsters, but it seems the person herself is going to meet her end soon after all.”

Freed made fun of Tio’s fighting style, who was ignoring the damage she received. And, once more, she was faced with a barrage of magic and decomposition magic, while the divine white dragon breathed its aurora breath.

Tio once more weighed the aurora breath and Freed’s attack, chose the latter, and exposed herself to the storm of the attack.

At that time, she expanded the length of her black whip of slavery to turn more monsters into black dragons. Seeing such behavior, Freed thought she was acting like a desperate chicken trying to invert the tide of the battle by increasing her war potential because her own power must be reaching its limits. His mocking face grew even more mocking as he saw this.

‘If you like being bombed so much, I’ll let you have as much as you want’ thought Freed as he turned a sadistic look to Tio. The density of the barrage of attacks increased yet again.

On the other side, Shia jumped out. A fierce battle was going on with the platinum apostles on this side too. Though, by no means could it be said to be a fair battle.

Just barely, yes, really just barely, did Shia manage to endure.

If she didn’t have body strengthening Level IV and her native magic Divine Revelation Sight, she would have probably been instant-killed by the platinum apostles. With a quick estimation, the specs of the platinum apostles could be said to be several times that of Shia. She had expected these apostles to be stronger than the average apostle, however she hadn’t expected them to be this strong.

“How about giving up? Shia Hauria.”

Erst, who held a large sword and was engaged in a sword lock with Shia, stared at her and said so from point-blank range.

There, for a moment, an improbable thought like ‘Maybe it’s better to do that… ‘ popped in her head. When she realized she had been taken aback by the earlier suggestion, a long sword came sweeping sideways from the back.

At once, using her weapon which was engaged in a sword lock as support, Shia used Air Force to perform a handstand and kick into the air. The trajectory of the sword missed her by a hair’s breadth.

“Don’t underestimate me desu!”

While performing her handstand with her twisted body, she also pulled the trigger of Vire Doryuken, firing a slug bullet from point blank range. It was a special bullet that had been improved and whose power had been increased, and it caused a violent shock. Shia aimed for the moment the two apostles were recovering from the shock, and made use of it to jump back.

Immediately after, a silver flash passed through the place Shia was standing before. Without taking a moment to be relieved, Shia used Air Force once more and jumped. As expected, another silver flash came from another angle and grazed Shia’s feet.

Rolling over in the sky, she hardened herself in midair and immediately descended towards the ground. That’s right, at the very least, if she was on the ground, she wouldn’t have to face attacks coming from below in addition to all other directions.

Then, once she had successfully taken distance from the enemy, she made a sour expression and started a monolog, while staying alert and keeping Vire Doryuken ready.

“To feel uneasiness caused by Charm this late in the game…that’s such a failure on my part.”

“Or rather, did I just feel surprised when I broke out of the spell? Even though I have strengthening against charm type effects.”

The apostles who had also descended onto the ground surrounded Shia from all five sides.

Facing the perseverant Shia, Esrt sent her a somehow amazed look. Even so, the fact that Erst was not showing any sign of impatience was not only due to her being inhuman, but mostly to the fact that she was convinced they would overwhelm Shia.

Erst and the other apostles knew that the reason Shia was able to keep up was because of her native ability. And also that it would consume a non-negligible amount of magic power each time. Even if she was in possession of an artifact supplying magic power, it was bound to run dry after some time.

“Originally, you shouldn’t have lasted even a few moments. Good grief, even I am amazed at your degree of strengthening … This is Yue-san’s magic, right?”

Shia narrowed her eyes dangerously.

The original color of the light of the apostles’ magic, silver ― There was now orange mixed in it, making it a platinum. And, Shia had come to see and feel that gold magic countless times during their travel, so she couldn’t be mistaken. It was a precious part of the elder sister she had befriended … It was Yue’s magic.

Of course, she knew that it was the doing of Ehito Rujue, who occupied Yue’s body.

But, to think that the power of her special person was being used arbitrarily, and pointed at them as a weapon … the anger rising up from her chest was not average.

Feeling she might lose herself to her anger boiling like magma, Shia frantically held her anger back.

Then, intending to turn all the heat she had generated from her anger into power and leave her thoughts for later, she tried to do as Yue, her battle master, taught her, that is, to remain calm like the cold of ice.

In return, Esrt replied with a voice seemingly devoid of emotion.

“More precisely, it should be called the magic of our master, Ehito Rujue-sama. That body, as well as its magic. Everything already belongs to master.”

” … … ”

Shia’s anger skyrocketed as Esrt calmly gave an answer she seemingly considered really natural.

Shia took out a vial from Treasure Warehouse II. She put it directly before her open mouth and drank the contents in one gulp, just like instant foods. To make her even more unreasonable. To break through her limits.

Then, she exhaled like Tio did, and rashly threw the container away. She swung Vire Doryuken once.

Then she spoke in an extremely cold tone and used words she would absolutely never let her family, or Hajime and her friends, hear.

“**** you! I’ve heard enough. Yue-san’s body and magic, and her everything else, it’s obvious who owns all that. That’s right, everything is Hajime-san’s. The one you guys call irregular. I, the one with the title of Divination Expert who can glance into the future, certify that. To the likes of you, as well as your master, I can make the following prediction ― ‘There is no future’.”

” … Nonsense. What do you think a diminutive existence whose hands or feet can’t reach master do? Accept reality, Shia Hauria. Tio Claus doesn’t even compare with Freed-sama. And because you are being once more overwhelmed by us, the best you can do is try to endure. Can’t you understand? Or is it that you’re trying to escape from reality? The ones who don’t have a future are you people.”

Esrt had suddenly been overcome by a strange chill, and her voice had faltered. She objectively analyzed the situation, and precisely refuted Shia.

Certainly, although Tio was aiming to turn the tide by increasing the number of black dragons, the wounds she had sustained weren’t minor, and she was probably planning to use up all her strength to thwart their plan before it succeeded. And, on this side, Shia had also been overwhelmed to this extent.

There was nothing that could prove Erst wrong.

Up until now …

Shia who had daringly refuted her started laughing with an atrocious face resembling that of a beast.

“‘That’s the limit of my power’. When did you hear me say such a thing?”

“? What are you ―”

Puzzled, Erst tried to make sense of that with a questioning voice ―

However, her mouth suddenly stopped ―

Shia’s power swelled up. Along with an angry war cry.

“―― Level V ! ! ”

The atmosphere shook with a thud. Light blue magic sprang out depicting a screw-like trajectory and rose up.

Originally, with sublimation magic, she could enhance her magic one level above. Which is why, using sublimation magic, the limit of Shia’s body strengthening should have been Level IV. However, what allowed her to surpass that limit was Hajime’s special magic potion Cheatmate Dr.

What Shia drank some time ago was not restorative medicine, but a drinkable Cheatmate. A specialized version containing an excess of ingredients with the use of sublimation magic at that. If it weren’t Shia who was specialized in body strengthening, it wouldn’t be strange for the user’s body to be disintegrated within seconds. It was the kind of body strengthening this was about.

Shia, who had broken through her limit, immediately jumped out, breaking the ground beneath her.

“Huh, again, more power … However, even with this, you’re still no match for us!”

Erst stopped Vire Doryuken which was swung at her from the front using her large sword. With a thunderous roar, the surrounding ground cracked, but the large sword didn’t make a sound.

Then, using mere physical strength, Erst repelled Shia, as if proving her earlier words.

In truth, if one were to compare the status of Shia and the status of the platinum apostles, the difference would be clear.

How much of a gap there was between the two.

For argument’s sake, if the platinum apostles had a status plate, the stats indicated on it would be something like this:

===================================

Physical strength:22.000 ⇒ [Strengthened 66000]

Stamina:22.000 ⇒ [Strengthened: 66000]

Resistance:22.000 ⇒ [Strengthened: 66000]

Agility:22.000 ⇒ [Strengthened: 66000]

Magical power:22.000 ⇒ [Strengthened: 66000]

Magical resistance:22.000 ⇒ [Strengthened: 66000]

===================================

For normal apostles, their stats would all be at 12.000, and at 36.000 after being strengthened. Meaning those white-platinum apostles almost had twice their stats.

And, Shia’s body strengthening Level V was (TN: CM stands for Cheatmate, SM for sublimation magic, BS for body strengthening):

==================================

Physical strength:100 ⇒[CM 200] ⇒[SM 400] ⇒[BS Ⅴ 38400]

Stamina: 120 ⇒[CM 240] ⇒[SM 480] ⇒[BS V 38480]

Resistance: 100 ⇒[CM 200] ⇒[SM 400] ⇒[BS V 38400]

Agility: 130 ⇒[CM 260] ⇒[SM 520] ⇒[BS V 38520]

Magical power: 3800 ⇒[CM 7600]

Magical resistance: 4000 ⇒[CM 8000]

==================================

This is how it was. Those were specs that would enable her to surpass normal apostles, but they fell far short of the platinum apostles she was up against.

Shia, who had been blown away by Erst, flew horizontally along the ground. However, there was not a single sign of her losing her composure, and the ferocious daring smile was still there.

Beams of light of the white-platinum apostles were approaching her from left and right. Using Vire Doryuken, she propelled her body and evaded. Then, she turned towards Zweit who was awaiting her from behind, rolled around, and used her propelling force to make a full swing of Vire Doryuken.

The white-platinum apostle unintentionally gazed at her in wonderment after her next words, which were accompanied by a war cry.

“―― Level VI ! ! ”

“!?”

The following impact. If one depicted this scene with a painting, the physical impact would be the same as the facial impact between Erst’s face moments before and now.

However, just before the blow with the strength of Shia’s propelling, she operated Vire Doryuken’s gravity magic and its weight increased. The white-platinum apostle couldn’t turn a blind eye to the destructive power that was created.

With a terrific roar, a shockwave was created from between the two who clashed. Dust shot up, and inside, a pair of large swords had caught Vire Doryuken’s blow and were crossing against it.

The blow couldn’t be stopped with only one hand anymore. Zweit’s feet which had been slightly pushed back testified of that.

Shia’s body strengthening Level VI. Its values were:

==================================

Physical strength:100 ⇒[CM 200] ⇒[SM 400] ⇒[BS ⅤI 46000]

Stamina: 120 ⇒[CM 240] ⇒[SM 480] ⇒[BS VI 46080]

Resistance: 100 ⇒[CM 200] ⇒[SM 400] ⇒[BS VI 46000]

Agility: 130 ⇒[CM 260] ⇒[SM 520] ⇒[BS VI 46120]

Magical power: 3800 ⇒[CM 7600]

Magical resistance: 4000 ⇒[CM 8000]

==================================

But, she was still far from being a match for them.

However, the artifact made by Hajime and her age of gods magic made up for that gap.

Shia poured magic into Vire Doryuken which was engaged in a sword lock with the twin large swords in the center, thus activating a gimmick.

KASHUN! One part of the center of the damaged surface on the ground slipped, and inside, the jet black stake that had been charged started emitting light blue sparks, and immediately rotated at high speed.

“Pierce through!”

Following Shia’s pattern, her finger pulled the trigger.

GoOOON

A thunderous roar reverberated.

“Na!?”

Came Zweit’s surprised voice.

Vire Doryuken’s IAP pile banker mercilessly pulverized the pair of large swords into thousand pieces and drew near Zweit’s head.

Zweit, surprised, barely managed to move her head out of the way, but the jet black stake which grazed her cheek inflicted a significant wound on the face of the beauty that resembled a piece of art, and tore through most of her beautiful platinum hair.

From the sky, Dritte shot silver feathers. So did Vierte and Funfte from the left and right.

Furthermore, Zweit who was at point-blank range moved to avoid the silver flash, and Erst swung her silver twin swords.

There was no way out.

They had reassessed the increase of specs in Shia’s body strengthening, and maybe they were aiming to bring her down quickly. Maybe she was actually strong enough to take down Zweit if they weren’t careful.

Any means of escape was virtually nonexistent for Shia.

All of a sudden Shia closed her eyes.

“Have you given up!”

Came Erst’s voice.

She couldn’t think of any other reason why Shia would close her eyes under these circumstances. Anyone else would naturally think along the same lines as Erst.

But, there was no way the monster rabbit would stand there and accept defeat.

And in the next moment, all attacks missed their target.

“!?” X5

Their inhuman expressions lost their perfectness.

Instead, their faces were painted with confusion and surprise.

That couldn’t be helped. Because, after all, Shia was still there. She was there, and even so, all the attacks slipped through.

It was not that the person herself had been cut into two so skillfully that she hadn’t realized anything, neither that she had been obliterated by the feathers and flash.

The cause was the strange sight displayed before their eyes. That strange sight was a Shia that had become semi-transparent.

The space magic Half Transition ―― a magic that shifted one’s body halfway to a different space. All interference from the origin space wouldn’t reach the body. In other words, it was a magic of absolute defense.

This was, so to speak, a failed transition magic that connected two spaces. If someone other than Shia were to do it, it wouldn’t be unlikely that their body would get scattered in pieces, so it was an emergency defective magic that was quite dangerous. Because in no way were her magic aptitudes poor in spite of being specialized in body strengthening, and because she was in a state where she had broken through her limits thanks to the Cheatmate she used, Shia could immediately use space magic as a physical ability.

Of course, it was a magic even Shia could not use at her own convenience. It consumed a huge amount of magical power. And on top of Shia not being able to interfere with the origin space either when half-transitioning, she couldn’t even move. Therefore, it was a trump card she could only use once in a battle.

Which is why, Shia wouldn’t miss this chance.

As soon as the attack passed through, she undid the half-transitioning and returned to the origin space, and dove forward while firing explosive slug bullets around her.

She closed in upon Zweit’s bust, who had lost her pair of large swords and had only been firing silver bombardment. Then, she moved past Zweit’s drawn out icefish-like hands in a move resembling a snake, and Shia’s hands grabbed Zweit’s head.

Placing her palm so it covered Zweit’s eyes, Shia used her nails on Zweit’s forehead to lock her grip.

Then,

” ―― Level VII ! ! ”

Additional body strengthening.

==================================

Physical strength:100 ⇒[CM 200] ⇒[SM 400] ⇒[BS ⅤII 53600]

Stamina: 120 ⇒[CM 240] ⇒[SM 480] ⇒[BS VII 53680]

Resistance: 100 ⇒[CM 200] ⇒[SM 400] ⇒[BS VII 53600]

Agility: 130 ⇒[CM 260] ⇒[SM 520] ⇒[BS VII 53720]

Magical power: 3800 ⇒[CM 7600]

Magical resistance: 4000 ⇒[CM 8000]

==================================

Possessing stats far exceeding that of strengthened normal apostles, she rushed forward while still holding Zweit’s head, escaping the siege she had been in.

In moments, she exceeded the speed of sound, broke through the wall of the atmosphere, and slammed the back of Zweit’s head with this insane force against a boulder protruding from the ground.

Taking into account the stamina of the white-platinum apostles, there was no way their heads could be crushed like a tomato. On the other hand, the boulder would be pulverized. However, Shia didn’t stop there and kept pressing Zweit’s head farther into the ground, before firing off an explosive slug bullet from point-blank range.

Furthermore, while jumping from that spot, she kept pulling the trigger over and over again. Against the explosive slug bullet creating brutal shockwaves, even if Zweit wouldn’t sustain major wounds, there was no sign of her being able to move, and she was being crucified deep into the ground like a doll being toyed with.

Sensing that Erst and the other had come in pursuit, Shia unmindfully took out a big lump of metal from Treasure Warehouse II. It was a rectangle shape, 20 meters in length, 10 meters in width.

On one face was a small hole. Shia changed the design of Vire Doryuken and thrust it into the hole.

Then it would become obvious. The huge rectangle object was an external equipment attached to Vire Doryuken to deal damage.

Even if one was using gravity magic, there was a limit to the reduction of weight. A human wouldn’t be able to hold 100 tons even with gravity magic.

Yes, this hammer really weighed 100 tons.

“Let the earth be scarred desu!”

Shia let out a loud yell.

Using her physical strength which had been strengthened beyond the realm of humans at full throttle, she swung down the hammer, preparing to cause an impact nothing short of comparable to that of an asteroid on a star.

When Zwei was finally able to raise his body from the storm of the explosive slug bullets, her whole vision was already covered with a wall cold metal.

“―― !”

At once, she entered defense mode using her white-silver feathers to cover her body in a knit. But, on the surface of the strike, there was obviously a sealing stone, and the moment of impact, it unknitted the feather, which then completely vanished under the weight that defied common sense.

Then, a severe earthquake occurred.

The artificial island that had caused the unnatural earthquake rumbled. The ground collapsed where the head of the hammer had crashed like a grave-marker. And, as if to make doubly sure of the deed, the hammer started rotating.

At that time, on the surface of the hammer that was touching Zweit, countless sharp edges grew out, and grinding sounds resounded as holes were being made into her. As a matter of fact, a drill gimmick was attached to the head of this hammer. In order to pulverize into million pieces the enemy that had been crushed by it.

Moreover, sealing stones had also been put on the sharp edges to deny enemy resistance. Even if Zweit used her white-silver feathers to protect her body, it would be useless. Truly, men were fond of drills.

Glancing at the 100t hammer that kept digging into the ground little by little, Erst and the other apostles, with a disciplined attitude that seemed indifferent to their fellow apostle’s situation, rushed towards Shia.

Shia had just brought down the true 100 tons. She began the process to detach Vire Doryuken from the head of the hammer by shrinking it. She would definitely not make it in time, and she couldn’t use [Half Transition] once more. If she did, the consumption of magical power supply from demon crystal stone would become unbalanced, and her body strengthening would be undone.

If that happened, if she was hit only once, there would be no second time.

There, Shia would have to use another of her trump cards.

“It’s over!”

Erst’s sentence penetrated her ears.

At the same time,

Gakin!

A hard sound resounded.

From Shia who had received and stopped the pair of large swords.

It was not that she used an equipment relying on an artifact to block the swords, nor that she used the pommel of Vire Doryuken.

It was just that she only had her body at her disposal, and she stopped the blow from the pair of large swords.

“Steel Clothes ―― It”s going to take more than normal attacks to bring me down you know?”

Shia’s fearless voice echoed.

It was literally as if she wore steel clothes: it was a metamorphosis magic that strengthened her body.

Her neck, shoulders, arms, feet. The sword that obviously aimed to chop off Shia into several pieces, although it managed to bite into Shia a little because of the disintegration ability, was stopped from inflicting a major wound.

The apostles stiffened unintentionally. They started searching their data at high speed for an explanation, but no matter how much they searched, there was obviously no data recording of Shia having an advanced defense system skill as Hajime did. The fact that she immediately became impenetrable using metamorphosis magic indicated that her way of using it had to be very unique.

Sixth Heaven’s Demon Transformation was unique in its use of the demon stone, which was similar to Ryutaro’s. It immediately made one’s own body undergo a metamorphosis. It wasn’t much different Tio’s Dragon Transformation. It was Steel Transformation, so to speak. Though its consumption of magical power was not at the level of Half Transition, it was still significant, so its use had to be carefully thought about.

The apostles started trembling slightly. But this mere action would leave a fatal gap in this battle that was anything but usual.

Gashun! Vire Doryuken’s shrinking process completed. Shia’s face showed a faint smile at the return of her partner in her hands.

Then she let out that war cry once more.

“―― Level VIII ! ! ”

“Na !?”

A light blue magical power surged. Shia’s specs went up once again!

==================================

Physical strength:100 ⇒[CM 200] ⇒[SM 400] ⇒[BS ⅤIII 61200]

Stamina: 120 ⇒[CM 240] ⇒[SM 480] ⇒[BS VIII 61280]

Resistance: 100 ⇒[CM 200] ⇒[SM 400] ⇒[BS VIII 61200]

Agility: 130 ⇒[CM 260] ⇒[SM 520] ⇒[BS VIII 61320]

Magical power: 3800 ⇒[CM 7600]

Magical resistance: 4000 ⇒[CM 8000]

==================================

Her physical ability was nearing that of the platinum apostles.

Erst’s face twitched.

Immediately following, the pair of silver swords that were trying cut Shia’s Steel Clothes were repelled. Then, with both of Erst’s arms raised due to the repelling, her stomach was left exposed, and a rotating Vire Doryuken was thrust into her at full power.

“Gaha!?”

Esrt’s body was bent back and forth. A short exhalation, along with bloody vomit, came out from her mouth, and one of her swords involuntarily fell from her arm that became loose after the shock. And, she was sent flying with terrific force, like the ball in a pinball game.

Dritte, who had been stunned by the absurd defense before her eyes, suddenly came back to herself and swung her twin swords. Shia evaded by simply letting herself free-fall towards the ground. Vierte and Funfte gave pursuit using their platinum bombardment and feathers.

Using Divine Revelation Sight and Air Force, Shia barely evaded. She landed near the empty large hole made by the floating island of the extra-large drill. Glancing inside, she confirmed her feeling that Zweit had been subjugated. Also, she confirmed the stern faces of the apostles after Erst, the first apostle, had obviously received some serious damage when she was blown away.

Even though they had the conviction that they were overwhelming the enemy, when they noticed there were only three of them left.

Closing in on Shia, suddenly her previous declaration passed through their minds.

――To the likes of you, and also your ****** master, I can make the following prediction ‘There is no future’.

Dritte who was in the lead gritted her teeth.

She was thinking about something insignificant, that was all nonsense.

Then, she shook off the ominous feeling that was sticking to her and swung down her pair of large swords with all her strength.

That sword swing, to which was added the power of her drop, could only be described with one word: powerful.

In response, Shia readied Vire Doryuken’s lower part and took a stance of interception.

‘What a fool’, Dritte thought. Her body strengthening surprisingly deserved credit. Certainly, it was an outstanding boost that allowed her to approach them, the white-platinum apostles.

But, even with this, she couldn’t reach them. This attack, which also used the speed of her fall, was simply something that exceeded the power of Shia’s stats. Therefore, there was no way she would be able to defend against it. Let alone intercept it!

However …

( … … Why is your mouth moving!? What the hell are you intending to say!?)

Actually, she knew. In this slow motion scene, the movement on Shia’s lips was something familiar, something she had come to see many times in this battle. Each time those powerful words were unleashed into this world, little by little, she was growing closer to it. To their height, that is. It was like an evil spirit lurking in the abyss, whose hands was growing longer in order to drag them in.

Dritte’s muscles froze.

Therefore, without even realizing herself, she made a wish.

(Please stop!)

But, naturally, there was no way this wish would come true ――

“Level IX ! ! ”

==================================

Physical strength:100 ⇒[CM 200] ⇒[SM 400] ⇒[BS IX 68800]

Stamina: 120 ⇒[CM 240] ⇒[SM 480] ⇒[BS IX 68880]

Resistance: 100 ⇒[CM 200] ⇒[SM 400] ⇒[BS IX 68800]

Agility: 130 ⇒[CM 260] ⇒[SM 520] ⇒[BS IX 68920]

Magical power: 3800 ⇒[CM 7600]

Magical resistance: 4000 ⇒[CM 8000]

==================================

Shia Hauria was now exceeding the white-platinum apostles. The pair of large swords Dritte had swung down and Vire Doryuken, which Shia had swung up, collided.

The explosion-like shock spread in the surroundings, and the ground around Shia was blown off, leaving a crater.

Even with the speed of the fall added to it, the two competing powers were equal.

Sparks were splendidly scattering around the pair of large swords and Vire Doryuken that were locked against one another.

“To stand against the apostles of god, what arrogance! Go down! Shia Hauria!”

The apostles had no such things as emotions. That was a lie all right.

Dritte, who had gotten aggressive and betrayed the usual calm of the apostles, fluttered the wings on her back in an attempt to smash up Shia.

After all, as she stated, it was unforgivable to stand against a being like herself who deserved the title of apostle of god. But, what was even more unforgivable was the fact that she would harbor the feeling of ‘fear’ caused by Shia, someone who had entered their own territory.

In order to deny this, she desperately poured more power into her pair of large swords.

Shia caught sight of Vierte and Funfte sneaking up from behind to attempt a pincer attack from left and right, spoke.

“Ha, I had no idea! So much for your rules.”

Shia wrapped it around Dritte’s neck.

Her hair that is.

“This is ――”

“You’re in the way!”

Her hair, like it was a living being, tightened around Dritte’s neck, and threw her with terrific force at Vierte who was approaching from the left. Neither Dritte, nor Vierte, could ever have expected Shia’s hair to move like a living being. They were completely taken by surprise, and were thrown onto the ground.

And then, the expression on the face of Funfte who was approaching from the right … froze.

Yes, at the sight of that face.

“Impossible, that can’t be! Such a thing as surpassing us!”

“Now then, this is the last one, ―― Level X ! ! ! ”

Funfte screamed in denial as Shia, whose sky blue magic was reflected on the walls, stepped forward.

==================================

Physical strength:100 ⇒[CM 200] ⇒[SM 400] ⇒[BS X 76400]

Stamina: 120 ⇒[CM 240] ⇒[SM 480] ⇒[BS X 76480]

Resistance: 100 ⇒[CM 200] ⇒[SM 400] ⇒[BS X 76400]

Agility: 130 ⇒[CM 260] ⇒[SM 520] ⇒[BS X 76520]

Magical power: 3800 ⇒[CM 7600]

Magical resistance: 4000 ⇒[CM 8000]

==================================

It was an overwhelming physical ability that surpassed the stats of the white-platinum apostles by more than 10000.

From Funfte’s point of view, all she could see was Shia suddenly vanishing from her field of vision. Shia’s movement speed had finally exceeded the perception ability of the apostles.

Funfte opened her eyes wide in terror at the impossible situation where she, an apostle of god, had lost sight of the enemy she was fighting, when she felt a figure from behind.

Barely having the time to direct her line of sight over her shoulders, all that was reflected in her eyes was a war hammer spreading over her entire field of vision.

“Ku, such a thing … ”

Came the extremely shaky voice of Dritte as she retook her stance after having been previously thrown onto the ground along with Vierte. At the end of her sight was the surreal scene of Funfte’s head pulverized, with only a stain left on the ground.

“Dritte … At this rate … ”

On Dritte’s side, Vierte, who readied her pair of large swords, addressed her fellow apostles as she kept her trembling eyes on Shia. However, there were no follow-up words. It was obvious she frankly didn’t want to say what came next.

Dritte couldn’t respond. Nevertheless, at that time, she caught sight of an unusual phenomenon surrounding Shia. No, more precisely, it was an unusual phenomenon surrounding what deserved the title of Shia’s partner, the war hammer.

“This is … ”

If they focused their eyes, they could see countless cracks on Vire Doryuken.

That was not a coincidence.

After all, it stopped countless attacks from the front, each of which had decomposition ability and unusually high impact, and what’s more, it now has to cope with Shia’s insane physical strength which surpassed reason. Rather, what was more of a wonder was how it had withstood all that so far.

“Vierte, target the weapon.”

” … I see.”

She understood the intention behind these words.

Immediately after, Shia’s shape disappeared.

The moment Dritte realized this, Shia had already appeared behind her. A truly overwhelming speed. If it was only physical ability, she would be surpassing even a Hajime who was on Supreme Break.

However, the apostles would now be aiming to avoid physical contact at all costs, even if barely, after seeing what happened to Funfte.

The moment she saw Shia disappear, she immediately covered her body with her wings and pointed her of large swords overhead.

Her feathers were pulverized in an instant, but they managed to reduce the strength of Shia’s blow to some extent, allowing the pair of large swords to stop the blow completely next.

“GuUUUUUUUUU!?”

Even so, Dritte unintentionally leaked an anguished cry at the tremendous shock that resulted. Both of her arms made an unpleasant sound which seemed to reveal they had reached their limit. Then, Vierte used her decomposition ability at its maximum.

The target was not Shia, but the cracks spreading on Vire Doryuken. She estimated that if Shia were to lose her weapon, they would only be up against living flesh, and thus have a chance of winning.

However,

“I predicted that you know?”

The derivation of her native magic Future Sight, Hypothesis Sight. Shia had become suspicious of Dritte and Vierte’s discussion. What if I attack Dritte? She glanced into the future at this eventuality with her ability.

Therefore, she was aware of where Vierte would probably be aiming to strike.

Shia’s beautiful legs disappeared. Her fine, toned, long legs precisely fixed on Vierte’s neck.

Gokin!

Resounded the lively sound of smashing.

Vierte’s neck was bent towards the direction of the day after tomorrow. Immediately following, fluently fired in a flash, came the explosion of an elegant, tremendously powerful roundhouse kick, that sent Vierte’s body flying with terrific force.

“Ku, that damn monster”

“Please don’t go around suddenly praising me.”

Dritte fired white-silver bombardment. In terms of distance, it was from point-blank range.

However, as if naturally, it didn’t land on Shia. Her shape disappeared instantly, and the next moment, she had snuck upon Dritte’s bosom.

Without even having time to take a breath, Dritte received an elbow strike in the pit of the stomach. Gohaa! To this Dritte who was reduced in a sorry state where she was spewing out bloody vomit, a kick that seemed to pierce the sky was raised up. Before the beautiful form that bent 180 degrees top and bottom, Dritte, whose jaws had been pulverized, was sent floating into the air in a hopeless state.

“Explode desu!”

A scream, then an explosion.

While returning her feet, bent overhead, to their original position, Vire Doryuken had already picked up a speed too fast to be visible.

In that moment, it broke the speed of sound, causing an explosion in the air, and the next moment its full swing appeared.

And, Dritte, who received that full swing …

Her shape was no longer anywhere to be seen.

All that were left were red stains on the ground.

There, a war cry resounded.

“HaaaAAA ! ! ”

It was Vierte. It seemed she didn’t die even with her neck bone pulverized. She created a tidal wave of flames around a magic square using her white-silver wings, went inside, and started approaching Shia.

“Such a thing won’t work against the current me!”

Swinging her rabbit ears, she sensed the presence of Vierte inside the large fire, and swung Vire Doryuken with a splendid timing at the place where Vierte was covering herself with fire.

There came jumping in … two shadows.

” ! ”

Shia was surprised. She opened her eyes wide at the fact that she, who was excellent at the perception of presences, had been deceived.

By Vierte’s presence, the large fire, as well as their whole resulting strategy.

“Be destroyed!”

The large sword that was swung against Vire Doryuken, the moment it hit Vierte, was Erst’s.

As if trading Vierte’s life for more power, Vierte’s limbs were pulverized simultaneously with Vire Doryuken. Inside the flames starting to disperse because of the death of their caster, Erst ran past Shia to face her back. Then, she immediately turned around, and swung her large sword to pierce Shia who had just lost her partner.

Performing a rotation that seemed like a dance, she had taken a striking stance and her large sword was approaching Shia to take her life.

On the opposing side, Shia, who had her back turned to Erst, turned around like a mirror.

Then, for a moment, their gazes met. In this slow-motion space, both of their feelings were conveyed to one another.

(The apostles cannot lose!)

(I will be the one to win!)

The brightness of the large swords swelled up. It was a radiance that showed that even against Steel Clothes, it would be ready to chop off Shia’s neck. That was the radiance of a will strong enough to question its emanating from a puppet.

Or maybe it was that at this moment she was betting her pride as an apostle, that she didn’t want to lose, and she would carry out the mission of god and them apostles.

But, ‘I don’t want to lose’ and ‘I want to win’. There was a gap of strength between those two wills. When they clashed, the one with more pressure was undoubtedly … the latter.

As if to prove this fact, inside the slow-motion space, something started to form in the hand of Shia which should have been empty. Red liquid, as if it were alive, started to converge.

Erst opened her eyes wide in surprise.

That was because … Shia was holding a war hammer made of blood that had gathered from the cut she inflicted on her own arm.

Crimson War Hammer ―― it was a magic that used metamorphosis magic on one’s own body, just like Steel Clothes. Something allowing her to freely manipulate her blood.

Leaving the slow-motion space and returning to the original world, the next moment, they both clashed ――

Once more, their backs were turned on each other.

The blood war hammer was falling and scattering blood like cherry blossom.

Pushu! Blood gushed out from the neck of the alert Shia.

Then a voice spoke.

” … I wonder what this thing rising up within me is. This tightening thing that makes me want to scream. Shia Hauria. Do you know what it is?”

” … Isn’t it frustration?”

Hearing Shia’s answer, Erst nodded ‘I see’.

Immediately after, something came falling from the sky and stuck to the ground separating the two of them.

It was the large sword that had been broken halfway.

On closer look at Erst’s stance, it wasn’t that only Erst’s sword had been broken. On her chest, there was a big hole. It was obvious whatever was inside had been pulverized.

Erst finally relaxed her alertness and threw away her broken sword. Then, she looked over her shoulders at Shia who had likewise relaxed, and muttered her last words with an expressionless face.

“I hate you.”

Just as Shia said, that was the result of the considerable level of frustration she had been holding in …

Erst only said this, then fell down like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

At this sound, Shia fluttered her rabbit ears and hair, and turned around. Then, she muttered something in turn. Really as if to say that this was the cause of her victory. With a broad grin and fearless smile.

“I hate you ‘very’ much.”

Then, she collapsed.

“Ahh, as expected, Level X takes a heavy tollll. And because I also used Crimson War Hammer, I am getting anemiaa”

While taking out a restorative medicine from Treasure Warehouse II, Shia muttered a monolog and held onto her consciousness that seemed ready to fade at any moment in some way or another.

“Now then, I’ve dealt with the apostles but … what is happening on Tio-san’s side ―― ”

Shia redirected her consciousness towards Tio whom she had been separated from while she fought with the platinum apostles. Searching her memory, when they got separated, the armed black dragons were surrounded by countless more monsters, and seemed to be rampaging without losing.

The black and white flashes flying about in the sky were worthy of a space battle between two fleets in a sci-fi movie.

Because the black dragons didn’t seem to be losing ground, and that their master, Tio, seemed to be fine, Shia breathed a sigh of relief.

But, the next moment,

OoOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO ! ! ! !

Came the violent yells of countless numbers, that gave the sense that the sky was going to fall. And, simultaneously, a large army of monsters made its appearance, making completely light of the previous ratio.

Shia thought this was bad, and that she had to try and stand up, but the adverse effect of Level X was overwhelming, and it didn’t look as if she would be able to stand up immediately.

Meanwhile, something else occurred. She wondered if it was the terrific flashes in the sky,

ZuDooOOOON ! !

An earth tremor spread, and something came crashing with terrific force right next to Shia, who was lying on the ground. She was swung back and forth by the oscillations.

Wondering what it was, Shia turned her sight ahead as she revitalized her upper body. There, there was …

“Eh, Tio, san?”

Lying down on the completely smashed-up ground, having wounds all over her body, was the figure of Tio.



 

[Vol 8] Chapter 17 – White Divine Dragon and the Platinum Apostle



Circle-warning.gif This chapter is translated by Cobalt
and is rehosted with due permission.

On the gigantic island with diameter around ten-odd kilometer.

There were grass plain and forest, with branching small rivers in between, where the upper stream was linked toward the mountain with bountiful greenery.

A chalk white obelisk was enshrined at the grass plain area of that floating island. The huge tower that was around fifty meters tall looked out of place in the middle of the magnificent nature. Coupled with that artificial whiteness, it looked strangely conspicuous.

But, something even more standing out existed further above that obelisk, it was a silver colored man sitting cross-legged on a shining magic circle. His silver hair and wings fluttered in the wind. His skin was so white that it looked transparent, even the color of his eye pupils looked shining radiantly silver.

His clothing looked like a pure white priest outfit. Coupled with his calm and self-possessed state, his appearance gave a divine impression. If anyone who didn’t know anything saw him, they would surely think that a messenger from heaven had descended.

The first voice that man, Freed Bagua let out made Hajime who was facing him to snort while he started talking frivolously.

“Is that new fashion? If that’s the case then there is nothing I can say except you have got no fashion sense at all. It’s because you are still accepting the clothes that your parent(god) prepared for you without protesting that you looked incredulous like that. Your red hair and darkish skin before this looked manlier you know?”

Hearing Hajime’s speech, Tio and Shia burst into a snort “bufuh” beside him. Perhaps the two of them also had such experience, that the clothing that parents prepared for their children was usually embarrassing. Just what kind of clothing that Karm and Adol presented to their daughter, and then, the complicated expression that Shia and Tio surely made at that time…it was something that made Hajime felt relatively curious.

Although, Freed who was obviously got made fun of only reacted slightly with a twitch of his eyebrow from that speech, his calm behavior still didn’t break. And then, as though to say that he got no intention to follow along with Hajime’s frivolous talk, he talked with a cold voice.

“…Indeed, you really are still alive. When Aruvheit-sama didn’t come back, and my lord informed me that you are going to come, I thought what kind of a joke is that yet…truly what an obstinate man you are. It would be better if you just graciously die.”

“Hee, so that ****** ******* Ehito predicted this. Well, I guess he at least has that much brain. He understands just how great my feeling toward Yue is after all. So? What about you? Were you told to defeat us here? Getting ordered to come to your suicide here, what a cruel order that is. So that’s why your hair got totally white like that then, because of the stress huh.”

Once more, snorting sounds “buhoh” could be heard from Hajime’s both sides.

Freed ignored the sympathetic gaze that said “Freed-kun, you really got it hard” which was directed at him and continued on talking.

“No matter the time you are still screwing around. Really, you don’t seem like a man whose woman is taken away at all.”

“Yue is the best woman there is after all. It can’t be helped that she is popular. I only need to straighten up all the guys who laid her hand on her. Even the master you are proud of, I’ll carve a lot of agonies and regret into him before killing him.”

“That haughtiness, it will be immediately broken apart. My lord has already grasped that body perfectly. There is not even a one in million chance for you to take back your woman.”

As though to beat despair into Hajime, as though to show that it was the truth, Freed informed Hajime using a matter-of-fact tone without getting worked-up at all.

However, in regard to that Hajime’s face contained not even a single trace of agitation. Rather, he was giving back a fearless smile.

“The one who is calling me irregular is your side you know? Something like a worthless scenario that you guys prepared, I’m going to messed them up into pieces.”

“…”

Hajime and Freed exchanged gazes wordlessly for a while. The Wind of killing intent began to blow suddenly. That atmosphere which licked at the skin like coiling snake was truly apt to be described as an explosive situation.

Hajime’s finger touched Donner, at that moment, Freed opened his mouth as though to beat Hajime to the punch.

“Your previous question.”

“Aa?”

“Your question of ‘were you told to defeat us’――half is correct.”

“Half?”

With his hand still touching Donner, Hajime narrowed his eyes questioningly in a state where he could draw his gun and shoot anytime.

Freed suddenly stood up from his cross-legged sitting posture and flapped his silver wings to float in the air, then he opened his mouth.

“My lord――Ehitorujue-sama granted me the command to let you pass without any obstruction when you arrived at this place. There is nothing more mortifying then the lost of my chance to strangle you to death with this hand, but it’s still inevitable for your life to meet its end.”

“Hou. Then? During that time you are going to face Shio and Thia, that’s what you mean?”

“Exactly. While you are receiving divine punishment from my lord, I’ll thoroughly torture to death the women who love you dearly.”

Right after Freed said that, the obelisk shined radiantly.

Hajime drew out Donner with the end of the talk. The fired bullet became a red flash and approached Freed’s forehead.

However,

GIIN!

A hard sound reverberated, that attack was completely blocked. When Hajime looked, it was as though the bullet crashed into an invisible wall in front of Freed, the bullet flattened and stopped midair.

“If you think that my space magic is the same like before than that’s a great mistake.”

It appeared Freed had laid out a protective wall of space isolator around himself beforehand. From how Hajime’s magic eye stone was unable to detect the wall, then it was just like Freed said, his level in space magic had increased.

At that moment where Hajime’s first attack was blocked and a bit of time was bought, the obelisk that was emitting strong radiance shined explosively.

The white light completely dyed their field of vision. But, Hajime’s magic eye stone that wasn’t affected by the amount of light accurately caught what kind of phenomenon this was.

Before long, the light settled down, and what flew into their cleared up field of vision was the scenery of a great swarm of monsters clamoring together to the degree that no empty space could be seen. Their number was definitely in four digits. Roughly there might be around two thousand monsters.

From each and every single monster, they could feel the strength at the level of the monster at the lowest level of the abyss at the very least. There were also monsters that they had encountered before, but based on their appearance every single one had been evolved.

A black wolf with four reddish black eyes had its head increased by two like a watchdog of hell. A black panther with tentacles seemed to be combined with a chimera, it had draconic claws and snake tail while the air at its surrounding was flickering. A monster with horse head Ahatd had further two arms added, and it was also further enveloped in reddish black magic power that seemed to be ‘Vajra’.

Especially the dragon flock that covered the sky, every single one appeared to possess strength at the same level with the white dragon that they faced at Guryuen Grand Volcano.

And then, the leader of that dragon flock, the white dragon that was also the partner of Freed, it was emitting an absurd pressure that easily surpassed all the monsters. Its physique was already nearly twenty meters big Its pure white scales were giving off the radiance of steel. The wings on its back increased to two pairs of four wings, each time it breathed pure white spark was surging from its mouth.

The scar on its chest was exposed with ferocious dignity. Its magnificent body was shining brilliantly and emitted divinity. A white dragon that came out in legend――or perhaps it should be called as a white colored holy dragon, a white divine dragon. In any case, it appeared to have a strength that easily surpassed the divine beast leviathan that they encountered just now.

Hajime and others were surrounded by a few hundred, a few thousand monsters of abnormal level, the fierce killing intent was showered on them from all direction, amidst that Freed was floating calmly right at the side of the white divine dragon with his silver wings flapping.

“Now, Nagumo Hajime. You can leave behind the women who love you dearly in this despair and progress ahead.”

Hajime directed a scorning smile toward Freed who elaborated this disgusting plan where Hajime had to leave behind Shia and Tio among this swarm in order to meet her beloved woman.

“Are you idiot? Just why do I have to listen to what you are saying? I can just instant-killed all of you before going forward brazenly.”

There was no need to purposefully divide their battle strength in front of the enemy. Hajime who talked that doing this with all three of them was faster was given a cold gaze by Freed.

And then, he proclaimed.

“No, you are going to go ahead. To head toward despair, alone by yourself.”

“Hah, saying whatever you like――!?”

Instantly a golden light poured down toward Hajime. The ‘angel’s ladder’ that suddenly appeared from the gap of the clouds really resembled the torrent of light that once captured Yue.

“Hajime-san!”

“Goshujin-sama-”

Shia and Tio, perhaps remembering that time they reached out their hand toward Hajime with a slightly uneasy voice. As expected, their hand was repelled away.

Hajime was going to take out his pile bunker to show that the same trick wouldn’t work the second time. However, Freed opened his mouth faster than that.

“That light was a light of teleportation. It will lead toward the location of your ‘beloved’.”

Hearing that stopped Hajime’s hand for an instant. Indeed, the light that was pouring down right now didn’t have a harming effect at him for even a bit, it felt like it was connected with a space somewhere.

But, Hajime immediately rethought his thinking and he was going to destroy the light torrent. He could just exterminate Freed and the monsters together with Shia and Tio, then go to Yue altogether. As expected, he was unwilling to leave behind just the two of them in this space.

But, the one who stopped such Hajime was no other than Shia and Tio.

“Hajime-san, please go ahead.”

“Truly. It’s an invitation that art hard to come by. Just the two of us art enough to take care of this side.”

Hajime’s eyes widened slightly. But the two added more words without being concerned of that.

“Leave this place to us and go ahead! I wanted to try saying that sentence at least once desu.”

“Doon’t worry, we art going to follow immediately after finishing here. Fufufu.”

Hajime’s face turned exasperated toward the rabbit and the no good dragon who sent him a wink while raising their death flag daringly. And then, he also sensed how they were seriously telling him to go ahead even while joking around.

That was a scolding toward him not to let go of the chance to arrive at Yue’s location even if it was at a stage that the opponent prepared, it was also a resolve to not let any other to become hindrance at his battle against Ehito, it was also their faith that if it was Hajime then he would surely rescue Yue without fail, and it was also the expression of their confidence that if it was the two of them then they would make it somehow against a situation of just this level.

Hajime’s figure was fading. He was being transferred to another different place. Although Hajime was slightly hesitant, he directed a gaze that was filled with his utmost trust at the resolved Shia and Tio and strongly nodded.

In actuality, it was outside of their expectation for the inside of [Holy Precincts] to have this many varied spaces contained inside it. They had the compass, so they didn’t get lost in searching Yue’s whereabouts. But, if for example, Ehito rearranged the spaces’ configuration like a block game or if he could teleport without limitation, then there was the risk that this would become an endless chase.

In that aspect, it was honestly painful when the degraded version crystal key broke when they entered the [Holy Precincts]. In the worst case, there would be a need for Hajime to recycle the very small amount of god crystal he used for his other artifact to create a new degraded crystal key, so if the other side was giving him the invitation then it was an unexpected windfall for him.

Shia and Tio also understood about that, for that reason they proposed this dispersion of battle strength that could be said as a bad move.

“Got it. Shia, Tio…”

“Yes desu.”

“Yes.”

Just before Hajime was teleported, he made a fierce smile and left behind his words to the two in exchange for leaving from here.

“No need to hold back. Kill them all…in a way fitting as my women.”

“Yes, siiir desuu!”

“Fufu, leave it to us!”

Shia and Tio were also returning a smile that looked like a wild beast at Hajime.

At that moment, the light dispersed and along with it, Hajime’s figure vanished.

The two who were left behind――Shia was tapping her war hammer Vire Doryukken on her shoulder while glaring over the monsters around them, while Tio was cracking her neck audibly with a somehow bewitching smile on her face.

“Now then, it seemed that you said something about torturing us to death or something but…”

“Instead, the one who wouldst be made sport to death art thou, just like all those time before, and from here on too. Thou art truly a man without any learning capability.”

While being surrounded by several hundred, several thousand monsters of absurd level, far from having their calm expression crumbling, Shia and Tio were instead giving Freed a gaze as though they were looking at an idiot. Freed narrowed his eyes to that.

“Don’t think that I am the same like the me before this. This power that I was bestowed by my lord――putting aside that monster, there is no doubt that I have surpassed the likes of you two. Prepare yourself. The bitterness of being looked down, I’ll return it completely, no, I’ll return it by several folds to the two of you. The two of you can meet your end while yelling that man’s name with your death cry.”

“Enough with the tedious talk desu. Crushed, beaten up, punched, exploded, splattered, they are all similar, but I’ll let you chose the method that you preferred to be massacred with.”

“So this is what art called as big talk. Let me taught thou this thing called as the difference in status.”

Both sides sent each other caustic words.

A beat.

Killing intent burst out from the whole body of each of them.

And then,

“Kill them-!”

“I’ll kill you to death desu-!”

“Be annihilated-!”

The spark of battle was lit up.

Rain of aurora rained down from the sky, immense blazes were spat out from three-headed wolves, violent shockwave surged from the six-armed horse-heads, silver flash and a large amount of feathers rushed from the front.

Lethal attacks from all directions. The field of vision of Shia and Tio were completely covered with death.

But,

“Tio-san, two steps to the right, drop a little then go three steps ahead desu.”

“Right, that helped.”

Tio moved almost reflexively following Shia’s murmur. Aurora poured down at the spot where she was at just a moment before, furthermore when Tio lowered his altitude shockwave passed through above, and when she stepped forward she evaded silver feathers in return.

At the same time, Shia was also similarly taking steps as though she was dancing in midair. She slipped through the gaps of the attacks as though it was actually the attacks that were avoiding Shia.

The place where Shia moved at, and then, the place where Tio moved at following Shia’s instruction, those places were places with the thinnest concentration of attack.

The derivation of characteristic magic ‘Future Sight’, the ‘Revelation Sight’――an ability that could automatically take a peek at the future a few seconds ahead. Shia predicted the trajectory of attack with this ability and calculated the safe spot swiftly.

Nevertheless, it was not an exaggeration to say that the density of the attacks sent to them was like a wall. Even if they moved to the place where it was relatively harder to be hit, that didn’t mean that they were unharmed.

Therefore,

“URYAAAAAAAA-!!”

“Just this much-!”

Shia took out from the empty air a kendama made from adamantium and coated with sealing stone, and then she launched it instantly overhead. Vire Doryukken struck the metal ball and a thunderous sound roared, at the same time the kendama was rising to the sky with a violent momentum like a rocket flying to space.

The surface that was coated with sealing stone displayed its trait fully and reduced the intensity of the rain of aurora. Next, the aurora rain was snapped away to far beyond due to the kendama’s pure destructive force.

And then, for a brief time, the gray dragon that was defenseless due to firing the aurora could only get startled funnily by the approaching metallic mass from below. At the next moment, mekyo! such graphic sound resounded and while the kendama was sinking into its stomach, the dragon was further blown away to the sky.

The gray dragon got the bones in its whole body got pulverized and disappeared at beyond the sky. An instant later Shia then appeared at the place where that dragon was at as though in replacement, without stopping she used the chain to swing around the kendama, giving rise to a whirlwind that beaten to death the surrounding gray dragons.

Freed slightly narrowed his eyes toward such Shia, but when he directed his gaze at Tio who was left behind, there he could see the figure of Tio who was crossing her arms while getting swallowed by the impact of light and blaze.

Although in that spot the attack was relatively fewer, but she was still getting hit by attacks at the amount that might be enough to inflict lethal wound considering the level of the power of the attacks.

However,

“That appearance…”

“Hmph, compared to Goshujin-sama’s reward, this level of pain art too lukewarm.”

Tio was floating unmoving with a fearless smile while saying such sentence. Her appearance was completely changed compared to her appearance just a moment before.

First of all, the color of her skin was different. Her beautiful skin that was like porcelain was now covered with jet black color, only her golden eyes were piercingly shining in there. Looking carefully, Freed noticed that the source of the jet black color was from dragon scales on her skin.

It was the derivative skill ‘Partial Dragonification’ from characteristic magic ‘Dragonification’. The dragon scale that originally could only came out in Tio’s black dragon form was now being put on like a chainmail so that it wouldn’t obstruct the movement of her small human form. Furthermore, using ‘Dragon Scale Hardening’ that increased the hardness of the scale in respond to the magic power consumption, Tio completely endured all the attacks solidly.

Of course, if Tio was actually hit by all the attacks then the damage would pass through, but with Shia’s help the number of attacks that she got hit with decreased remarkably, she would have no trouble at all if she only got hit by one or two of each variation of attack.

By the way, the reason Tio didn’t turn into dragon completely was purely because her human form was more maneuverable and it was also harder to hit her because she was a smaller target like this. Although her physical strength dropped compared with the state of complete dragonification, she had already mastered the ‘Partial Dragonification’ to the degree that there was not that much difference in defensive capability aspect, so this state was convenient for her in this case.

If this technique was to be given a name then this would be composite dragonification and metamorphosis magic――the ‘Dragon Scale Armor’.

“A return gift!”

The instant a pause appeared between the attacks, Tio turned into a counterattack. She stretched both her hands horizontally and instantly focused tremendous magic power, at the next instant she fired breath attack from the tips of both her hands like a laser that had been compressed to the limit.

The right and left breath attacks that were fired straight like black string easily pierced the monsters at their line of fire. Even the horse head that looked excellent in defensive power was also no exception. This attack of Tio had been refined until its might heightened by that much.

In addition, that was not the end of it. Tio spread wide her hands horizontally and then she twirled on the spot.

Naturally, the super thin breaths that pierced and bisected everything were matching Tio’s movement and trampled the battlefield, mowing down the monsters.

Her clothing that looked like Japanese clothes gently fluttered along with her long beautiful hair, exhibiting elegance like in a dance in this battlefield. The blood spray scattered everywhere by the bisected monsters that were falling to the ground colored Tio’s surrounding like a blizzard of falling sakura petals.

“Impudent…Uranos. The disgrace that you once received, clear it up right here!”

Freed who frowned from looking at Tio’s figure gave instruction at the white divine dragon(Uranos) beside him. Uranos’s reddish black eyes shined in joy.

GOGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!

Uranos raised an extremely loud roar.

It didn’t fire aurora as breath attack, it was merely roaring, but just with that space itself trembled, a shockwave of sound was generated. Normal people would have their body pulverized just from that, and even if they endured it a primitive terror would well up and they might be driven mad, a violent howl.

Truly a roar of a divine dragon.

Due to that, even the monsters who should be its ally couldn’t help but get paralyzed, the attacks that were raining down like storm also got completely dispersed.

Although, it was by no meant that Tio was helped just because of that.

“Nuoo!?”

While her whole body got strongly struck by the shockwave, combined with the lightness of her small human body caused Tio to get blown away. She fell toward the ground like a meteor. Looking carefully, there were few small shining fragments scattered at the trajectory her body passed through. Although it was only a few, but Tio’s prided dragon scales were smashed, just from a single roar.

Tio impacted the ground like that without being able to kill her momentum. BAM Tremor hit the ground and a small crater was created on the floating island, Tio’s figure got concealed by the rolling up dust.

There, a merciless pursuit attack was fired.

GOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!

The world was dyed by white radiance, by the breath of the Uranos――by aurora.

Even the word tremendous couldn’t represent a fragment of that attack’s might. The absurd torrent of light caused the space itself to creak, just its after-wave gouged out the ground of the floating island.

And then, at the place that got hit directly…the aurora pierced until far below――it broke through the bottom of the floating island and pierced until the far beyond.

Yes, the aurora pierced through the ground of the floating island that had the diameter of ten-odd kilometers until it came out on the other side. The sea of clouds spreading under the island had a hole opened there like the eye of a typhoon that dispersed in a radial shape.

A terrifying might. It was just like the light of divine punishment. Everything that stood on its way would be completely destroyed without any discrimination by that breath of devastation.

Before long, the flash that dyed the world was disappearing as though melting into air.

“Tio-san-!”

Tio was swallowed by the aurora, no, any possibility other than Tio got destroyed altogether with the ground leaving not even dust behind was unthinkable from witnessing this spectacle, seeing that caused Shia to spontaneously called Tio’s name with shrieking voice.

While beating to death several gray dragons with her kendama, Shia focused her eyes at the spot where Tio got blown away at, but she could only see a hole in the ground that was completely empty of any living thing and she couldn’t discover Tio’s figure.

“Hmph, perhaps that’s overdoing it. Despite my intention to torture her to death, but to be annihilated with one attack…the situation just cannot go as I hoped for.”

“There is no way such thing is――!?”

Freed glared at below looking not amused.

Shia raged to deny those words.

And then, Shia changed the Vire Doryukken into bombing mode and aimed at Freed…at that moment, the figure of herself getting slashed into pieces by countless large swords was reflected in her brain. It was a death prediction from her characteristic magic ‘Future Sight’.

A chill rushed through her whole body instantly, her voice got caught in her throat while she twisted her body half-forcefully. From the superb timing of the attack’s instant, it brought to Shia’s intention that this was an attack that leaped through space――an attack that couldn’t be dodged perfectly based on Shia’s experience.

In an instant, the space around Shia was undulating, from there large swords were thrusting out in a flash.

“――”

While raising a wordless scream, Shia’s legs and arms cartwheeled midair in order to at least avoid a fatal wound, and then four large swords grazed her and blood sprayed up.

Another large sword approached her head, she avoided that by turning her head and the blade grazed her cheek, two large swords approached her neck from left and right, she blocked one with her Vire Doryukken, and used the chain connected to the kendama to block the other one.

She pulled the trigger of Vire Doryukken next and used the fierce recoil to rotate like a spinning wheel, three blades rushed at her as though blocking her escape path, but she barely evaded them even while her shoulders got gouged.

And then, even while bearing injury, Shia somehow succeeded to get away from her future of death and put her feet on air using ‘Air Force’. At the same time, the apostles with platinum hair flew out from the undulating space with their wings flapping, their twin swords launching severe slashes at Shia.

“KuUUUU-”

Vertical bisecting attack using two large swords at the same time. Shia blocked that attack using the handle of Vire Doryukken, but she was pushed toward the ground by immense pressure and impact where the weapons of both sides were locked with each other.

Amidst the sparks scattered by the large swords and the war hammer, Shia fell with fierce momentum toward the ground, the platinum apostle who wielded that bizarre strength from really close range then opened her mouth at Shia.

“The first apostle Erst. Judgment to god’s enemy.”

Immediately after, the large swords shined in platinum light. Right after that power swelled up explosively into a torrent. The apostle that introduced herself as Erst swung out her twin swords in one breath then.

“Gua!?”

Shia’s body was struck fiercely due to the impact, she fell on the ground like that. BAM Fierce shockwave radiated loudly and a crater was created, dust rolled up. It was like a reproduction of Tio’s fall before this.

Sure enough, five platinum flashes aimed for Shia at the bottom of the crater, all of them were fired simultaneously.

“The second apostle Zweit. Judgment to god’s enemy.”

“The third apostle Dritte. Judgment to god’s enemy.”

“The fourth apostle Vierte. Judgment to god’s enemy.”

“The fifth apostle Funfte. Judgment to god’s enemy.”

The four apostles that appeared unnoticed were conducting their introduction proclamation while launching their bombing. Even if the color of their magic power light was different, but it only stood to reason that the light that an apostle launched must have disintegration ability.

Thinking of the apostle’s explosive power that struck Shia into the ground, the spec of the platinum apostles were obviously above even the normal apostle, from that it could be easily imagined that their bombing would be something absurd too.

Shia immediately pulled her kendama close to use it as shield replacement, but in the end would it make it in time or not… Similar with Tio, it seemed that Shia was also going to vanish inside the light.

But, at that time,

Gigantic black flash that was fired from somewhere approached the apostles, furthermore hyun a sound of cutting wind resounded and something like a rope rushed inside the dust cloud and entangled around Shia’s body, it then extracted Shia from that spot in one go.

The platinum apostles flapped their platinum wings and evaded the black flash. At the same time, the ground where Shia was just at before she got pulled was pierced by the platinum bombardment. The ground after the dust got swept away had been gouged really deeply, even though the attack didn’t pierce until the bottom of the island but the bottom of the hole couldn’t be seen from above. As expected, the might of these apostles had wide difference compared to the normal apostle.

“Shia, art thou safe?”

“Tio-san!”

Shia who was entangled in black rope――or more accurately in black whip was pulled up and received into an embrace of Tio, who although she was in a sooty state here and there with various sizes of wound all over her body, her expression still looked comparatively fine.

Shia spontaneously sighed in relieve, to that Tio grinned widely while the corner of her mouth was holding a test tube container.

And then, Tio moved her lips and tilted the test tube container, she drained up the content in one go before puih she spat away the container also with a wild gesture, she then released Shia from her black whip.

“…So you escaped. What a toughness that is as expected from that man’s woman. How annoying.”

The expression of Freed’s eyes warped while he spouted out abusive language.

“Well, I thought I was going to die for a bit there though. For the large shield created by Goshujin-sama to be pulverized, although it couldn’t use ‘Vajra’ or ‘Transmutation’…thou have really evolved this dragon of thy.”

It appeared in that instant when the aurora poured down, Tio summoned a large shield artifact from her ‘Treasure Warehouse II’ and she barely escaped at the slight time it took until the shield got pulverized. In other words, the protection of Tio’s Dragon Scale Armor got overtaken only by the after wave and she bore this much damage from that. As expected, the aurora of the Uranos was something absurd.

“Hmph, is it really okay for you to act composed? The aurora of Uranos who has reached the territory of a divine dragon is increased not only in its might. Its additional ability to obstruct healing is also evolved. It obstructed even the regeneration magic. On top of that, it is making the wound to worsen further with the passage of time. Although you got hit only by the after wave, if you bore that much wound, it won’t take that long for the effect to gnaw at your body until you die you know?”

“Is that so? All these monsters, and then these platinum apostles, these art quite troublesome. …Well, normally that’s how it would be.”

“What?”

Ahead of the gaze of Freed who was feeling dubious at Tio’s way of talking, Tio was wrapped in the light of magic power. That was the sign that regeneration magic was being used. As though to show that, the wounds that Tio bore were being healed one after another.

Freed was gazing in astonishment while raising his voice from being unable to endure his question.

“Ridiculous…the invasion of the aurora is being nullified? Impossible-”

“The ridiculous one art thou. Just how many times do you think Goshujin-sama hath been showered by that light. Obviously something like one or two countermeasure would be created for that.”

“…Don’t tell me, is it the liquid just now?”

Tio shrugged at Freed’s question. It seemed that was the correct answer.

Anti-aurora magic medicine ‘Fix It J’――the ability to obstruct healing that was included in the magic power of the aurora, Hajime who understood that it came from the magic factor with opposing nature against the magic power contained in the aurora made this magic medicine. Hajime enchanted magic that would negate the effect of the aurora into powder of metal that didn’t have bad effect to the human body to make this medicine.

It had been proven by the ‘God Water’ that it was possible to forcefully heal the affected wound using something with healing power that surpassed the obstructing effect. And so, if the obstructing effect was weakened by this ‘Fix It J’, even if the effect had been evolved but the wound could be healed enough using regeneration magic.

Freed showed an irritated expression that the additional effect of the aurora didn’t show result. Even the Uranos at his side was making growling sound from its throat in dissatisfaction.

But, at that time,

“-, Tio-san-”

“Yes-”

Suddenly, Shia raised a voice of warning, both of them immediately leaped away from their spot.

After that, platinum flash rushed through.

“Freed-sama. These people are that irregular’s comrade. Please don’t let your guard down.”

“Acknowledged.”

Erst was giving a warning to Freed using polite language. It seemed that before they knew it the status between the Freed and the apostles had been reversed. Most likely it was because the transformation that happened with Freed, but right now there wasn’t any free time to know the detail.

The platinum apostles flew out simultaneously focusing at Shia.

“We will hand down the judgment at that rabbit person first. Is that fine?”

“Yeah. I’ll leave that one to you. I too want to judge that dragon woman, the one who made fool of me once.”

Erst nodded briskly at Freed’s words, she then flapped her platinum wings in order to deal with Shia herself and flew away.

When Shia guessed that all the apostles were designating her as their target, she raised a ferocious war cry while forcefully blowing away the large sword that was swung down at her by the second apostle Zweit along with the holder.

“Bring it on desu-! Just try it if you think that you can desuu!”

Immediately after, faint blue magic power burst out from Shia. Using the derivative skill of magic power operation, ‘Body Strengthening’, and then also the further derivation skill ‘Impact Conversion Increase III’, Shia’s body capability was explosively raised up.

And then, she rotated the kendama in high speed using only snapping motion of the wrist of the hand holding the chain, swinging around the super heavy kendama like a flail.

The gigantic metal mass was rotating in circle with abnormal speed and became like a streak of light.

There, the third apostle Dritte came attacking right from the front. Shia pulled the trigger of Vire Doryukken and fired out bursting slug bullet to check Dritte in place.

Dritte evaded that like it was only natural and kept advancing. But, Shia read ahead the path that she took and launched the kendama that looked like it would snap away anytime with superb timing. The liberated red kendama that looked like a wild beast made Dritte unable to take evasive action…was how it looked like, but the moment she was almost hit, Dritte’s figure vanished.

And then, at the next moment, she materialized right at Shia’s side. Furthermore, unnoticed the fourth apostle Vierte from behind and the fifth apostle Funfte from below were approaching, they slashed their twin large swords as though to block Shia’s place to escape.

“ts, youu-”

Shia entrusted Vire Doryukken to her physical strength and swept it horizontally, she repelled away the large swords of the two apostles while dodging the last sword with a somersault.

But, it seemed that this time it was the apostles who read ahead of her movement, Zweit who was sent flying before this was already slashing her large sword in a timing that couldn’t be dodged.

Inside the flow of time that felt strangely slow, the eyes of the inhuman apostle and Shia’s eyes crossed with each other. No emotion or anything could be seen there, but vaguely Shia could feel something like triumph “Even if you can see the future, you cannot avoid this right?”, surely it wasn’t just in her imagination.

Shia wasn’t even agitated or impatient, she returned back a straight clear gaze. Shia didn’t blink even once while capturing the rapidly approaching blade that left behind trail of platinum light in her field of vision.

A predicament of this level was nothing to speak of. Don’t think that the one who obtains new power is just you! Shia proclaimed that implicitly. And then, just when she was about to use that new power…a black whip stretched out smoothly and entangled the wrist of the apostle before her eyes.

(Oh my, I don’t even need to use it. As expected from Tio-san. That’s a superb follow-up desu!)

Shia who whispered that in her heart changed her plan. While a smile formed at the corner of her lips, Vire Doryukken leaped up from below.

The slowing world returned to its original speed.

Right after that, the arm of Zweit was tugged away and the trajectory of her large sword slipped away from Shia’s body. At the same time, the war hammer repelled away the second sword from below at the opposite side while rising up with powerful speed.

GOGYA!

Such graphic sound resounded, Vire Doryukken that hit the jaw of Zweit blown her away to the sky above as though rocket propulsion was carrying her away.

“Disappear.”

Toward Shia who was just lifting up Vire Doryukken, a cold voice――Erst’s proclamation came at the same time with a platinum flash that attacked Shia.

Shia was unable to evade due to an instant of her body stiffening after launching her attack.

But, as expected the color of anxiety was nonexistence in her expression.

Right after that, Zweit who was blown away just now was returning. That wasn’t because Shia’s blow wasn’t effective and she came to attack once more. The black whip that Tio controlled was still connected to her hand, therefore she was now being pulled back forcefully, toward the line of fire of the platinum light.

“――!”

Erst and the pulled back Zweit reflexively gazed in astonishment, at the next moment, Erst’s bombing was defended by Zweit’s own platinum wings.

And then, Zweit shook off the black whip entangling her wrist and got out of the line of fire in hurry.

This was happening in less than a second.

But, that was enough.

“SEYAAA!!”

A yell exploded.

Shia’s Vire Doryukken caught the platinum flash in a full swing. A tremendous shockwave was generated, at the same time, the surface that was coated with sealing stone dispersed the disintegration ability along with the flash.

And then, the apostles who attempted to attack Shia without any interval were held back by Tio’s breath attack, while Tio’s body slipped in to become shield using her dragon scale against the opponent that couldn’t be held back. Although the black dragon scale of the dragon race that boasted supreme hardness was disintegrated, coupled with its unparalleled endurance it somehow pulled through with only faint wound created by the platinum magic power.

“Those arts quiet the cooperation, but it’s troubling for thou to then look down on our cooperation!”

Tio opened her mouth. At the tip of her mouth, magic power was focusing with fierce momentum. Dritte who was looking at that across the arm covered with dragon scale that blocked her large sword immediately leaped away. The compressed breath pierced that vacated spot.

Naturally, Shia and Tio became standing back to back.

“Tio-san, thank you very much. It’s truly amazing that you can breakthrough to here.”

“Well, if I charged with the resolve to be damaged, then as long as it’s not against that white dragon I am unstoppable.”

Yes, Tio saw Shia who was receiving a concentrated attack from the apostles, and then she resolved to receive damage from Freed and the monsters’ attack while cutting across the storm of attacks to come at Shia’s side.

“But, Tio-san, your wound…”

“Shia. It will be okay with this. Just so thou know, there is this.”

“…Aa, I see desu.”

Shia and Tio talked back to back with a small voice that could reach other.

During that time, with Erst at the front as the starting point, the apostles were surrounding the two. Beside Erst, Freed finally arrived accompanied with his Uranos.

“Sorry. It seems that dragon woman is not really bothered by damage. I misread the way she fights a little.”

“No, we too were unable to finish off Shia Hauria. It appears that she has further increased her fighting strength in these few days. …What an unbelievable thing.”

It seemed that the two of them were revising their analysis of Shia and Tio.

“Then, we will pull away Shia Hauria away and exterminate her.”

“Aa. Even the dragon race won’t be able to maintain that kind of reckless fighting for long but, I too will use my full strength here.”

Shia and Tio, and then Freed and Erst, each side exchanged words with each other. The wind of tension blew once more.

And then…

“Exterminating god’s enemy.”

“Receive your judgment, foolish people.”

Erst swung her twin large swords, while Freed distorted the space at the tip of his stretched out hand.

At the same time,

“I’m going-, ――’Level IV-‘!!”

“Come, mine retainer, ――’Dragon Army Summoning’!!”

Shia’s body reinforcement rose by a level, the light magic power enveloping her further increased in radiance. Along with Tio’s proclamation, a hundred armed black dragons materialized from the ‘magic orbs’ that were scattered in the battlefield unnoticed by anyone.

Right now, the gong of the second round was sounded.



 

[Vol 8] Chapter 16 – The World of Holy Precincts



Circle-warning.gif This chapter is translated by Cobalt
and is rehosted with due permission.

“Just how many spaces there are here.”

“Hmmm. It’s fortunate that they enemies art not a big deal but…Goshujin-sama. How much further will it be until we reach Yue?”

When Shia who stayed still in a posture where she had just blown away an attacking monster to the beyond with Vire Doryukken murmured that, Tio who also similarly just blew away a monster to the beyond even with her magic power restrained using compressed and spiral movement to increase her breath attack’s power turned to Hajime while asking that.

“Comparing it to the starting point at the first space…we have gone through around four-fifths of the distance. I guess it might be the next space or the space after that.”

“So you say that it will be soon then!”

When Hajime answered that while activating the compass, a monster came attacking in that timing from behind. With a fierce step Shia stepped between the monster and Hajime and while sending the monster flying with a full swing, she made a happy expression. For the moment if a comparison was made, then the monster here was at the same level with the middle level of Orcus Great Labyrinth’s abyss, but for Shia, they were not enough at all as an opponent. Hajime was also in a state where he wasn’t bothered at all.

At the night before storming this place, Shia and also Tio continued to train inside the space where the time was stretched using Hour Crystal until the sky turned bright, so their strength had been raised from obtaining new power like utilizing the metamorphosis magic and so on. Although it also felt like a hasty preparation, they were in possession of enough cards that could become a trump card.

Although, that too was also thanks to Hajime’s cheatmate, the outrageous food that was overflowing with fishiness, this item had quite a strong influence but…they could only pray that their stomach wouldn’t get hurt. In here there was no toilet, so it would become something dreadful for the female camp if such thing came to pass.

Currently, Hajime and others were smack dab in a middle of the ocean. As far as the eye could see there was not a single island, it was a space of sea. Sometimes, sea monster leaped out from the sea and bird monster flew from the sky, but they were dealt with without any particular problem.

Although, it was a place without any landmark or anything, so if they didn’t have the compass, just how much they would need to wander here…just imagining of being in that situation where they didn’t have any time to waste made them shuddered.

Just as could be understood from Shia’s words, Hajime and others had passed through several words until this point. After they parted from Shizuku and others and passed through the clock tower of the ruined city, they had traveled through a space where the ground and sky were reversed, a space where countless white blocks were floating, a space where there were only large mountains like God Mountain towering over, and a space that was like a giant library where countless bookshelves were cluttered together.

They were able to discover the exits to the next space at all those spaces without getting lost thanks to the compass, so not much time had passed since they parted with Shizuku and others. Even so, when they thought about Yue, they got impatient no matter what, so there was nothing more aggravating than all these countless spaces for Hajime and others.

They did nothing but advanced straight ahead for a few minutes in this space of large ocean with really good visibility that showed them nothing but water, to the degree they wanted to doubt whether there really was an exit in this place. Thanks to their skyboard, Hajime and others covered a considerable distance in a short time, but they suddenly lifted their face.

“Dark cloud?”

Hajime whispered so while narrowing his eyes. His words weren’t really a figurative expression that pointed at the end of this journey. In actuality, the sky that was supposed to be clear was beginning to be covered by dark cloud rapidly like seeing a video that was fast forwarded. Furthermore, even the calm sea was beginning to be stormy due to the strong wind. It appeared that a large storm was suddenly generating.

The obviously strange situation made Hajime quietly narrowed his eyes, his gaze was turning below.

“…Looks like there is something big there.”

“Uwaa, this is also…this is the largest size we have seen from all the monsters we have encountered until now isn’t it desuu.”

“Yes, I can feel a strength that is in a different league with all the monsters we hath encountered until now.”

The expression of Shia and Tio who followed Hajime in looking below distorted unpleasantly.

Ahead of their gaze, a giant whirlpool began to form on the sea. It was obviously not something natural. The phenomenon wasn’t created by sea current. It was a whirlpool created by the side effect of a living thing’s movement.

Before they realized undulation was coiling to the degree that covered the whole sea below――there was a giant snake there.

Looking from the shadow projected on the water surface of the stormy sea, they could see that the whole length of it might be more than three hundred meters. The diameter of its body was so thick that it couldn’t be so easily measured by sight. The whole body was covered by metallic scales, on its back there were also fins attached that possessed hard shine, they glinted just like a blade.

And, at that time,

KISHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-!!

A terrific roar thundered, space was rattling. That roar which was accompanied by physical impact struck Hajime and others violently, in addition, an unknown wave was transmitted to their mind. Probably this roar was accompanied with an effect that awakened terror in the listener’s mind.

Normally the one who heard this roar would have their body along with their mind blown away into darkness due to the shockwave, and even if they barely maintained their consciousness, their brain would be in disarray and their body cowering in fear, they would be turned into prey and could only tremble while waiting to be eaten.

However, amidst all the people that were here, not even a single one of them was someone cute like that.

“So noisy. Anyway eat this.”

Hajime took out Agni-Orkan with a gloomy expression and began an all out shooting. Furthermore, he casually took out from his ‘Treasure Warehouse II’ metallic spheres the size of a basketball――huge explosive and dropped them all into the sea.

A beat later. For an instant light flashed below the sea surface, then along with muted explosive sound countless water pillars burst up toward the sky.

GUOOOOOOOOOOOH!!

The monster of sea raised a shriek. It wasn’t a scream. It was a roar of pure fury. It was enraged from the impertinence of the puny being’s attitude.

As though to display that fury, reddish black light surged from inside the water. That light which made anyone felt severe killing intent was a glint of eyes. While the roar of fury was still shaking the air, the sea surface swelled up like a mountain, and that figure appeared.

A head that looked like dragon leaped out from the sea surface with a long neck that was longer than fifty meters. As for the size, if one was told that each one of its scales was as large as a human child then its hugeness surely could be felt. There, there was a pair of eyes emitting reddish black light and the two layers of sharp fangs that lined up smoothly, and also something like fin at both sides. The fins were similar like the torso, they possessed metallic shine and sharpness of blade, it felt like just by touching it would cause the one touching to be bisected right into two.

An absurd pressure. Just by existing there, the sky was enveloped with a dark cloud, the sea was raging as though the end of the world was coming. The large snake, no, the sea dragon was coated in countless scales that looked harder than even steel, its appearance was just like the leviathan that was told in the legend of earth.

“If we hath to classify this then this must be a ‘Divine Beast’ doth it not.”

“Certainly, from here I can feel a pressure above that of the ‘Evil Eater’ we fought in Meljine Undersea Ruins. If this one is above even an ancient monster, then that’s a valid expression desu.”

Shia agreed with Tio’s opinion about this monster. But, even after calling the monster a ‘Divine Beast’, their expression was comparatively composed. There was also no color of tension that could really be heard from their voice. By the point of time they could converse calmly about the naming of the divine beast, it had shown how the pressure of this divine beast leviathan wasn’t something that worried them.

Perhaps such composure was transmitted to the divine beast, because the divine beast then roared once more. As though to say that it was impossible for his might to not affect these puny existences, the roar was even more powerful than the first one.

But, that roar made it a little too defenseless.

“I told you, you’re noisy.”

Hajime took out his improvised Shuragen.

No, what Hajime took out, whether in the aspect of form or spec, both aspects were already far excelling the territory of an ‘anti-material rifle’. The barrel that stretched straight for four meters long had extensive caliber more than the previous version, no matter how one looked at it this size should be called as gun turret instead. In total the whole weapon had become more than two sizes larger.

――Electromagnetic Acceleration Large Caliber Sniping Cannon(Rail Cannon) Shuragen AA(Acht Acht)

Are you looking for a lovely weapon of man’s romance? Very well, then it’s the 88mm! This rail cannon was something that resided in Hajime’s soul.

Hajime who fixed his aim by holding it under his arm made it so crimson spark was running through the rail cannon. Right after that, the large muzzle turned at the divine beast and the trigger was pulled without any hesitation. With acceleration incomparable with anything until now, the charged cannon that was specialized for piercing let out a fierce thunderous sound and blast while bullet flew out, the bullet had a trail of red flash behind and flew into the divine beast’s mouth.

And then, DOPAN! such sound came out while the scale on the back of the divine beast’s head was smashed and sent flying from inside, in addition, the bullet didn’t stop, it also blew away the cloudy sky above and vanished at the beyond of this another world.

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!

The roar that was raised once more was obviously a scream. The beast’s head was thrown back from the impact and its mouth stayed opened with blood scattering everywhere.

While snorting at that, Hajime made something ran in the shadow. Its speed was too fast and because of the dark cloud the surrounding became dim and it was hard to see, the divine beast also just received damage and got agitated, so it missed that shadow and allowed the thing to infiltrated inside its mouth.

In order to vomit that out, and then also to vent its violent rage toward the one who granted it damage, the divine beast spewed out a terrific heat from its jaw.

Hajime kept silent and took out crossbit. Right after that, the four point barrier that the crossbit created was hit by the blaze, its surface was licked all over by the white hot flame. But, as long as it wasn’t the disintegration attack from an apostle, the barrier wouldn’t be broken that easily, the face of Hajime inside the barrier was unruffled.

The divine beast gazed in wonderment for a moment seeing its flame got stopped, although as though to show its pride as a divine beast it increased the force of the heat further, attempting to roast Hajime to death. Perhaps it should be said as expected from a divine beast, the heat of the blaze was absurd, the flame was something that one mustn’t touch at all cost and the sea surface began to evaporate and smoked up. There was also the effect of the blaze, but the dark cloud that was once blown away was rapidly beginning to come back.

But, right after that,

“Even though we have to hurry on ahead, read the mood already desuu!!”

A mass of faint blue pierced through the sea of black cloud and fell down like a meteor. Rabbit ears were flapping violently from the wind and got unruly. It was Shia.

Right after Hajime defended against the flame, Shia stored her skyboard into ‘Treasure Warehouse II’ and leaped in one go to the sky, she broke through even the dark cloud, danced in the clear blue sky, and turned around after that. Using ‘Air Force’ to continuously stepped on the air, she fell like a meteor aiming at the target.

A wall of air appeared with Shia as the center. Shia instantly shook free from that and plunged into the world of the speed of sound, her momentum didn’t decrease even for a bit and Vire Doryukken which had its weight increased until twenty tons using gravity stone were readied in overhead stance.

And then, the head of the divine beast that got absorbed in spewing out blaze from its large mouth was struck with a gruesome attack without even a drop of mercy or reservation.

A thunderous roar. The sound of pulverization. And then a shriek.

The divine beast whose mouth was forcefully closed had blaze spurting out in trickles from the gap of its mouth while its muffled shriek was also leaking out similarly from the gaps. The head that was covered by those metallic scales was pulverized like broken glass, reddish black meat became visible from there.

Shia’s attack was considerably effective. The divine beast showed a staggering motion that didn’t fit its status. Perhaps it even got a concussion.

But, there was no way these people would loosen their hand just from seeing that,

“I think it’s better using Goshujin-sama’s transmutation though.”

While whispering that kind of thing, Tio was hovering in the sky while flapping her wings, both her hands were joined into a shape like a jaw and black magic power was focused there. And then, she released that in one go. Dragon’s breath that was compressed in this way became a piercing attack.

The attack that was fired advanced in spiraling motion like a thin lance, it impacted the place Shia pulverized accurately and pierced the head of the divine beast.

The black spear went through the head and entered inside the mouth, without stopping it pierced to outside from inside the throat and the attack continued to pierce the sea.

A fatal wound. Everyone who saw that would surely think so, but it seemed that was still insufficient to kill a divine beast that was superior even compared to the ancient monster.

GUAAAAN!!

The divine beast didn’t die instantly, it raised a sound that was a little high-pitched and sea water crawled up its body. And then, when the place that was destroyed was covered by water, the water was swallowed into the wound. Right after that, the wound bulged and recovered like a rewound video.

“Uhee, by any chance, it can recover as long as it has sea water, something like that?”

“In that case, it will take time to kill it completely. It will be best if we art able to destroy its magic stone but…Goshujin-sama, how doth it goes regarding that?”

Tio landed beside Hajime while asking.

Hajime was looking at the divine beast with a strange glint in his eyes while shaking his head.

“No, I cannot find its magic stone. There is a chance I overlook it with how large its body is but…magic stone will grow large in the proportion of the monster’s size, with how much I’m looking but still cannot find it I guess it doesn’t have it from the start. Its whole body is dyed reddish black just like the Evil Eater.”

“Muu, how troublesome. I don’t feel we art going to lose at all, but I want to avoid wasting time…”

“What to do, Hajime-san?”

Ancient monster seemed to be the ancestor of monsters. Shia and Tio frowned from hearing that this monster was the same type with that ancient monster that they once fought.

But, in contrast Hajime only shrugged lightly.

“Facing a giant sea monster like this, the theory is to enter its body and attack from the inside right?”

“Ah, the thing just now…”

Shia raised her voice as though she was noticing something.

Right at that moment, the divine beast whose head was in the middle of recovering raised a scream as though to drown Shia’s voice.

aAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-!!

It was unmistakably a shriek. Its whole body was writhing as though being in an intense agony.

Looking at that state, Tio also nodded in understanding while asking Hajime.

“By the way o Goshujin-sama. What art the meal course?”

“Broiled eel roasted by tar from the inside. The garnish dishes are explosive and deadly poison.”

“Oou…hearing that, I feel a little sympathy for it.”

Hajime’s quick answer made Tio sent a pitying gaze to the divine beast as though she was looking at a poor thing.

As for the divine beast in question, it was shrieking while writhing around fiercely without stopping.

That couldn’t be helped. After all, the crossbit that was sent inside its body opened a gate and poured down a large amount of tar and explosive inside, in addition it also scattered around the strongest poison that was the product of the abyss, where in the end, all of those were lit on fire all at once. Like that even its hard scales were irrelevant.

The divine beast began to drink sea water. Surely it was trying to fill its body with sea water in the attempt to heal. But, that was a bad move.

As though to proof that, right after the divine beast drunk sea water, a part of its torso burst up along with a grand explosion sound. Flame blast also jetted out from its mouth. A scream filled with bewilderment rose from the divine beast.

“Giving a lot of water to flame above three thousand Celsius…obviously a vapor explosion is going to happen. Ah, a beast won’t know anything like that huh.”

“That is, someone who had ever set flame inside the body of something like that must be only Hajime-san. This is absolutely its first experience with that desu.”

“How unpleasant, this first experience is. …No, rather is it not a lovely first experience instead?”

“Don’t get deeper and deeper into your fetish. It’s scary when I wonder if you are going to demand something that is incorrigible even for me in the future.”

Hajime’s expression became unpleasant from hearing Tio’s nonsense. And then, ignoring Tio who was going ‘ehe ehe’ shyly for some reason, his gaze returned at the divine beast.

The divine beast who somehow felt like it was giving off an air of despair from experiencing how the damage in his body got increased instead when it tried to recover. Even so, perhaps because of its dignity as a powerful monster, even while spouting out a lot of blood it was glaring at Hajime with eye glint boiling with killing intent.

Hajime who received that gaze…licked his lips for some reason.

The divine beast twitched.

Hajime murmured to himself while floating a fierce smile to that divine beast.

“I want to eat…”

” “Eh?” ”

Even though it was a small whisper, regardless of the stormy wind and the raging sea, for some reason those words resounded clearly, it caused Shia and Tio to whip their head quickly at Hajime.

The divine beast too, even though it was supposed to writhe in agony, its movement stopped still and its gaze was fixed at Hajime.

Hajime was directing his eyes that were strangely sparkling since some time ago at the divine beast, while whispering further.

“Its flesh is nicely filled to the brim with strength. If it’s this beast, than it surely can become even my nourishment.”

And then, he licked his lips one more time.

With that finally even the divine beast noticed.

The enemy before its eyes, the fiercely glaring gaze this enemy directed at itself wasn’t something easy to understand like hostility or killing intent…it was an appetite for food.

With a shudder, a chill that the beast had never felt since it was born ran through its whole body. Unaware, the divine beast was ‘drawing away’ unbecomingly. The gaze that was by no means had never been directed to it who was an existence that stood at the top of food chain――that gaze from the predator caused an indescribable terror to invade its body.

This person wouldn’t be able to do it――the monster didn’t think of anything like that. At present, the one who was cornered like this was itself. The divine beast was convinced. If it kept fighting on, itself would be definitely…eaten.

The moment it understood that, the divine beast turned aside adroitly with an agility that surprised even itself. The heat inside its body that was burning it up, or the pain of the invading poison, or the impact of the explosion when sea water touched the burning in its body, it ignored all of those and poured all its strength just to escape earnestly.

The divine beast that attempted to escape with a resoluteness that should be nonexistent for the strongest level of monster made even Hajime to get taken aback for a moment. That was just how splendid the escape was. As though pyu~ such sound effect was accompanying its escape.

“-, bastaard. Wait, meaat! How can you run away despite being a divine beast huh!”

PIGYAAA―――!!

When Hajime used the crossbit inside the divine beast in panic to try to stop it in its track, the divine beast raised a roar that sounded a little pathetic, that long body deflated just for a moment, and then it vomited a large amount of sea water that made one wanted to ask just from where it took all of that from.

Naturally, explosions occurred grandly, parts of here and there of its body were blown up, yet it somehow managed to vomit out the crossbit. And then, it manipulated the sea water to make several tornados on the sea, it directed them to Hajime while diving into the bottom of the sea at full speed.

“Let, me, eat, the, meat, of you, bastaaard~”

While blowing away the tornados that were approaching from all directions using impact conversion of magic power, Hajime demanded for the divine beast’s meat with a voice that resembled a deeply held grudge.

The divine beast that looked back just for an instant from under the sea surface met the bloodshot gaze of the tiny being demanding its meat, while harboring a tremendous terror to that, it averted its gaze in panic as though to say “I’ve seen what must not be seen”.

And then,

PIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII~~~~!!

While a crying voice that had surpassed being pathetic and instead invited pity was resounding in the air, its figure vanished into the darkness of the deep sea. It felt like they could hear something that somehow sounded like “I won’t come out from home anymoreee~”, but surely it was just their feeling though.

“Son of a *****! It should be impossible for a monster of that level to immediately decide to escape! Even though it’s a chance to power up at this last minute!”

Perhaps because the divine beast had disappeared, the dark cloud was dispersing and the stormy sea was recovering its calm once more, amidst all that Hajime stamped his feet in frustration.

There, Shia and Tio were approaching with an exasperated gaze.

“For Goshujin-sama, even a divine beast is already nothing but predation target.”

“Until now surely it had never been looked at with that kind of gaze, that’s why it has no endurance isn’t it. Its last cry, it sounded a little pitiful. Perhaps this will even become a trauma for it that turns it into a shut-in after this.”

“Chih, that snake got no guts.”

There was no doubt that surely not even in a dream that a divine beast of all things could have its bravery to be questioned.

Hajime stored the returning crossbit in a bad mood and took out his compass once more to decide the route.

Then, right at that timing, ahead of Hajime and others’ gaze, the space a few kilometers separated from them began to shake like jelly. And then, after a few moments the space melted and disappeared and a large island appeared from the space gap.

“…It seemed, there is an entrance to the next space at the center of that island.”

“Does it appear because the divine beast withdrew?”

“That possibility art high. No one would even imagine that it would withdraw in that way though.”

Shia and Tio sent a gaze of pity at the spot where the traumatized divine beast vanished, and then they followed Hajime’s lead and departed from that spot.

It appeared that the island had quite the size. The island was covered with really tall trees that could reach a few dozen meters in the whole, other than the shoreline they couldn’t see the ground at all. The entrance to the next space seemed to be at the center of that forest.

And then, Shia’s rabbit ears sensed that powerful monsters were running rampant in large number there, especially at the center part.

The monsters weren’t at the level of the divine beast, but every single one of them was a powerful monster. They wouldn’t lose against the monsters, but the monsters’ number was a lot so it felt like it would take quiet the time to fight the monsters just like against the divine beast.

Shia asked Hajime “What to do?” with her gaze.

Hajime took out ‘Shuragen AA’ from ‘Treasure Warehouse II’ once again and took a kneeling posture on his skyboard and entered a sniping stance. Using heat detection, the scope penetrated the trees and projected only the image of living things.

“Aa, don’t tell me Hajime-san is…”

“Wait a bit. I’ll take care of this right away. This is a lightning speed accurate bombardment from outside their detection. Surely they won’t be able to react. I’ll blow away the head of things that looks troublesome.”

Shia took the confirmation from Hajime with a cramped face, and then crimson flash rushed through the sky instantly.

That streak of flash wasn’t noticed at all by a giant gorilla that looked like a giant kong walking heavily deep inside the forest, its head got blown away instantly, and its brain matter was scattered everywhere. Next the bullet impacted the ground and a large crater was created with the trees on the area got blown away.

Furthermore, thunderous sounds reverberated in succession. From a far distance of more than ten kilometers, the lights of death that flew at a speed that was impossible to detect dispersed one after another the heads of the giant monsters loitering around the area that seemed to be the space entrance. The thick forest was instantly turned into a battlefield site that was littered with holes.

“Surely, after defeating the divine beast, next powerful monsters would go ROAR! in a great swarm and the intruder would go Kyaa, what a disaster! Originally this must be for something like that isn’t it.”

“Well, this art not a labyrinth so this art not even a trial…though there art no doubt that this art intended to be obstacles perchance.”

While half laughing Shia and Tio remembered the time until now, where Hajime easily removed the obstacles using methods other than frontal attack, that was why the two of them hadn’t made any significant contributions yet.

Both of them exchanged gazes filled to the brim with sympathy to each other from how their expectation of rampaging with their all in order to take back Yue was betrayed.

But, that ardor would be demonstrated just before they reached Yue’s location.

After massacring the island’s monsters one-sidedly, Hajime and others transferred to the next space from the stone statue at the center of the forest and leaped out into a world of sky where several gigantic islands were floating.

There were islands with a diameter of only a few dozen meters, but there were also islands with a scale of a few kilometers. River water was continuing to flow down from the edge of the floating islands without end with some kind of mysterious logic. Because of the height, the water became mist after some distance of falling as waterfall, the scenery of white mist drifting at the surrounding was very fantastical.

Above all the floating islands were overflowing with greenery, there were plains and also forests. There was not a single floating island that was merely a floating rock.

Sea of clouds was spreading below. The clouds lingered at the height of their gaze, drifting on the sky like cotton candy. Even now it felt like the clouds were giving off a sweet aroma.

Even though there was no sun, but brilliant light was pouring down, light pillar weaved through the gaps of the clouds――several of what was commonly called as ‘ladder of angel’ could be seen.

There were white clouds overflowing with great numbers of floating islands, and then there were also beams of light pouring down.

It was truly a solemnly mystical scenery. If someone who didn’t know anything was told that this place was heaven then they would unconditionally believe it.

After their gazes were stolen just for a little while by that scene, Hajime and others shook their head and advanced forward. Their objective was the floating island that looked conspicuously large even among all the many floating islands. The compass was pointing at there.

They flew their skyboard and closed the distance in the blink of eye. At the same time, they caught strong presence at that floating island.

Before Hajime and others who narrowed their eyes in vigilance, that guy appeared.

“As expected you came. Nagumo Hajime. The fool who defy god.”

With silver wings and hair that looked like an apostle rustling from the wind, the monster user devil race――Freed Bagua was there.



 

[Vol 8] Chapter 15 – The Respective Conclusions



Circle-warning.gif This chapter is translated by Cobalt
and is rehosted with due permission.

After Suzu pursued Eri and vanished at the other side of the ruined buildings, Shizuku and Ryutaro held a battle evenly against the attacking sixty corpse beast soldiers while also opposing Kouki.

If Ryutaro who metamorphosed his own flesh and invoked advanced metamorphosis magic ‘Sixth Heaven’s Demon Transformation’ to display a monster’s special characteristic approached Kouki, then the soldiers would try to hinder him or possibly take him by surprise, but Shizuku would deal with them.

The swarm of black katana she received from Hajime――’Living Swords’ rushed freely around the battlefield, they cooperated like a single living thing and grouped on the soldiers and cut them down.

“‘Group Two – Flash Blossom’! ‘Group Five – Flying Claw’!”

Shizuku’s command echoed in the battlefield. Following that command, inside the swarm of twenty katana, four katana cut apart the large shields of the corpse beast soldiers who were possessing defensive type characteristic magic, even space was cut along with them. And then, the ranks of the soldiers became disordered. Four more black katana launched wind blades toward the soldiers who lost their steel shields.

The wind blades soaring invisibly with spectacular timing and mercilessly cut apart two large shield holders. The soldiers didn’t get bisected because of their high defensive power, but both their arms were severed from the shoulder and rotated in the air.

“‘Group Three – Draw Sky’! ‘Group Four – Flash Blossom’!”

Furthermore, nimble soldiers were using the shield holder soldiers as stepping stone, jumping in the air to stab Ryutaro in the back, but they were pulled back forcefully by four black katana shining dark blue. The large sword and spear they held in their hand were attached tight gakin to the blade of the black katana flying in the air.

The large sword user and spear user who exposed fatal opening were immediately split vertically into two by the space rifts launched behind them. As expected, although they were corpse beast soldiers they would be rendered unable to fight without fail after getting bisected vertically like that.

Even the soldiers with healing type characteristic magic would need time to heal the loss of limbs or from getting bisected. And then, there was no way Shizuku would give them that kind of time so this was the same like removing them from the stage.

The soldiers attempted simultaneous attacks from up, down, left, and right to such Shizuku. Reddish black glints’ of eyes stabbed Shizuku, the killing intents rode the wind and caressed her skin.

Yet, a soft mentality that would shrink back against something of that level had already been thrown away by Shizuku. Especially now that at her side she had the swarm of black katana given as protection to her from the man she was in love with.

“‘First Group – Gravity Flash’! Cut apart, ‘Soaring Claw – Four Ream’!!”

Four black katana pointed their tip outward at the four directions around Shizuku and then they orbited around her, the katana even rotated with twirls that looked elegant. The skill that was invoked was a skill that could temporarily cut gravity――’Gravity Flash’.

The result, the approaching soldiers were suddenly released from the chain of gravity and their balance was greatly broken. Not letting such decisive opening escaping, Shizuku’s sword-draw slashed. With a speed to the degree where her sword arm looked blurred, four sword-draws were repeated within an instant. Each time bell-like sound clink rang, invisible slash made the head of the soldiers flew.

Furthermore, from behind them the black katana that were launched to the surrounding returned with fierce speed, cutting into pieces the headless soldiers without any difficulty.

Shizuku’s ‘Living Swords’ were basically organized into five groups with four katana in each group. By chanting the group name and skill name, she could give the same order to one group. Also, every single one of the twenty katana had their own respective name like ‘Slash One, Slash Two’, Shizuku could also give an order to individual sword using those names. When Shizuku chanted the name of the technique, each of the Living Swords would attack the enemy with their own judgment using sword art based on Yaegashi-style that wasn’t inferior to the skill of Shizuku herself.

Exactly as the name of ‘Living Swords’, all the black katana could have mutual understanding and image sharing with Shizuku using metamorphosis magic, so all the black katana could be controlled as the display of Shizuku’s will without any time lag.

And, at that time, an angry yell reached Shizuku who was evading the fierce assault of the soldiers.

“Shizuku! Dodge!”

“――”

A warning from Ryutaro. Without confirming the content of that warning, Shizuku activated ‘Air Force’ and ‘Ground Shrinker’ and evacuated from that spot in one breath.

Right after that, the spot where Shizuku was at just a moment before was shot through by the flash of Heaven Might along with thunderous roar. One soldier who was swallowed in a bad luck was erased not even leaving any dust behind.

“Kouki. Bastaard, you purposefully overlapped the line of fire. Now you’ve really done it.”

“I’m thoroughly familiar with Ryutaro’s movement pattern after all. It’s really easy to guide your movement.”

“Shut up! If it’s about that, then even me also know how you gonna move!”

Ryutaro rapidly approached Kouki with his ogre flesh. The scene of the huge body that easily passed two-meter scattering shockwave around while advancing had the intensity that could make anyone felt their stomach went cold.

“That’s pointless.”

However, on the other hand, Kouki’s expression didn’t even twitch. And then, without any chanting or gesture, the dragon on his back――the avatar of Heaven Might was controlled and shaped into a shield. Although, because the shield was made from Heaven Might itself, even though it was taking the shape of a shield it was still the light of destruction that contained the property of attack power of annihilation.

“Come on! ‘Folded Vajra’!”

Ryutaro didn’t falter. He crossed both his arms and applied the special trait of the ogre he metamorphosed into, the deployment of multiple ‘Vajra’. It was a derivative technique that boasted toughness in the same level with concentrated reinforcement, this ‘Vajra’ was folded into double and triple layers and formed a protection of steel wall.

Ryutaro who was turned into a single steel mass charged into the shield of Heaven Might without stopping.

And then, even while his ‘Folded Vajra’ was blown away, he splendidly managed to breakthrough with only some wound.

“Yes. I thought that if it’s Ryutaro he would surely do that.”

The voice that resounded there was Kouki’s calm voice.

The moment Ryutaro charged through the shield, with excellent timing a breath attack approached him. Ryutaro who had just released his ‘Vajra’ was approached by destructive light where it wouldn’t end well for him if it hit even with his tough flesh of ogre.

But, even while being illuminated by the light of Heaven Might, Ryutaro showed a fearless smile. As though to say “I thought you are going to do that yeah?”.

“Come, wolf king of the abyss, ‘Sixth Heaven’s Demon Transformation’!”

Right after that, the breath of Heaven Might swallowed where Ryutaro was.

At the same time, Kouki turned his holy sword to the side and took a defensive stance, there gakin hard and powerful impact sound rang.

The tip of a claw was barely stopped in front of Kouki’s eyes. The one who unleashed that claw was a bizarre shape with wolf head, furry upper body, and five sharp claws growing. It looked exactly like a werewolf in a fairy tale.

Kouki wordlessly brandished the light dragon to attack. But, when the light dragon’s claw swept at where Ryutaro was, Ryutaro had already circled to the opposite side and his roundhouse kick attacked Kouki’s shoulder. That abnormal speed blew away Kouki who could only gaze in wonderment.

And, the next moment Ryutaro caught up to the blown away Kouki, his wicked claw swung.

“Kuh”

The outrageous speed and offensive power made Kouki raised a groan reflexively. Even so, while repelling the claw with his sword, he commanded the light dragon and let flew countless light bullets. The Heaven Might’s light that swept up like gatling gun became a counterattack that assaulted Ryutaro, but Ryutaro evaded all of that while leaving behind afterimages.

Metamorphosis magic ‘Sixth Heaven’s Demon Transformation’――Mode Werewolf. Compared to the ogre shape the power and endurance of this from dropped, but the speed increased to an incomparable degree.

Ryutaro who slipped through the light bullets rushed into Kouki’s bosom and lunged with a slash of sharp claws.

“Something like this-”

Instantly, Kouki broke the shape of the light dragon and exploded the light of the Heaven Might. Light swelled up all at once with Kouki as the center. Kouki who turned into a star made Ryutaro unable to endure and withdrew back.

But, his body was quite burned from what he couldn’t evade. Ryutaro had immediately crossed both his arms and protected his vital spots, but this model wasn’t suited for its endurance. His fur was greatly carbonized and smoked while he was made to take distance.

“Ryutaro! You okay!?”

“Ou, I only got hit a little bit there. Just this much is no biggie.”

Shizuku who cut apart several soldiers and rushed toward Ryutaro poured down special healing liquid she received from Hajime on Ryutaro’s head. This time Ryutaro’s body smoked up for a different reason while Ryutaro’s wolfish gaze glared at Kouki.

“Rather than that, as expected that Heaven Might is troublesome. It changes shape too much. I cannot attack him when it matters.”

“Then, let’s try it with the two of us this time. Thanks to Ryutaro holding back Kouki, I have finished taking care the majority of the soldiers.”

“Okay. Suzu is also going all out after all. No way we can say that we cannot win even with two people here.”

“Right. We are going to beat up that idiot quickly!”

“Ou-!”

Confirming that Kouki changed the shape of Heaven Might into a light dragon once more and fired breath attack to them, Shizuku and Ryutaro dispersed in one breath.

Looking at that, Kouki shook his head once and then burst out with even more magic power, his expression was an expression of determination.

“I’m getting worried for Eri. I got surprised in various things by the two of you, however, you two has used up your trump card right? I’ll end this right now.”

Kouki simultaneously invoked the mini light dragons, the Heaven Might version of Sky Flying Sword, and the Heaven Might version of Heaven Meteor Rain in the attempt to overrun the two altogether with the battlefield.

The current Kouki was just like a fortress that randomly shot laser cannons. The light of Heaven Might that was formed into various shapes around Kouki thoroughly destroyed the ruined buildings in the area while approaching Ryutaro and Shizuku to envelop them.

But, putting it another way it also could be said that it was a rough attack that lack refinement. For that reason, Ryutaro laughed. Because he had guessed that Kouki who got impatient after witnessing their persistence would surely rely on large technique.

Right now it was the time to show their trump card that was prepared for against Kouki.

“Come, great tree that pierces the sky-, ‘Sixth Heaven’s Demon Transformation’-!”

Amidst the many approaching Heaven Might, the fur of the werewolf fell out, and that body transformed. Everywhere throughout the body turned gnarled, the skin was dyed into blackish brown color, the hair also changed into deep green color. In all that changes, only the eyes were releasing glaring light of reddish black color.

Right after that, Ryutaro was attacked by small light dragons and the meteor shower of Heaven Might. Ryutaro didn’t even dodge, he charged toward Kouki while being swallowed into the light.

“Ryutaro, sleep for a while for me.”

Kouki was convinced that Ryutaro was defeated and murmured that. Putting aside the ogre shape that was specialized for defense, there was no way for Ryutaro right now who didn’t seem to use ‘Vajra’ to be able to endure that.

But, that thinking was immediately proved to be wrong.

“Don’t screw with me. No way I’m going to sleep before beating you until you wake up.”

“Wha-!?”

Ryutaro leaped out unhurt from inside the light.

And then, Kouki who was completely taken by surprise and shown opening was punched by the fist of the rapidly approaching Ryutaro. The straight punch that lunged straight stabbed toward Kouki’s stomach across the armor. The aim that accurately struck to the solar plexus produced a grand impact that was transmitted toward the inside of Kouki’s body without anything spared, whipping up his internal organ.

“Gohah!?”

Kouki knew well about the destructive power of Ryutaro’s fist, but still, even with his holy armor and impact mitigation skill, the terrific power that might blow away his consciousness made his mind fell into chaos for a moment. His throat was blocked by the blood he vomited from the unbearable pain.

Metamorphosis magic ‘Sixth Heaven’s Demon Transformation’――Model Trent. It was a plant type monster that lived at floor ninety of the abyss. Its special trait was to absorb light and converted the light energy that it absorbed. The converted energy could be changed into anything, whether magic power, stamina, or pure muscle power.

Yes, Ryutaro with this trent shape absorbed the light of Heaven Might that was a light element magic, he then converted that into physical strength.

Because the impact didn’t disperse and was concentrated at one point when it was let out, Kouki didn’t get blown away, his body was lifted up and laid down on the fist. To this Ryutaro laughed fiercely at Kouki.

“Yoo, are you waking up a little with this, best friend.”

“Guh, Ryuta――”

“This one is a freebie. Just how long you are going to sleep talking huh!”

“――Gua!?”

The face of Kouki who couldn’t move immediately from the impact was punched by Ryutaro’s fist that was like a rock. Goba-! Incomprehensible sound rang out from the attack to the face, Kouki scattered around nosebleed while getting blown away.

Even so, his body that was reinforced by Ehito was barely able to keep the connection of his consciousness. He somehow controlled the light dragon that was connected with him and tried to fix his posture.

In a moment, a goosebump suddenly went through Kouki’s spine. At the same time, his ‘Presence Detection’ notified him of the existence of the swordsman lying in wait in the direction where he was blown away.

Naturally, the one who endured the storm of Heaven Might and corpse beast soldiers and circled around was Shizuku. She was standing still in her stance of sword-drawing, while compressing her magic power to an amazing density. Her sheath was creaking loudly as though unable to endure the power, dark blue magic power was overflowing out from the mouth of the sheath.

Kouki desperately attempted to put a brake on himself while calling Shizuku’s name with a voice that sounded similar with a groan from the burden in his body.

“Shi, zuku-”

“Be obedient and accept it, this one attack.”

Like that, while her figure vanished with ‘No Beat’ Shizuku stepped forward while faintly whispering “――’Soul Demolition'”. The flash of sword-draw that was unleashed along with that whisper drew a splendid straight line on the air and bisected Kouki.

“――”

The definite sensation of a slash passing through inside his body made Kouki screamed wordlessly while feeling that he was unmistakably cut.

But, he finally escaped from the impact Ryutaro inflicted on him while seeing Shizuku who passed through him and stayed unmoving in slashing posture, and then he managed to stop moving. Kouki’s eyes reflexively widened, and then, feeling dumbfounded his hand crawled on his body.

Under his hands there wasn’t any sign of cut for even a bit, his body was certainly still connected in one piece safely.

“Just, what in the world…-, what, my magic power is-”

For a moment, Kouki was thinking something convenient that the feeling of getting cut was only his imagination and as expected Shizuku was unable to cut him, but right after that, he was made to know that Shizuku’s slash had definitely reached him.

The light dragon that Kouki had on his back was split into two with the upper part slipping off diagonally, but it dispersed all at once right after. Not only that, even the meteor swarm of Heaven Might – Heaven Meteor Rain that he launched, also the flying slashes of Heaven Might – Sky Flying Sword, and also the small light dragons that flew around like all-range weapon, they were all dispersed.

In that situation, a feeling of lethargy attacked him like it was only natural. Kouki’s body staggered and fell on the ground. Even his flight using the light dragon, also the ‘Air Force’ from his boot became unable to be maintained.

Even so in order to avoid falling to his death Kouki landed on his knees. Shizuku and Ryutaro landed down in front of him.

“Shi, zuku, what, did you do…”

Kouki asked with trembling voice.

“‘Soul Demolition’――the base of this skill is the ability of soul magic that could interfere with the immaterial of the living thing. This skill will search for the source of power in the target. The target’s magic power, stamina, mental, those things that eye couldn’t see could even be cut with this. Cutting only what you want to cut…the farthest territory that a swordsman should reach, I cheated and progressed until there.” (TN: There is the implication that she was asking Hajime’s help in accomplishing this.)

Kouki’s eyes opened wide at Shizuku’s explanation. His expression was dumbfounded as though to say “What the hell with that”.

It was only normal for him to be like that. After all Shizuku didn’t affect Kouki’s body and only cut apart the magic power overflowing inside the body. Indeed, it could be said that cutting only what one wanted to cut regardless of any obstacle was the swordsman’s farthest territory.

Shizuku was being humble saying that she was cheating as a swordsman thanks to the help of the black katana, but in actuality just by invoking ‘Soul Demolition’ wouldn’t so easily let the user choose the target to cut.

After all, it was an act of penetrating every factor of the human body and cut only the target. It would take a really clear image supplementation and above all a tenacious will to accomplish that. A clear will without any hesitation, of cutting only what one wanted to cut while absolutely not wounding anything outside it at all.

It sounded easy to do just by listening to the explanation, but it was actually not as simple as it sounds, it was something impossible if the swordsman wasn’t someone at Shizuku’s level. At the very least even Kouki who learned the same Yeagashi-style wouldn’t be able to use ‘Soul Demolition’ perfectly.

“…But, that was a bit of a blunder. I thought that I’m going to sever the curse of ‘Bind Soul’ with the attack just now, but I couldn’t reach it because it was protected by magic power. …You are still watching a convenient dream right now aren’t you?”

While the swarm of katana was following on her back, with a cling sound Shizuku prepared the black katana in her hand once more, seeing that Kouki’s expression distorted.

“Shizu, ku. You couldn’t, cut me, because…you are still, thinking of me, in your heart….that feeling, still remained, right? Nagumo’s, brainwashing, isn’t perfect. …I cannot, feel your killing intent, is the proof of that.”

“Kouki…”

“It’s, fine. Ryutaro also, didn’t, try to kill me. I will save the two of you――”

Kouki’s words were halted. Because Shizuku unleashed the ‘Soul Demolition’ with the drawing out of her black katana. Ryutaro who was crossing his arms on the side while wrinkling up his eyebrows patted Shizuku’s shoulder as though to say ‘thanks for the hard work’.

Shizuku also sighed ‘fuuh’ while sheathing her katana back. That was because she was convinced that Eri’s ‘Bind Soul’ was cut. With this, the mind that was filled all over with inconsistencies planted by Eri should be crumbling.

“Kouki. How do you feel? With this the brainwashing should be released already. What have you been doing until now. What are happening right now…you understand aren’t you?”

“…”

“Well, no matter. Anyway, just reflect on yourself there. Later we gotta chase after Nagumo and others quickly, punch that ****** god, and then help the guys fighting on the surface……we are going back yeah, Kouki.”

“…”

Shizuku and Ryutaro called at Kouki, but there wasn’t any reply from Kouki. He kept being down on the ground on all fours without even lifting his face. His expression was hidden by his hair and completely unseen.

Although, even though he was not replying it seemed that he wasn’t in silence. The ears of Ryutaro and Shizuku caught the faint sound. A small voice that didn’t even form words. Kouki was hanging his head down while whispering inaudibly.

“Kouki?”

“――――Lies, impossible. This is strange. Absolutely, wrong. Because I am correct. I was just being brainwashed. For me to be the enemy…to Shizuku…to Ryutaro…what had I done…even though it shouldn’t be like this…even though I just want to act righteously…I just want to be a hero…just like Jii-chan…that’s, all…why something like this is…everything is stolen…because Shizuku and Kaori too were stolen by that guy…Ryutaro is also that guy’s ally…”

“O, oi. Kouki!”

“That’s right…this is a trap. A foul scheme…that guy plotted this…I just got caught in it…I’m not in the wrong. I’m not wrong. This is because that guy stole everything important to me. The wrong one is that guy. If only that guy isn’t here then everything will go well. Yet, Kaori and Shizuku and Ryutaro and Suzu too, everyone, to that guy…this is a betrayal. I was betrayed. I was-, betrayed! By all of you!”

Kouki ignored Shizuku and Ryutaro’s calling and kept whispering before he suddenly lifted his face in the blink of eye with a dangerous look, glaring at the two with a gaze filled with hatred.

No, perhaps that expression, should be called as grief instead. The feeling of guilt and remorse, the uneasiness of being unable to return anymore, fretfulness, despair, and so on, the saturation of the negative emotions was attacking himself, even he himself already didn’t understand just what should he do, it was that kind of expression. Kouki was in a state of panic.

His appearance, was just like a lost child.

But, the strength that he possessed wasn’t that of a child by any means. A scream that was filled with plenty of Kouki’s hatred and grief resounded, at the same time his magic power that should have dried up surged out with an unbelievable force. The magic power thunderously twisted in a spiral and pierced the sky.

That radiance, was as if…

“-, Kouki! Stop it! Your magic power should have dried up already! Doing more than this will affect your life!”

“Damn it! What the hell! Why his magic power is overflowing like this! Wasn’t it gone already-”

“It should have been gone! It was severed together with the line that supplied magic power to Kouki. Even now he isn’t absorbing the magic factor at the area to recover!”

“Then just why-!”

“Something likes that-, because it is gone then he can only take it from another thing! Perhaps, his life force or his soul, he is pulling out magic power forcefully from those kinds of things right now! Sooner or later this won’t end well for him!”

“******* ****! Koukii! Come back to your sensees!”

Yes, as if it was the radiance of Kouki’s life.

Shizuku had certainly used ‘Soul Demolition’ to sever the magic power and the supply line that provided him with infinite magic power inside Kouki. There was no doubt about that. And then, even with ‘High-Speed Magic Recovery’ that recovered oneself by absorbing magic factor from outside, it was impossible to recover this radically. Actually, even looking at the flow of magic power that Kouki spouted out, they couldn’t catch sight of any magic from the surrounding flowing into Kouki at all.

That there was the magic power that shouldn’t be there, meant that Kouki was paying some kind of compensation to forcefully bring it from somewhere, such thinking was a valid one. And then, this method that normally was impossible couldn’t be expected to be safe or anything. If Kouki was left alone as it was, undoubtedly there would be compensation that Kouki couldn’t shut his eyes from.

In front of the storm of magic power that released outrageous light and pressure, Shizuku and Ryutaro braced themselves, they held their arms in front of their face while calling at Kouki. But, Kouki kept being in a frenzied state, his ear didn’t listen. With hatred and grief in his expression, it was as though he was trying to destroy the reality before his eyes, no, it was as though he was trying to destroy himself, the radiance of his light was strengthening.

“…Anything and everything are over. I wonder, why has it become like this. Kaori is there, Shizuku is there, Ryutaro is there, Eri and Suzu are also there, together with everyone, we are overcoming the difficulty…that’s how it should be, and yet”

Kouki’s monolog with an expression of crying smile, was resounding extremely clearly.

“Something like this is not what I wished for. If everything, is lost then…if not a single one cannot be taken back then…then I’d rather everything is gone, with this hand!”

The ground and building in the area that were hit by the torrent of magic power became dust and got annihilated. Right now, the radiance of magic power became the radiance of Heaven Might. At the same time, that raging light was gradually focusing and forming shape.

“…Oi, Shizuku. I’ll take care of the Heaven Might. I’ll leave Kouki to you.”

“Are you sane? That Heaven Might is far more dangerous than before you know? You won’t be able to absorb it even in trent model. …You are going to die there.”

The words that Ryutaro murmured while enduring the tyranny of light with a grim expression, made Shizuku frowned even more. But, in contrast Ryutaro was making a fearless smile on his lips.

“Heh, I’m not gonna die here. No way I’m gonna get killed by that guy’s hand. I cannot die here no matter what, that’s why I’m absolutely not gonna die!”

“You muscle brain. There is no logic or anything in what you said just now. …But, fine then. Right now is not the time where logic is needed. Beat up that sulky desperate idiot until he is crying and apologizing okay!”

“Ou-!”

Ryutaro leaped forward. With a fierce smile, he clenched his fist hardly like a rock filled with the resolve of bringing back his best friend without fail.

Right after that, along with a scream, a torrent of light――the bombardment of Heaven Might spiraled out from the thrust forward holy sword and violently assaulted the two.

But, Ryutaro didn’t falter. Rather “BRING IT OOON!” he raised a war cry and met the attack from the front. He crossed both his arms and stepped forward while fully displaying the trait of the large tree monster.

Along with a tremendous impact sound, the bombardment of Heaven Might directly hit Ryutaro. But, Ryutaro wasn’t annihilated. He wasn’t blown away. Like a rock that blocked a raging stream and changed the water flow, like a towering large tree that didn’t even twitch against a furious storm, he kept blocking the light of devastation right from the front and advanced a step, and then one more step forward.

Looking at that unshakeable figure, Kouki’s eyes opened wide. He was convinced that the Heaven Might that he unleashed right now had the greatest power compared to everything until now. Yet despite so, Ryutaro blocked it from the front. As though to say, that he wouldn’t run away from Kouki, as though to say that he wouldn’t avert his eyes.

The reddish black glint of eyes of his transformed best friend that pierced him straight from between the torrent of light, made Kouki’s leg backed off unconsciously. Those eyes were telling him “I’m absolutely, going right there. I’m not gonna let you run away no matter what!” more eloquently than anything.

Like that, Kouki who was half dazed from that intense will of his best friend came back to his senses with a ‘hah’. When he noticed, he had been approached until there wasn’t that much distance remaining between them.

“Do, don’t come! Don’t come here! If you, come closer than that, I’m going to kill you for real! Even if it’s Ryutaro, I’m really going to kill you!”

Kouki yelled with an expression that was going to break in tears anytime in derangement. Seeing the figure of Ryutaro who had approached near him until the distance where he could even see his face, Kouki’s heart became even more disturbed.

Yes, Ryutaro was already wounded all over his body. No matter how great the trait of light-absorbing the trent model had, there was this thing called limit, in actuality, the light of destruction that couldn’t be dealt by the trent’s trait was making both his arms torn all over, everywhere in his body had blood spurting out.

But, nonetheless Ryutaro was still smiling fearlessly. And then, he advanced, one more step.

“A, a, aaAAAAAAAAAH!”

Kouki screamed. Even himself already didn’t understand just what he was doing. He was merely repeating ‘it shouldn’t be like this’ in his heart while wielding his strength to deny the reality before his eyes.

The mass of Heaven Might that was completely formed was a giant that could even come out in legend. The giant of light held its large arm aloft, and clenched its fist. And then, light exploded with Kouki’s scream as the nourishment, like that the fist swung downward toward Ryutaro below like a star.

DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-!!!

A thunderous sound resounded. The ground was bursting open with the place where Ryutaro was at as the center, everything was swept away in a radial shape.

“A, aa…”

Kouki moaned. While being in a daze he was convinced in the corner of his mind. Right now, he had killed his best friend with his own hand. Kouki’s heart was creaking. His eyes lost focus, meaningless thought was running around in his head.

Like that, Kouki’s mind was almost breaking down, at that time,

“Yoo, best friend. What, a ****** pathetic face, you are making there.”

“Eh?”

The dust was blown away.

There Ryutaro was standing. He was alive. Not only that, while grinning fiercely, he was stopping the crushing blow of the giant with both his arms lifted up. His body that was like a gnarled blackish brown tree had cracks running everywhere on it, blood was spurting out from all over his tattered body, yet the strength residing in those eyes wasn’t weakening even for a bit.

“Ryu, Ryutaro? Su, such thing, why, this should be impossible to bloc…”

“Stupid…idiot. A fist, like this…without any spirit in it…is not gonna work on me. …Hey, Kouki. You…just cannot kill me. Do you…understand why huh?”

“U, e?”

“See. That’s because, the current me…is invincible. Since the time I decided-, that I’m gonna bring back my stupid idiot best friend-…I am invincible-. That’s why-, you…won’t be able to kill me-. Until I bring you back-…I’m absolutely…not gonna get killed or anything—”

“u, a…wh, why are you, going that far…”

The heroic words and figure of his best friend caused Kouki’s voice to be caught up in his throat.

Facing such Kouki, Ryutaro smiled broadly with wounds all over his body and formed his words.

“Something like that, is obvious, right? If your friend went the wrong path…punching, and stopping him…is a best friend’s…role ain’t it.”

“Because, a best, friend…”

“Ou. …But, well, for this time, that role, I’ll leave it to her. It’s pathetic but, my fist…doesn’t look like…it will reach.”

“Eh?”

Hearing Ryutaro’s words, Kouki was taken aback for a moment. Ahead of his gaze, under the giant’s crushing blow that Ryutaro blocked, a black shadow was rushing through. With her trademark ponytail fluttering, and a dignified gaze that was looking straight at him, it was the girl who was his childhood friend.

“――’Soul Demolition’!”

“――!?”

The invisible slash cut apart the magic power inside Kouki once more.

The giant of Heaven Might split into two and the upper part slipped off diagonally while dispersing. Underneath it, Ryutaro collapsed with all his strength used up. Before Kouki’s eyes were a figure standing still in a stance of drawn blade staring at him with a gaze that looked likes obsidian stone. While all of those were reflected in his sight, Kouki was falling backward from the slash’s impact.

And then, Kouki who saw how the intent to attack didn’t disappear from Shizuku’s gaze even after she swung her black katana, “Aa, so this is my retribution…” with a strangely calm feeling he prepared to accept the blade of his childhood friend.

But, there a voice resounded. A familiar dignified voice.

“Grit your teeth-! You big idiot-!”

“-!? Guah!?”

Dogo-! With a dull loud sound, a severe impact was transmitted on Kouki’s cheek. The force that echoed until the core of his head blown away his consciousness for a moment. His sight that immediately returned after that was also flickering black and white. Strength naturally left his arms and legs from a cerebral concussion.

The sky was visible in his distorted sight. Kouki was vaguely understanding that he had fallen down.

Right after that, the following impact came from his opposite cheek. His head was snapped with a force that might tear off his neck. Just when he thought that, the next moment his head was snapped to the other side again along with an impact. And then further impact, impact, impact…Kouki’s head was blurring left and right in high speed like a broken toys.

“This one is for all the trouble you caused for me! This one is for all the troublesome things you pushed on me! This one is for wasting the follow-up I did for you! This one is for not seriously listening to my scolding! This one is for various other things but anyway this if for me! This one is also for this and for that and for there and also for me!”

“Buh! Beh! Boh! Bah! Goh! Hih! Gih! Gee! Oboh! Abeshih! Buberah!?”

‘ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA-!!’ With a force that made anyone looking at this scene would feel like hearing that, Shizuku was earnestly talking about her share of retribution while doing not a double slap but already double punch on Kouki’s face. The white object glittering in the air was surely Kouki’s tooth.

“Shi, Shizu-, wa-――”

“I won’t wait I won’t stop punching until you are crying and apologizing! My store of patience already has run out completely here, no more playing around! How long you are going to throw tantrum! Because everything is not going how you want it you get sulky and want to break everything! You pushed that tantrum to your surrounding! This ****** brat-. I’m not going to listen to whatever you say anymore! I’ll teach this idiot that cannot be talked with using a beating! Prepare yourself!”

Shizuku’s angry yell echoed in the war site of the ruined city. She was straddling Kouki who was lying down facing up and mercilessly punching repeatedly with her left and right fists.

“Shi, Shizu-, gahah”

“It shouldn’t be like this? That’s obvious! There is nobody who is living with everything going their way! Everyone, they gritted their teeth, held their head, they will say ‘even so-‘ and then they did their best still! Running away from the reality in front your eyes, without even trying to fight, there is no way you can obtain the future you wished for like that! You, in the end, you are just a spoiled brat-. You averted your eyes from anything inconvenient, you are only wracking your head for excuses, and if that’s still not enough then you will think that’s because of other people’s fault…”

Before he knew it, the fists of Shizuku lost their momentum, in exchange they grasped up the collar of Kouki strongly.

“Anything and everything is over you said? Don’t screw with me-. If you think you can just end it all by yourself then that’s a big mistake. You think I’m going to let you die easily like that-. If you are not going to understand no matter how many times I said it, then I’ll make you understand forcibly. Even if I have to tie your neck with a rope, I’ll drag you back. After that, every time you do stupid thing I’ll beat you up!”

“Shizu, ku…”

‘If you still feel like making impertinent talk then I’m going to hit you until you cannot talk’, the eyes that were glinting right before he were telling him that. Blood was already leaking from Kouki’s mouth and nose, his face bloated up looking like a goblin, Kouki who was turned into such a horrible state opened his mouth with a voice that sounded like a groan.

“Di, didn’t you, choose Nagumo…”

“That’s right. The one who I like is Hajime. It’s not you. So what?”

“…Why…aren’t you giving up…on someone like me…even though I did horrible things…why…”

Even though she should have chosen Hajime, even though he had troubled a lot of people, even though he had done horrible thing to his important best friend and childhood friend, yet why didn’t they abandon him, to Kouki who stared at her unable to hide that bafflement, expression of rage finally vanished from Shizuku’s face and a troubled smile appeared.

“Isn’t that obvious. Because you are my childhood friend. We have been together all this time since childhood, for me you are the same as an important family, that’s why. Family, absolutely will not forsake family. Well, though I want to be spared from having a bothersome little brother like this.”

She couldn’t abandon him because he was like an important family. No matter what stupidity he perpetrated, he wasn’t abandoned, that was why they were family. Like that, inside Kouki who was told that along with a smile, something fell with a thump.

For the sake of the world, for the sake of the people whose face he didn’t know, because he was a hero, because he had to be righteous, all the things that he was fixated with until now suddenly looked small.

Only, because they were family, because they were best friend, they said that and they acquired strength incomparable from before, they came pursuing him until a dangerous place like this Holy Precincts despite him being the betrayer, even though they might die they just laughed and stopped him from running wild.

…Even though those should be an insignificant reason, just why they felt so big to him. Why, did they felt so powerful.

Tears were falling from Kouki’s eyes in large drops. His pathetic self that he finally became aware of from the bottom of his heart, and the childhood friends who still reached out their hand staking their life until the end even for someone the worst like that, caused an emotion that was indescribable and soppy, yet by no means it felt unpleasant welling up inside himself.

“So, rry. …Really, I’m sorry…I, something like this…aa, I, what have I…”

“You are crying while apologizing huh. This big idiot.”

After an indescribable feeling toward his childhood friends, a tremendous feeling of guilt and remorse welled up next. For Kouki who was fixated with the right thing until now, what he had done was the lowest and the worst deed. To the degree that he thought that he should repent for that with death.

But, that thinking was something that would make the act of his childhood friends who staked their life into something worthless, and then, in the end that thought was,

“Don’t you run, Kouki. Live, fight. We won’t forgive any path other than that.”

Death was just an escape. Even if it was hard, even if he lost his place to belong, even if he was cursed and disparaged by anyone, he had to keep living. That was exactly his atonement, a fight that Kouki had to do. In place of all his wretched escape until now, he had to continue to live and fight from now on.

Kouki cried while biting his lip at the straight gaze of his childhood friend. As though the feeling of his childhood friends was carved in his soul. As though he was determined to part with the him before this.

“…Shizu, ku. I…must not die. I’ll live, this time for sure, I have to fight. Not against anybody else, but against myself.”

“Yes, that’s right. That’s why, cry now, after that stand-up and do your best. If you are mistaken, then I’ll beat you up until you cry once more.”

Listening to what Shizuku said, Kouki showed a complicated expression that seemed vexed and pathetic, but also a bit happy where he couldn’t say anything. And then, he directed red eyes at Shizuku who let go of his collar and moved aside from above him. Those eyes had clear color as though evil spirit had left him.

“…There is, no need for that. Because, I’ll change. I swear I’ll change. To the degree that a childhood friend the same age as me cannot treat me like a ‘little brother’.”

“Is that so? Well, even if you become like that, I won’t treat you as a man you know?”

“Uu-, don’t put up defensive perimeter like that. …Is that how much you like Nagumo?”

“Yes, I love him. I am deeply in love with him. It’s vexing that I cannot monopolize him, but I’ll even share him peacefully. About the hardships of that side, if it’s him then he will easily shoulder it.”

“Don’t speak fondly of another man in front of your beaten up little brother like that…”

Kouki smiled wryly. There were plenty of frustration filled in that gaze, but he didn’t look disturbed from jealousy. Because in his heart he had an understanding. Just what attracted Shizuku to Hajime. That something was exactly the difference between him and Hajime, possibly even the difference between him with Shizuku and Ryutaro, it was the reason for his defeat, he finally understood that.

“…You two, are you two forgetting me?”

While Kouki was feeling frustration and self-reproach of his childishness until now and resolved to change for his atonement, Ryutaro had crawled and approached their spot before letting out a voice of displeasure.

“My, Ryutaro. You really can move even with that tattered state aren’t you?”

“Because I already drank Nagumo’s Yunke– special recovery drink just now. I barely can move.” (TN: Yunkeru Royal C, a drink in Japan.)

Kouki directed his gaze at Ryutaro who was answering while waving around a test tube container. He looked straight at his best friend who was wounded all over because of his fault, at the man who continued to call him ‘best friend’ through and through.

“Ryutaro…I’m sorry.”

He mustn’t lower his head. If he lowered his head, he would take off his gaze from Ryutaro. Because he had decided, that he wouldn’t avert his eyes from any truth, any reality, for the second time.

Ryutaro who received that gaze of Kouki returned a calm gaze after a little pause. And then a beat later, he smiled broadly and only said a word,

“Ou.”

As though to say that excessive word was unneeded, he replied with just that. The answer that was just like Ryutaro made Kouki smiled a bit. Between the two of them, just that word was enough.

But, at that time, a voice suddenly resounded.

“What, is this…”

Shizuku came back to her senses with a ‘hah’ and quickly turned aside with the black katana in hand. Ryutaro also tried to ready himself somehow, but his damage was too deep, on top of that his ‘Sixth Heaven’s Demon Transformation’ was also already released, so he couldn’t stand up.

And then, Kouki who was in the same state that couldn’t stand up called the name of that voice’s owner.

“Eri…”

With wounds all over her body, Eri was floating in the air with her flickering gray wings flapping. She was staring at Kouki and others in a daze.

Suzu also came in pursuit from behind. Shizuku averted her gaze from Eri for an instant and met Suzu’s eyes. They were happy for each other that they were all safe, and then, the next moment they stared at Eri with an expression that was pregnant with tension.

Eri didn’t even notice Suzu, she was letting out a cracked voice.

“Heey, why, is the atmosphere is warm like this? Heey, Kouki-kun. These guys are the enemy you know? They followed the hateful, hateful enemy that stole every single one of Kouki-kun’s important things, they are betrayers you know? Why are you talking with them peacefully I wonder? Why I wonder? Heey, why?”

While tilting her head bobbingly like a broken toy, Eri talked with an empty gaze and unfocused eyes. Her four limbs were smashed and twisted into the wrong direction, so she looked like a marionette that was created with bad craftsmanship.

“Eri…I’m sorry. I already, cannot fight against Shizuku, or Ryutaro, or Suzu. All this time I have been mistaking the enemy that I should fight.”

“…What’s with that?”

Eri’s head tilted to the side and stayed still unmoving. The angle of her head made them hallucinated that the bone of her neck had broke. Eri gazed at empty air and opened her mouth with madness riding her voice.

“What’s with that? What’s with that? What’s with that? What’s with that? What’s with that? What’s with that? What’s with that? What’s with that? What’s with that? What’s with that? What’s with that? What’s with that? What’s with that? What’s with that? What’s with that? What’s with that? What’s with that? What’s with that? What’s with that? What’s with that? What’s with that? What’s with that? What’s with that? What’s with that? What’s with that? What’s with that? What’s with that? What’s with that?”

“E, Eri, listen to me-. I, I am a stupid idiot that don’t understand anything, but right now there is one thing that I do understand, that surely I hurt Eri. That’s why, perhaps you think that it’s too late right now but-, just one more time, let’s talk-”

Eri repeated the same words like a broken record. Kouki who reflexively called at her one more time made Eri’s eyes that stared at empty air to catch sight of Kouki in a snap. And then, she stared at him for a while with an expressionless face like a noh mask.

The air was strained tightly whether one wanted it or not. Kouki didn’t avert his eyes. His words were clumsy, inside his heart he didn’t understand anything at all, he didn’t understand about what he should do and everything didn’t go well even for himself, but even so he thought that he had to look at Eri properly.

But, that straight gaze looking at her desperately seemed to have the opposite effect that made something inside Eri couldn’t accept it.

Strength suddenly left Eri’s body. And then, she made a sweet smile that looked the most human from everything until now. That was a mysterious smiling face, where resignation and scorn, cynicism and exasperation were mixed…

Like that, a single word, her last word resounded in this world.

“Liar.”

“Eh?”

Kouki tried to ask back.

But, before he could let out any word, intense light surged out from Eri’s chest.

“Tha, that’s-, Eri, you-――”

Shizuku who saw through what was the source of the light raised her voice in shock.

That thing which emitted intense light from Eri’s chest. Once, when Kouki and others were cornered in Orcus Great Labyrinth, in order to save them Melt Logins tried to use that magic tool for self-explosion――’The Last Loyalty’.

But, the light that Eri emitted was incomparable with that time. It was obviously letting out strengthened power. It was obvious that it was hiding a power of artifact class. Most likely it was ‘The Last Loyalty’ that she stole from among the leader class knights that she turned into corpse beast soldier, then she reinforced it with some kind of method into artifact class.

Its destructive power was unfathomable. And then, the activation speed was also incomparable with the original ‘Last Loyalty’.

Shizuku’s words were cut off. Because an explosion that erased even the sound trampled the area along with the light.

The torrent of light dyed everything white. A silence that made anyone hallucinated whether the world had vanished was violating everyone.

Shizuku, Kouki, Ryutaro, they all immediately covered their face with their hands. And then, by lifting their hands like that, they noticed that they were able to recognize that the world was dyed with white and silence. At the same time, they saw a shadow that stretched long toward them.

That was the shadow of the protector they could rely on. The barrier master who had protected her comrades many times over until now. The girl was standing in the way of the torrent of light without taking even a step back, two iron fans readied like a shield. There was also the shadow of Inaba clinging to that back as though supporting her.

No voice could reach. But, Shizuku, Kouki, and also Ryutaro prayed wholeheartedly. Because they could do nothing else except that, they prayed that at least their pray would reach, becoming her strength.

Suzu felt like nodding a little.

Before long, even her figure was buried in light and became not visible.

Suzu was in a mysterious space.

Right after she nodded feeling as though she was hearing the voice of Shizuku and others, when she noticed she was already in this white space. There was no light or impact in this really deep space.

In such mysterious place, there was only one person other than Suzu.

“Eri…”

“…Suzu.”

The two of them faced each other with a certain distance between them. They stared at each other for a while wordlessly. The one who opened her mouth first was Eri.

“What a strange place. Is this a revolving lantern one see before death…a bit different I guess. Or a near death experience…I died already though so I guess that’s really not it.”

“Then, Suzu has died too perhaps. Suzu thought Suzu managed to defend to the end however.”

“Who knows? If possible I want to take you all along with me though.”

“Suzu want to live. Suzu also wants Shizuku, and Kouki-kun too, also Ryutaro-kun to live too…Suzu also wants Eri to live.”

Suzu’s words made Eri snorted as if she making fun of her.

“Hmph. After sending me flying mercilessly like that, you can still say that so shamelessly.”

“Ahaha. Yeah.”

Eri became plainly displeased looking at Suzu who was smiling wryly. And then, without even hiding that displeasure she further opened her mouth.

“I somehow feel that we won’t be in this world for long, that’s why I’ll say this right now. Suzu is seriously gross.”

“…Hee. For example?”

“Let’s see. Like when you always laughed foolishly. Or even when you were talked behind your back, you still laughed as expected. Or how your inside is a perverted old man. How you said disgusting thing like wanting to become a friend even when in the middle of killing each other. It won’t end if I keep showing other examples, but the grossest thing is, how even when you are already in this age, you are still calling yourself with your own name. No, really, you are impossible aren’t youu”

Suzu’s forehead was twitching with her vein visibly rising to the surface. And then, still smiling she counterattacked.

“Suzu seeee. But, Eri is also mostly disgusting aren’t you?”

“Haa?”

“You always had a friendly smile while standing behind. Even when you were talked behind your back you only smiled as expected. Your inside is just someone dour. You wear glasses and act reserved like a library committee member, you tried too hard fitting in with that cliché. Also, Suzu doesn’t want you saying anything about how Suzu called herself. Just what with your ‘boku’. Seeing a glasses girl getting too worked up calling herself ‘boku’ like a library committee member is just painful. Furthermore, [I am the heroine] you said. Pupu-, you need to graduate from being a chuuni.” (TN: Chuunibyou=Sickness of the youth where they kept mass producing black history. They were convinced that they were a character of fantasy story.)

Eri’s forehead was twitching with her vein visibly rising to the surface. And then, still smiling she counterattacked.

“Chuuni? I don’t want to be called that by a painful girl who said something like [Onee-samaa] in real world seeee. Geez Suzu, you have an inclination for yuri aren’t you. I have felt the danger to my body several times before. What an impossible pervert. Really gross.”

“Ahaha, something like that is still in the range of joking, right? I don’t want to be treated as a pervert by a misunderstanding female who got hung on her first love and rushed full speed to the hill seee. Seeing that is really impossibly painful you know. Really gross.”

“…”

“…”

” “AAaa?” ”

Both of them were slinging violence of words at each other with a thuggish expression that didn’t look like high school girl beauty. After that for a little while abusive language that would make anyone wanted to cover their eyes flew back and forth between the two.

Like that, perhaps unable to continue to breath the two of them were going “Haa haa” with their shoulders heaving, around that time the white space suddenly began to crack.

“Hmph, looks like this world is finally ending.”

“…”

Suzu couldn’t reply to Eri who was making a refreshed expression. With her hands on her knees she was facing down while hiding her face. But, she couldn’t hide the things that trickled down on the ground.

“…What, you are crying? Stupid.”

“Sh, shut up, already. The one who said, idiot, is the idiotic one…”

Suzu held back her sobbing while roughly wiping the overflowing drops. Guessing that the true parting was approaching, she was unable to hold down the something that was welling up in her heart.

“…I said something like that just now but, perhaps, Suzu and others haven’t died yet. The one who is going is me(boku)…just me(watashi).” (TN: Eri suddenly changed the way she called herself there.)

“E, ri?”

The way she called herself that suddenly changed, no, returned to normal made Suzu lifted her still crying face. Ahead of her gaze, Eri who was still averting her face was making an expression that was deliberately displeased.

“Suzu also understand somehow right? Despite so why are you crying like that.”

“That, is”

“…Really what an idiot. Just what are you feeling regretful for, for this kind of betrayer, this worst woman trash.”

The white world was noticeably dispersing from the edge.

“At this late you were saying ‘want to be together’ or ‘protect’, I thought whether you were actually aiming for that.”

“Eri, Suzu is…”

“Come on, that’s disgusting so change the way you call yourself.”

“Uu, Eri…”

A collapse separated the two. Almost everything had been mostly dispersed other than the foothold of the two. Amidst that, Eri’s words that sounded like a monolog resounded.

“…At that time, if the one that I met on that bridge was Suzu…what would happen I wonder? For me to think of sooomething like that, yep, I’m the biggest idiot.”

“Eri, Suzu is――I, am glad to be Eri’s best friend! Even if that was faked, even if it was distorted, it was fun! I-”

The foothold dispersed. The body of the two was also turning into sand and vanished as though blown away by the wind.

Eri who was facing aside turned her face toward the yelling Suzu. Her expression looked expressionless, but somewhere it also seemed to be filled with a relieved atmosphere.

And then, the true last words of the girl named Nakamura Eri reached only the girl named Taniguchi Suzu who was once her best friend, who by some chance, might even still her best friend even now.

“…Bye bye. The time when I was with Suzu, I felt at ease, just for a little.”

“――”

Suzu’s yell was swallowed by the vanishing world and didn’t become sound.

Even so, from the expression that Eri showed Suzu in the last moment, she believed, that surely she had reached her.

drip, drip Such feeling caressed her cheeks.

Other than what was behind Suzu, everything was turned into dust in this ruined city. There a sobbing reverberated.

The twin iron fans that Suzu held with both her hands crumbled in pieces as though to say they had finished their role and fell on the ground. Suzu herself also sat down on the ground with a body full of wounds, but Shizuku and others who were completely protected behind her didn’t call at her worriedly.

Shizuku and others didn’t know about the mysterious phenomenon that Suzu experienced. Even so, they were able to guess that the tears that Suzu let out were her feeling for her important friend. That was how pained and how sacred her figure looked.

Before long, as though to say that she had cried enough, Suzu wiped her eyes briskly, and then with those bright red and clear eyes, she clenched her body and stood up. And then, she turned toward Shizuku and others with an energetic turn.

“Now, Shizuku, Kouki-kun, Ryutaro-kun. Let’s advance ahead!”

An innocent smile. Just like how it usually was. That smile which protected her comrades in a different meaning than a barrier, right now it looked a bit like an adult. Compared to when they were in Japan, compared to when she cheered up everyone in the labyrinth, it looked far more charming.

The source of liveliness that was overwhelmingly effective made Shizuku and others to naturally slacken down their cheeks. Though it was only Kouki who was making a complicated expression.

Has something happened, he didn’t ask that. Because surely that was something that was stored inside Suzu’s heart inside even her treasure box. To forcefully ask her would be a boorish act.

“Yossha! Let’s chase after those guys and help them with this and that!”

“Even if you said that, I and Ryutaro cannot move properly though…”

“Besides, the clock tower was also destroyed you know? It doesn’t look like there is other entrance that can connect the spaces.”

Shizuku turned her gaze at the place where the clock tower was at. Over there, she couldn’t find the ripple that connected the space.

“Aa, now that you mentioned it, the ruined city of this space is not only in this place, I heard that story before.”

“Then, let’s search for another city! The skyboards are quite ragged, but I think if we use every trick in the book then they can still be used for a while. We surely can find another city if it’s from the sky!”

“I guess there is that. Anyway, Kouki and Ryutaro, you two have to recover quickly. I’ll make you two drink restorative medicines until your stomachs are bloating like a balloon.”

Kouki and Ryutaro looked at the recovery drinks lined up before their eyes with reluctant eyes, even so they poured them down their throat somehow and their body was healed with the combination of their own recovery strength.

Like that after resting for a while, they took out their skyboards and flew to the sky. Kouki was riding together with Ryutaro on his skyboard.

Suzu who soared high to the sky in the lead twirled to turn behind and looked down on the ruined city below with a bit lonely expression. However, that too was only for an instant. She immediately made a strong and lively smile and raised her voice.

“Now, everyone, continue after me!”

“Geez, Suzu.”

“Haha-, this is the Suzu that we know.”

“We are no match for Suzu huh.”

Like that Suzu, Shizuku, Ryutaro, and Kouki, the four of them in order to chase after Hajime and others they searched for other ruined city and soared in the sky of another world.



 

[Vol 8] Chapter 14 – The Reached Out Hand, Didn’t Reach



Circle-warning.gif This chapter is translated by Cobalt
and is rehosted with due permission.

“I won’t hold back. It will be fine, after this I will revive you all without fail after all.”

Kouki thrust his holy sword together with those words. At that moment, the dragon of light that was made right from the highest grade light element attack magic ‘Heaven Might’ itself――the light dragon fired breath attack of Heaven Might.

The pure white light that scorched the air drew a spiral trajectory while approaching Shizuku and others.

Looking at that, Suzu was about to wave her iron fans to invoke Holy Severance for scattering the energy.

But, as though foreseeing that, Eri invoked her magic a step faster.

“Ahah, ‘Mind Sliip’!”

“――”

Darkness magic ‘Mind Slip’――a magic that temporarily sealed the target’s memory of a few seconds before until the current time. It was only a memory that felt like a blink of eye, but even so, if that magic was used in the middle of a battle it was an extremely troublesome spell that created a fatal opening. It was supposedly difficult to handle this magic because it was a high-class magic, but Eri could use it without difficulty.

“Chih”

In front of the approaching light of death with Suzu failed to lay out a barrier, Ryutaro lightly threw away Suzu while he jumped away from that place together with Shizuku.

Right after that, the roar of Heaven Might passed through the spot where the three were just at the moment before, it pierced through a ruined building and fiercely shaken the whole building.

The corpse beast soldiers leaped from all direction in careful aim toward Shizuku and others who escaped to the air.

“Shred, ――’Fang Flash’!”

Shizuku invoked ‘Fang Flash’ while drawing out her black katana toward the corpse beast soldiers who swung their large sword from left and right. This attack would carve three lines simultaneously with one slash, however, although the arms of the corpse beast soldiers were cut off, the attack didn’t reach until their torso.

Shizuku narrowed her eyes looking at the result of the attack that she let out with the purpose of bisecting the enemy into two. The reddish black magic power enveloping the corpse beast soldiers was reflected in her eyes.

“‘Vajra’ is it.”

As though to say that they didn’t feel any pain, even while they lost one arm the corpse beast soldiers switched to their other arm and swung their sword, Shizuku was whispering to herself while kicking on the air using ‘Air Force’ and rotated her body to evade.

Nearby her, there were the figures of Ryutaro who blocked the approaching countless wind blades with his ‘Vajra’ and Suzu who parried red a spear using petals of light.

It appeared that the corpse beast soldiers had full array line up. Other than people who could use elemental offensive characteristic magic, there were also other people with defensive skill and healing skill. The group was really abundant with variation. In this aspect, perhaps there were also corpse beast soldiers that could hide themselves or absorb magic like the chimeras they faced before.

When Shizuku was being vigilant against the ability of the soldiers, suddenly a chill ran through her whole body. The warning bell of her instinct was ringing loudly. Shizuku immediately invoked ‘Air Force’ in conjunction with ‘No Beat’ and leaped away from that spot using her full strength.

At that moment, countless light blades passed through the space that Shizuku just vacated. The light blades kept soaring without stopping and cut into pieces the side of a ruined building at slightly far away place, the ruined building that lost its support collapsed with a thunderous sound.

Furthermore, Shizuku obeyed her ringing alarm bell that still wasn’t stopping and twisted her body, without even checking she turned behind and drew out her sword. The black katana that was accelerated with the unsheathing motion returned resistance and hard sound GAKIN!.

There, the figure of Kouki who blocked the black katana with his holy sword was standing.

“As expected from Shizuku. You’re strong.”

“You are the one who became weak. It’s a disgrace for Yaegashi-style’s name.”

“…How pitiful. So you are also made to be unable to understand even the difference in strength between us. But, that’s fine. Because I’ll protect Shizuku-!”

Perhaps thanks to the light dragon on his back, Kouki was able to normally fly in the air. He was smiling to Shizuku while locking sword with her in the air. But, the reply that came back to him were sharp words that made him murmured misdirected words and his expression distorted.

At the same time, the light dragon that glared at Shizuku from behind Kouki opened its jaw widely. And then, Heaven Might was fired from point-blank range at Shizuku with no lag time.

“-, ‘Scorch Wave’! ‘Draw Sky’!”

Shizuku swung her sheath at Kouki. Using the generated shockwave she forcefully separated their distance and Shizuku escaped from the firing line. But, she was unable to completely escape from the breath attack of Heaven Might that looked like an extremely a laser.

And so, using the black katana’s ability the ‘Draw Sky’ that she invoked almost simultaneously, she attracted the breath of Heaven Might to her blade. And then, the moment the breath touched the blade, she used the twisting of her wrist and body and parried the pressure and shockwave toward behind her.

A sword art of Yeagashi-style――’Wood Chip Dance’. A parrying technique that made use of the blade to slide the opponent’s attack. This time the technique was used in conjunction with ‘Draw Sky’ that was an ability to attract the target to the blade. She attempted this technique without any prior preparation, but she succeeded splendidly.

In her back, the sound of one more building collapsing due to Heaven Might was audible. Shizuku sent an exasperated gaze at Kouki while hearing that sound.

“Protect, is it. You had said that to me a few times in the past, but honestly, there is not even one time that I can remember where gray. Even now, you are saying you will protect me while releasing outrageous attack at me aren’t you?”

“Is that so…that ******* Nagumo, he even falsified your memory. I guess you don’t remember, but I was always at Shizuku’s side, protecting you. Well, even if I said that I think it’s pointless no matter what I said to the current Shizuku though.”

“That’s completely my line. I wonder, would I feel a little better if I put even just one large wound on that handsome face.”

Blood vein was pulsing on Shizuku’s forehead in irritation. Corpse beast soldiers were circling behind Shizuku. Looking closer, all of the soldiers had reddish black wings growing from their back. With that, they wouldn’t have a problem even in mid-air battle.

Furthermore, when Kouki swung his holy sword, the light dragon on his back fired countless branching lights that formed small light dragons. The number was roughly thirty dragons.

“Shizuku, I will end the battle with this. As expected, you won’t be able to endure simultaneous attack in this number right? It will hurt, but I will nurse you properly after this. Just sleep in peace.”

After saying that one-sidedly, Kouki turned the tip of the holy sword at Shizuku. Immediately after, thirty small light dragons and corpse beast soldiers assaulted Shizuku from all directions. There was no place to escape. Ryutaro couldn’t approach because of the light dragon’s breath attack and the corpse beast soldiers.

Suzu immediately tried to act, but Shizuku herself stopped that using ‘telepathy’.

{Shizuku-}

{It’s fine, Suzu. I’ll show you I can manage somehow against just this much!}

Right after those words reached Suzu through telepathy, Shizuku was swallowed by human silhouettes and light.

Kouki shook his head sadly looking at that. And then, as though to say ‘If it’s to save everyone, then I won’t balk from dirtying this hand or getting hated!’, with a resolute expression as though putting on airs like a tragic hero, he moved his gaze at Ryutaro who he designated as his next target.

At that moment,

“My bad, but I flatly refuse for my sleeping face to be seen by any man other than him. ――’Flash Blossom’.”

“-gua!?”

A straight horizontal line cut was opened on Kouki’s chestatand blood spray danced in the air. Thanks to the impregnable holy armor it wasn’t a fatal wound, but even so it was quite a damage.

Kouki gazed in wonderment at how Shizuku was speaking calmly and how he got cut even with the distance. He was moving back with his hand pressing on his chest. And then, he discovered that.

“The, the katana, is flying?”

Kouki whispered by reflex.

Exactly as he said, in front of Kouki, Shizuku’s black katana and a jet black katana that looked exactly the same were floating in the air with their tips pointing at Kouki.

Then, was Shizuku giving lethal wound at the corpse beast soldiers and small light dragons unarmed…Kouki moved his gaze gravely at Shizuku who was crowded by soldiers and dragons that they looked like an enclosed sphere shape.

Then, slid the soldiers and dragons that surrounded Shizuku had their bodies slipping off diagonally and fell down. Such astonishing scene entered Kouki’s eyes.

And then, what appeared from between the gap of the enemies that fell down or dispersed in tatter…

Was the figure of Shizuku who blocked all the attacks with a barrier of countless black katana deployed around her.

“Sever off, ――’Omni Blade – Flash Blossom’!”

Shizuku raised her voice once more.

In an instant, the barrier of black katana shined in dark blue color, then this time all the soldiers and small dragons were bisected for sure. The soldiers fell to the ground, and the small light dragons dispersed. Amidst those, Shizuku headed straight to Kouki with black katana in hand.

Then, the naked black katana at the surrounding all pointed their tip down and lined orderly with Shizuku as the center. The number in total was twenty katana.

That figure standing in the air with straight back and dignity, a swarm of jet black katana following her, looked just like a hero in an illustrated story. The beautiful black hair in ponytail fluttered, the gray eyes carrying tenacious will pierce through Kouki.

Beautiful…Kouki whispered so in his heart without realizing. It was out of place, yet Shizuku’s figure that was like a war maiden caused his heart to be stolen helplessly and he gulped.

“――’Living Swords(Swarm of Katana that Exemplify the Will)’. My soul is poured into all of these black katana. I wonder, can Kouki who continue to escape into convenient dream endure this?”

“Shi, Shizuku…”

Despite the calm voice, Kouki fell into a hallucination where he was struck physically, his voice got unconsciously caught in his throat. The current Shizuku was filled with a pressure that couldn’t be pushed down using the difference in magic power and body spec.

“…Toward my Kouki-kun….what cheekiness. As expected, I just can’t stomach Shizukuuu!”

Eri’s expression distorted into ugliness and she was about to fire a magic at Shizuku. It seemed that she sensitively sensed how Kouki was fascinated by Shizuku. It was unforgivable for her that Kouki was attracted to anybody except her now when he was under her brainwashing. Her hatred and jealousy exploded, she was about to direct a magic to disturb Shizuku’s mind and sent all her soldiers at Shizuku.

But, at the eyes of such Eri, countless fluttering shadows were reflected as though to hinder her.

Eri’s gaze ran at the surrounding dubiously. And then she gazed in wonderment.

“Wha, what? This is, butterfly?”

Her murmured words hit bull’s eye. Before she noticed, a swarm of a lot of butterflies was fluttering about the battlefield.

The source of this scenery was Suzu who unfolded her twin iron fans. Butterfly monsters were summoned continuously from the jewel that was attached to the handle of the iron fan. The spectacle of black crest butterflies with a red pattern on their jet black wings flying in spiraling orbit with the light petals deployed at the surrounding while rising to the sky were showing a mix of charm and mystique that usually didn’t exist in Suzu, giving off a beauty that couldn’t be put in words.

“Suzu had endured your first attack you know, Eri? This time it is Suzu’s turn. Suzu won’t let you ignore her anymore.”

“Ahaha, what is the like of Suzu is saying――”

Amidst the battlefield that brimmed over with light petals and black crest butterfly, Suzu yelled at a different summoning artifact dangling on her waist――at one of the magic orbs.

“Inaba-san! Please!”

“Kyukyuu!”

At that moment, a white and crimson rabbit leaped before Suzu’s eyes, its figure vanished leaving behind afterimage, and instantly, the rabbit’s figure appeared behind Eri.

Eri was unable to react at that extreme speed. She was only able to barely catch that figure using her physical spec that was reinforced using the technique to create apostle.

Therefore, right after her eyes opened wide,

“aGUH!?”

Eri received the strong leg of the kicking rabbit ‘Inaba’ and crashed into a ruined building with a tailspin. Without stopping she pierced through that the building and got blown away for few hundred meters more. Just before she got hit by the attack, she enveloped her body with magic power equal to that of an apostle and performed reinforcement, so her life wasn’t ended with the attack just now.

“Eri-! ****-, Suzu, what are you doing to your best friend-!”

“That’s why I told you, don’t keep sleep talking like that on and on!”

Kouki saw Eri was blown away and raised his voice. And then, when he was going to blame Suzu, an impact right from the side blocked his voice.

Kouki blocked Ryutaro’s fist using his holy sword while creaking sound resounded creak creak. The two of them glared at each other from point-blank range in a posture similar to sword locking contest.

Kouki averted his gaze from Ryutaro and glanced at the direction where Eri was blown away, at the same time the light dragon unleashed its claw and tail at Ryutaro.

Ryutaro paid attention to the claw and tail of the light dragon while he took no evading action. In exchange, he invoked the age of god magic that he obtained.

“Come, steel demo-n! ‘Sixth Heaven’s Demon Transformation!” (TN: Tenma Tenpen)

Right after, Ryutaro’s body was tinged with light green magic power and transformed. beki-beki With such sound the muscles of his whole body enlarged and tore apart his tunic. His tall body that was originally a hundred and ninety centimeters easily surpassed two meters now, the corner of his eyes lifted upgrayand his canine lengthened and became exposed.

The radical change of Ryutaro made Kouki gazed in wonderment, during that time the swung tail of light dragon attacked Ryutaro’s back while the claw attacked his shoulder.

But, the attack of the light dragon that hit directly didn’t make Ryutaro got wet with blood, gakin! a hard sound that was impossible for living flesh body resounded and the attacks were blocked.

“Wha-, Ryutaro, that’s-”

“Kuuu! I felt that, oi! But, I endured it yeah? This time it’s my turn! ‘Scorch Wave’!!”

“――”

As expected, it seemed that it was impossible to be undamaged after directly receiving the attack of the light dragon that was the avatar of Heaven Might, even so Ryutaro didn’t get any serious wound, Ryutaro who was grinning fearlessly with literally demonic look unleashed enormous shockwave from his gauntleted fist that was locked with the holy sword.

That attack didn’t consist only from the magic power that was converted into impact, but the addition of the pure physical strength that was drawn out from the muscled arm that had enlarged two sizes bigger like ogre’s arm became a tremendous strength that blown away Kouki.

Flying away with his voice caught up in his throat, Kouki crashed into a ruined building at the other side similar like Eri just now.

The corpse beast soldiers aimed at Ryutaro who stayed unmoving with his fist thrust forward, but they were scattered by the many black katana soaring at high speed. Shizuku arrived beside Ryutaro who transformed into an ogre and she opened her mouth after gazing briefly at him.

“Looks like you can use it well aren’t you. That’s wants pressure.”

“Hehe-, well, it’s also thanks to Nagumo’s cheatmate though. If it’s just by myself, I’m not gonna be able to easily use it this far.”

Ryutaro glared at the ruined building Kouki crashed into without letting his guard down while acting humble in contrast with his appearance.

Metamorphosis magic ‘Sixth Heaven’s Demon Transformation’――using magic stone as a medium to change one’s a body, the characteristic of the monster whose magic stone was used would A great into the body, it was a little unique magic for a metamorphosis magic.

Ryutaro had the aptitude for the metamorphosis magic itself, but he was unskillful in the usage of the magic (because he waswantsa muscle-brain, he did nothing but punching and kicking), he was unable to subdue the monster in the abyss in such short time.

There, Ryutaro who thought of various things obtained a hint from Tio’s ‘dragonification’, and arrived at a conclusion typical of a muscle-brain.

Namely, ‘if I cannot subdue the monster, then isn’t it fine if I just become the same like the monster that I want to subdue?’, a that. Ryutaro who was also familiar with his a body because he had done karate since he was little tested that idea of his without delay.

And the result, the metamorphosis magic Sixth Heaven’s Demon Transformation actually had a good aptitude for Ryutaro, gray this magic could be classified as a super advanced magic even among the metamorphosis magic but he succeeded in it relatively an .

Of course, there was no time for him to train so the time he could transform was really short, his result was also erratic so that when he released the transformation he got a severe feedback and it became a trump card of trump card that could only be used as last resort, but there Hajime resolved the problem.

That was, cheatmate――minerals that didn’t have an adverse effect to human body like calcium and the like were enchanted with metamorphosis magic and sublimation magic, it was then turned into powder and then transmuted and became a solid food with a particular effect. With this food the body was temporarily transformed into an optimum condition in metamorphosis, next, strengthening effect that was nearly like ‘Limit Break’ was also applied on the eater so that they could endure even heavy burden.

This cheatmate once taken would maintain its effect for half a day, on top of that there was also no side effect after use. It was a top product of Hajime, all the members who stormed into Holy Precincts had already taken it. Shizuku was able to use twenty katana at the same time which was impossible without increasing her brain throughput was also thanks to this one-time use food artifact.

By the way, the naming was from Calo—Mate (TN: Calory Mate). If you believed the story that the meaning of ‘mate’ was ‘friend’ then…it was quite a horrible naming.

Shizuku and Ryutaro were making frivolous talk while running their gaze through the corpse beast soldiers at the surrounding, then suddenly a ‘telepathy’ reached them.

{Shizuku, Ryutaro-kun. Let’s divide the two like this. Leave Eri to Suzu. Both of youa large amountplease take care of Kouki-kun.}

{Suzu…you are going to be fine right?}

{Yep. Suzu will say what she wants to say, ask what she want to ask, and then, punch that idiot flying.}

{Heh, that’s great. …Don’t you die yeah.}

{You too, ‘kay.}

Far away, Suzu who put Inaba on her head gave a thumb up to them. And then, she turned on her heel and chased after the crashing Eri while handling the attack of the corpse beast soldiers at the same time.

Right after that,

DOGOOOOOOOON-!!

A thunderous sound resounded and the ruined building before Shizuku and Ryutaro’s eyes collapsed――no, the building was blown up from the inside. There shining brilliantly like a star, the figure of Kouki followed by a light dragon and countless small light dragons appeared.

Kouki was silent and expressionless. Like that without any sound he directed the tip of his holy sword at Shizuku and Ryutaro.

“Ryutaro!”

“Ou-!”

As expected, the two of them were war comrades who had fought together until this far. Dancing to the same beat they entered the stance for a pincer attack as thought they had arranged it beforehand. After that, the howl of Heaven Might passed through.

Even the after effect struck the body with immense impact, amidst that Shizuku and Ryutaro paid attention to the light dragons that were flying near them and the surrounding corpse beast soldiers while moving toward their absolute moron childhood friend.

Part 2

Suzu advanced between the intervals of the ruined buildings, followed by light petals and black crest butterflies, and also Inaba.

Inaba who possessed sensitive rabbit ears taught her that the presence of Eri who was blown away was already gone from where she crashed.

Suzu thought for a moment whether Eri had headed to back up Kouki, but her instinct whispered to her somehow that Eri wouldn’t leave her alone and she would head toward her.

And so, she moved through the area that was surrounded by the ruined buildings of the ruined city while being on guard but…the corpse beast soldiers had also vanished from the area without her noticing, in the area that was enveloped in eerie silence except of the battle sound of Shizuku and others from far away, Suzu was trickling sweat from unknown nervousness.

“Kyuu, kyu”

“Inaba-san…thank you. I’m just a little too nervous.”

Inaba said “Suzu-han, you are too nervous ya. I’m here so you can puff up your chest without worry, you are betting on the winner here.” and used his front leg to pat Suzu’s forehead. Suzu’s cheeks slightly loosened up and her shoulders relaxed. Inaba who was riding fluffily on Suzu’s head crossed his arms as though to say ‘That’s good’ while nodding his head going ‘uh huh, uh huh’. (TN: Inaba still talk with Kansai accent here)

The comical gesture made Suzu’s cheek loosened up further.

At that moment, Inaba rolled over vertically above Suzu’s head. And then, with a handstand he crumpled Suzu’s hair while rotating, he turned behind and let out a strong kick.

zugan-! Shockwave sound resounded, what Inaba blocked was a shining gray sword.

“…Really, this disgusting rabbit is just irritating.”

“Eri-”

Yes, the one who had taken Suzu by surprise from behind and swung the sword was Eri herself. When Suzu looked behind her shoulder, her eyes met Eri’s cold inhuman gaze that was like ice.

The slashed sword was blocked by Inaba’s leg which was equipped by Hajime’s special leg armor artifact, without that the sword would be in a direct course to Suzu’s head. Looking from the strength of the leg armor and sword that were locked fiercely with each other, Eri was obviously trying to kill Suzu in the surprise attack.

Inaba twisted his body further. He rotated as though breakdancing on Suzu’s head and fired a shockwave with his opposite foot. Characteristic magic ‘Sky Walk’s’ derivative skill, ‘Rending Spiral’――an ability that launched shockwave from the kick.

Eri flapped the gray wings on her back and somersaulted in the air while evading that shockwave.

“I heard that to evolve monster using metamorphosis magic will take quite some time thouugh. That monster, isn’t it a little too abnormal?”

Eri asked in a bad mood while scrutinizing with her eyes.

“Well, that’s because Inaba-san is special in various aspects. Most of this is from his base ability.”

“What’s with that, so cheating huuuh. But, that rabbit won’t match the violence of number riiight? As expected, I don’t think Suzu is employing so many monsters of that level riiight! ――’Wicked Wrap’!”

Eri materialized dark sphere in front of Inaba’s eyes. Using that, the movement of Inaba who tried to immediately move was obstructed for a moment.

Using that timing Eri launched gray bombardment. It was a brutal bombardment that was enchanted with disintegration ability. Furthermore, the corpse beast soldiers that lurked in the ruined buildings leaped out all at once to block the path of escape.

“Everyone, please! ――’Holy Severance – World’!”

With Suzu’s command, her subordinate monsters jumped out from the magic balls hanging on her waist. Two centipedes with body length of ten meter, ten one meter tall bees with striped pattern of black and red, four praying mantis where each of them had six sickles, one spider with eight reddish black eyes and four meter body length. This was Suzu’s prided(?) bug squad!

While defending against the approaching grey flash with fifty overlapping Holy Severance and replenishing the disintegrated layer at the same time, Suzu further used her other iron fan to control the light petals――the ‘Holy Severance – Sakura’ to back up her subordinate monsters.

The soldier who swung red hot spear was met by the barrage of the missile bee. Ten bees all at once were rapid-firing with shooting rate of five shots per second, right after the shot impacted flower of explosion bloomed.

The blown away soldiers were finished off by the web of steel thread laid out at the valley of the ruined buildings by the steel thread spider sticking on the building wall. Their body was carved apart into pieces.

Furthermore, the soldiers who slipped through the barrage of missile needles and approached close were met by the wind blade praying mantises, wind blades that were unleashed from their six sickles minced up the soldiers.

The soldiers with defensive characteristic magic were defending using large shield while charging forward, from their shadow large sword user with ‘Magic Shockwave’ ability leaped out and swung their swords at the acid coiling centipedes protecting Suzu’s back.

At the same time with the reddish black ripples spreading, violent shockwave came into being. The acid centipedes that got hit by those large swords were easily scattered.

The soldiers that used large sword and impact weaved through the gap of the scattered centipedes and approached Suzu. But, that moment, from all direction――more accurately, the fragments of the centipedes that scattered at the surrounding sprayed dissolving liquid like surging waves from their segmented parts.

The flawless surprise attack bathed the soldiers’ whole body in dissolving liquid and made them wet as though they had encountered a squall, white smoke were rising grandly from their body and in the blink of eye they changed from human into bone model, they changed job into skeleton and at last they dissolved completely leaving not even dust behind.

So that the acid centipedes who had split into ten segments didn’t hit their fellow subordinate monsters and their master Suzu, they performed the spraying of their dissolving liquid like bit weapon.

Reinforcement gushed out further from the shadow of the ruined buildings. However, the moment the soldiers jumped out, the ground and wall undulated and from there ants that had grown until one meter long jumped out with their jaws grinding, they crunched the soldiers and pulled them back into the ground or the wall.

Barrage of exploding missiles and terrifyingly sharp wind blades, heavy rain of dissolving liquids that accurately weaved through the gaps and rained down on the enemies, spider webs made from lines of death that were gradually tightening its encirclement, swarm of ants that ambushed from underground the moment anyone approached.

The corpse beast soldiers who were supposedly turned into super human with the combination of human skill and technique added with monster’s toughness and characteristic magic, were killed one after another like a joke.

“Wai-, this is a joke right!? What’s with those monsters-! Even Freed only have a few monsters that are evolved until that far!”

Eri spontaneously yelled angrily. Her gray bombardment was also unable to break through Suzu’s protection, even though she should have obtained immense power! Her irritation grew violent.

And then, while maintaining her attack she tried to send grey feathers toward Suzu’s subordinate monsters and darkness magic ‘Slip Mind’ toward Suzu.

There,

“Kyuu!”

“-!?”

The white rabbit materialized. His crimson eyes narrowed dangerously as though to say “Now you have really done it, youuu! I’m gonna punch you arounddd!”. The extreme speed zurararara― left behind overlapping after images of Inaba, at the same time that strong leg shot out toward Eri.

Although Eri immediately defended using her gray wings, she was unable to endure the fierce destructive power and got blown away.

“KYUUuUUUU!!”

“You-, a mere beast, is getting carried away-”

Inaba chased. His rabbit ears flapped, he kicked on the air, polished kicking attacks that were like surging waves were launched right and left. Up middle bottom, high speed three stage kick attacked like a flash, before all those could be processed by the mind, Inaba rotated horizontally and a serial round kick filled with a lot of centrifugal force exploded.

PAN-! Along with such dry sound, air wall and shockwave were generated with Inaba’s kicking leg as the center. The effect wasn’t due to magical skill, but pure kicking speed that broke through the sound barrier.

Eri barely defended that storm of kicks using sword skill and apostle spec. Yes, Eri was barely dodging direct hit using superb sword skill. Ahead of the gaze of Suzu who exposed her shock of that, magic power of disintegration burst out from Eri’s whole body.

Unable to endure it, Inaba kicked on the air while returning to Suzu’s side.

“What’s this? Why am I getting pushed back? My body was changed into apostle’s body, I also obtained skills, I also prepared corpse beast soldiers, I made the supreme swordsman of the kingdom possess me, despite so, why? Hey, why do I have to get cornered like a loser? My opponent is not that monster right? Despite so, why? Hey, why? Why? Why!?”

Despite tiding over Inaba’s attack safely, Eri’s expression warped into something ugly and repeatedly said “Why?” in hysteric, while her hand was scratching her hair so roughly that her hair might get torn off. That figure had madness that was a little too thick to be waved off as just a child that was throwing tantrum because the reality wouldn’t go as she expected it to be.

Toward such Eri who was yelling “why?” repeatedly in madness, Suzu turned her eyes and voice that were calm like a quiet water surface.

“That’s obvious. It’s because Suzu wants to talk to Eri.”

“Ha?”

Suzu’s words made Eri stopped talking and leaked out dumbfounded voice. Her expression was befuddled from not understanding what Suzu meant.

“This is because Eri thought that Suzu isn’t worth to take on seriously. Suzu has worked hard in training to come here. In order to make Eri unable to ignore Suzu. Well, there is Nagumo-kun’s help so it feels pathetic though.”

“…Hee. And? You want to yell at me? This time you are going to make me grovel, and then sneer while cursing at me? Geez Suzu, you got that desperate for that kind of thing? You have become really distorted nicely aren’t youuu~. It’s ok then you knoow? How about trying to curse at me as you likeee? I’ll listen for you okaaay?”

Eri guessed what was inside Suzu’s heart and sneered. It seemed that she recovered her composure from feeling that she had seen the bottom of Suzu’s heart, that Suzu only miserably acted for the sake of revenge.

But, Suzu’s expression didn’t even twitch from such Eri. She kept looking straight at Eri and spoke out calmly.

“Curse? Sneer? No way. There is no way I can do that kind of thing. Because…Suzu was also using Eri the same like how you were using me after all.”

“…What does that meaaan?”

Eri scrutinized Suzu with one eye and tilted her head. It appeared that she held interest toward Suzu’s story. Even the soldiers right now were only surrounding Suzu without any sign of attacking.

“Just like Eri said, Suzu laughed foolishly and plainly acted like idiot, totally shallow, however Suzu isn’t hated by anyone――Suzu lived like that until now. Because Suzu hated to be alone. Because being lonely is unbearable. Because Suzu want to be always included inside the circle of people.”

“Well, Suzu is like that aren’t youuu”

“Yep. Because Suzu was like that, the existence of ‘best friend’ was necessary. Suzu was thankful. Because, a child that isn’t hated by anyone, if you change the way you look at it, that child is merely everybody’s friend. Something like being equal and fair to everyone is really a heresy. That’s why, an existence for Suzu to favor was necessary for Suzu. So that Suzu can let the surrounding know, that Suzu isn’t that kind of heresy, that Suzu is a normal child who has a special friend with good relationship.”

“Fuuun. So? You are saying that it was me?”

“Yep. Though of course, Suzu wasn’t being best friend with Eri while being fully self-aware of that thinking. Right now when Suzu looked back, Suzu realize how Suzu acted like that. …That time when it became a pinch in Orcus, Shizuku and Kaori tried to be together at the end right? At that time, Suzu was convinced. Aa, Suzu and Eri are not like that huuh. Suzu desperately pretended not to notice that at the time though.”

“….So? What do you want to say then?”

Suzu’s words that sounded like she was talking to herself made Eri asked with a voice that sounded a little irritated. Toward that, Suzu looked straight at Eri and then she quietly lowered her head.

“…What?”

“Sorry, Eri. Eri said that Suzu is a convenient tool, but Suzu didn’t even have the qualification to get shocked because of that. Suzu is also the same like Eri. Because Suzu treated Eri like a convenient tool.”

“…Look hereee. You mean you are coming this far to say that kind of ****** trivial thing? You thought, that I’m even caring about that kind of thing? If that’s true, then I cannot help but say that your head is gnawed whole by bugs inside. After obtaining Kouki-kun, someone like Suzu is just worthless thing like a rock in roadside for me you knooww?”

Eri’s eyes warped, as though to say from the bottom of her heart that she had just listened to something stupid, however, Suzu replied while grinning.

“Yep, I know. This is just Suzu’s self-satisfaction. Suzu just wanted to apologize to feel refreshed.”

“You have become really brazen aren’t youuu. That’s all you want to talk about?”

“Nope. There is still something Suzu want to ask. Hey, Eri. Why did Eri fall in love with Kouki-kun?”

“Haa?”

There was a limit even for being out of place, Eri who was asked with a girls’ talk raised a disarrayed voice. Without minding such Eri, Suzu continued her question.

“Since the past Suzu somehow felt sympathy to Eri though, as expected did Eri had problem in home? Eri often came to play to Suzu’s home, but not even once Suzu could visit Eri’s home. So Suzu wonders if Eri actually felt hard to stay at your own home. You also nonchalantly avoided talking about your father and mother didn’t you? Your relation with your parents is bad? By any chance, did you get help from Kouki-kun when you were worried about that?”

It was a storm of questions that came pushing like surging waves as though Suzu was dancing tap dance on a minefield. Suzu was stepping in brazenly with muddy shoes into Eri’s childhood that could be said as her heart’s darkness. Furthermore, her question was strangely right on the mark so it was nasty.

From the point of view of Eri who had reminisced of her past just now, it felt like Suzu knew about that yet she still dared to dig up at the painful memory to throw at her.

And so, Eri’s answer was a wordless bombardment. Grey flashes mercilessly attacked Suzu from shortest distance. To that, Suzu defended from the front with ‘Holy Severance – World’ while grinning sweetly. The soldiers also moved once more, following that the subordinate monsters also reacted perfectly.

“Hey, come on, teach Suzu please, Eri. Suzu want to know about Eri. All the part where Suzu didn’t dare to step in even while calling you best friend, right now, Suzu wants to know.”

“Like this your personality has become really wicked isn’t iiit, Suzuu? Were you warped from the shock of my betrayaaal?”

“Don’t dodge the question here. Come on, teach Suzu? About Eri. What happened? Why are you warped? What kind of feeling are you looking at Kouki-kun with? Please, teach Suzu?”

“Aa, geez-, you are really annoyiiing!”

Suzu who continuously laid out barriers one after another at the same speed with the rate they were disintegrated, was piercing Eri with her straight gaze from between the gaps of the barriers and flashes. There wasn’t any scorn or contempt in those eyes, only sincerity of wanting to know about Eri was residing there.

Having such gaze directed at her, Eri became even more irritated. Her heart was disordered in a level that was far exceeding her own expectation. She used magic with that irritation staying in her heart.

“――’Lawless’!”

Darkness magic ‘Lawless’――a magic that blocked the target’s image supplementation for using magic.

How Suzu was maintaining the deploying speed of barriers in the level that could oppose disintegration ability was possible because there was the abbreviation in her magic invocation using image supplementation. Consequently, if Suzu received interference in that, naturally her barrier’s deploying speed would drop――that was how it should be.

“Why-!?”

Eri’s shocked voice resounded. Ahead of her widely opened gaze, Suzu was continuing to lay out her barriers without any change. Her speed was equal with before.

“-, you are interfering with the image supplementation aren’t you. Thanks to that now Suzu doesn’t have any leeway left.”

“Don’t tell me…you are saying that you were going easy on the barrier deployment just nooow!?”

“Yep. After all Suzu is a barrier master. In protection Suzu won’t lose to anyone. Well even though Suzu said that, there is also the help of Nagumo-kun’s artifact, if this is a bombardment from a real apostle, Suzu won’t be able to say this though.”

Suzu squinted and looked at Eri while whispering “Suzu cannot block Kaorin’s bombardment after all.”

“Eri’s body. Indeed it looks like you are able to use apostle’s power, but you are unable to do it perfectly like Kaori I think? Twenty percent…nope, looks like the spec dropped by thirty percent. You also cannot use the experience trace among apostles aren’t you? The sword skill before this, Suzu guess you got it from Melt-san using necromancy? If we are talking about the pinnacle of the knight’s sword art, Suzu cannot think of anyone else except that person.”

“-, don’t get carried away!”

After having been analyzed and gotten seen through various things one after another, Eri was feeling like she had been totally seen through because of how all those analyses were correct. Eri raised an angry yell. The color of scorn and composure that filled her expression at the beginning was already gone, there was only the display of lack of composure that merely wished to erase even for a second faster the opponent she was unable to stomach.

“Eri, Suzu won’t avert her eyes anymore. Because, Suzu doesn’t want to overlook what’s important and lose everything helplessly again. Suzu doesn’t want to keep being ignorant anymore. That’s why, please. Teach Suzu about Eri.”

“You keep saying teach me, teach me, annoying! What are you going to do after knowing such thing at this lateee!? You want to grasp my weakness and then attack me mentallyyy!?”

Eri fired a large number of feathers from her gray wings. The bombardment circled around and launched an attack from all directions in a plan to break the equilibrium. The soldiers were blocked from approaching by the iron wall formation that Suzu’s subordinate monster formed, with that Eri had to do something herself. She was lamenting that she got separated from Kouki who excelled in offensive power.

But, as expected that plan of Eri was crushed by Suzu. At the other side of the barrier, Suzu elegantly waved her iron fans. Then, zaaaaaaa such sound came from the surrounding and light petals gathered, drawing spiral around Suzu.

And then, the spiral swallowed all the soaring feathers where the two magic neutralized each other. The petals were erased, however, the petals were immediately replenished again and showed no sign of decreasing at all.

Suzu sent her words to Eri as though nothing happened.

“You are wrong. You see, Suzu want to know about Eri. Suzu will know, look properly, feel, think………then Suzu wants to become friend with Eri, one more time.”

“――What are you saying?”

Eri’s bombardment unconsciously weakened. The grey feathers also flew toward wrong directions. That was just how much Suzu’s words were incomprehensible and lacking in common sense for Eri.

That was only natural. After how she betrayed them that nastily, killing a lot of people, and furthermore she was trying to kill them right now. If someone was saying that they ‘want to be friend’ toward such person, she could only think that there was something wrong with that person’s head. If this was the mental attack of Suzu-style, then in a sense it could be said as effective. Though until the end it was effective only in the meaning of taking her by surprise.

Suzu continued her words to that Eri. Her voice was powerful, her gazing eyes were endlessly clear.

“Is that strange I wonder? Yep, that’s strange isn’t it. Eri has done bad things after all. Even now you are trying to kill Suzu.”

“…What, so just as I thought you have gone mad?”

“Nope, Suzu is sane. Even Suzu herself is thinking that it’s strange huuh, but, this is Suzu’s true feeling without any falsehood. Because, Suzu remember.”

“Remember?”

“Yep. Eri’s smile.”

Hearing those words, Eri’s expression turned even more confused.

“Eri was always a child that smiled reservedly from slight distance away, but right now Suzu understands that it was fake smile. But, but see. Like the time when Eri came for sleepover at Suzu’s home, or the time when the two of us talk leisurely on the way home after school, or when both of us slackened up at the nearby park when there is really nothing to do on holiday, your languid smile that you suddenly showed at those time, or your smile that looked a little cynic, or your smile to Suzu that looked exasperated, but also looked a little amused, Suzu remembered those.”

“…”

“Surely those were, smiling faces that the ‘Eri who is acting’ must not show isn’t it right? Those smiles were fragments of the true Eri that couldn’t be shown to other people, isn’t that right? Eri rested your heart just for a smidgen, only when Suzu was with Eri, isn’t that right? You see, that’s what Suzu think.”

Eri was wordless. Her eyes couldn’t be seen because they were hidden by her front hair. The shadow created from the light was also hiding Eri’s expression.

Suzu’s words echoed. The Suzu who feared being hated and wouldn’t step forward had gone. Even if she had to take the risk of what she wanted slipping away from her hand, she would still take a step forward. Because she had learned, that ahead of the constant risk, there lied what she exactly wanted.

“Eri, come back. Together with Kouki-kun. Something like a world with only two people is just sad. Suzu, want to be together with Eri. It’s better to be together forever even after this. Suzu want to become best friend with Eri, this time for sure.”

“…”

Suzu closed one of her iron fans with a snap and hung it on her waist. When she noticed, the feather attack had stopped. There was no need to control the light petals anymore. And then, like that her empty hand reached out straight toward Eri.

“If you take this hand, Suzu won’t let anyone hurt Eri. No matter what anyone says, even if, Suzu have to oppose Nagumo-kun, Suzu swear that she will protect Eri!”

The gray bombardment was gradually losing momentum. Before long, it was decreasing until it became like a thin string and like that it melted into the air and vanished.

Suzu also erased her barrier. At her surrounding her monsters were standing by quietly. The corpse beast soldiers also stopped moving.

Her words reached her. Perhaps even her heart…Suzu thought that and her lips broadened slightly.

Ahead of Suzu’s gaze, Eri quietly raised her face. What was reflected in those eyes was the color of passion and happiness――not, but coldness that was like ice filled with endless scorn.

And then, her words too.

“Are you an idiot?”

“――”

Suzu loosened cheeks instantly stiffened. Right after that, a huge gray magic circle manifested on the sky.

Eri’s feather attack wasn’t only intended to circle around Suzu’s barrier and attacked her. Amidst the turmoil, Eri secretly slipped her feathers toward the sky. She bought time by going along with Suzu’s talk and created a huge magic circle there with her grey feathers.

That magic circle was shining gray even while spurting out muddy black miasma. That shape was exactly the same like the crack of space that appeared above God Mountain.

The déjà vu that Suzu harbored was immediately proven to be correct. As expected, similar with the crack of space a lot of monsters appeared from there. What Eri created seemed to be a summoning magic circle.

“The nonsense is enough until this far isn’t it? Just when I thought what are you going to talk about…Suzu really exposed your stupidity plainly here aren’t youuu? Thank you for letting me buying so much timeee. Well theeen, can you die swallowed by these waves of monster?”

“…”

This time it was Suzu who was the silent one. From the sky, monsters that could fly or fought midair appeared continuously. The number of the surviving corpse beast soldiers was also still around seventy.

In contrast, Suzu’s subordinate monsters, there were three missile bees, and one wind blade praying mantis, although they didn’t die but they bore heavy wounds that made them unable to continue to fight. Although it was only a few but it was still a decrease in Suzu’s fighting strength.

No matter how strong Inaba was, in front of the violence of number it would be only a problem of time before he was overwhelmed.

And then, far away the sound of fierce battle was still resounding, the possibility of Shizuku and Ryutaro coming for Suzu’s reinforcement was remarkably low.

And so, Eri’s expression warped in ecstasy. Indeed, Suzu’s strength made her got cold sweat, but when the lid was opened, Suzu pointlessly wasted her time to persuade Eri and now she got the situation reversed, it was really an amusing joke. “Really what a stupid girl”, Eri whispered one more time inside her mouth.

“I am your be-st-fri-end yes, even after a fashion? Then I’ll at least listen to your last will you know?”

A great number of monsters covered the sky, amidst the darkness that fell on the battlefield like a dark cloud, Eri lifted up her sword and said such thing. Most likely, when that sword was swung down, an all-out attack would start.

In contrast, Suzu who realized that her word didn’t reach Eri’s heart and now she fell into an absolutely desperate situation said,

“Eri. You looked down on Suzu too much. ――Inaba-san! Please take care of the magic circle!”

“Kyukyuu!”

Taking out the iron fan that she settled on her waist before, as though to say that she had resolved for everything, Suzu stared back straight at Eri with eyes filled with determination without any unease or agitation there.

That excessively strong gaze made Eri took a step back unconsciously. When she noticed what she did she gritted her teeth. And then, feeling fed up with all the worthless talk, she swung down her sword that was equal with the scythe of the death god.

At that moment, the monsters in the sky and the corpse beast soldiers attacked all at once.

However, the corpse beast soldiers went toward the monsters.

“Wha-, what is-. Even though my command reached them properly-!”

Looking at the sudden friendly fire which began between the soldiers and monsters, Eri yelled angrily with confused tone mixed in. Eri’s command was certainly reaching the soldiers without any obstruction. Despite so, they mistook their target and assaulted the monsters.

The one who brought the answer to the confused Eri was Suzu herself.

“Suzu’s black crest butterfly――what do you think Suzu was letting them flying around for?”

“Do, don’t tell me…”

“Finally noticed? You see, these children, they can scatter scales with various traits. Looks like the soldiers has been showered with enough. Right now, they should be looking at the monsters as Suzu and Suzu’s monsters.”

Eri felt like clicking her tongue. It seemed Suzu was thoroughly prepared.

Furthermore, at that time, a smashed sound resounded as though making doubly sure everything was screwed for Eri. Looking at the sky, a part of the summoning circle was blown away. At that spot, there was Inaba in a stance of kicking. He slipped through the gap between the monsters fully covering the sky in high speed and destroyed the magic circle.

The corpse soldiers who were originally the soldiers and knights of the kingdom, who were experts in anti-monster battle, with their specs increased like a joke they now killed the summoned monsters one after another.

There, naturally the subordinate monsters of Suzu, also the injured ones were healed by the corpse soldiers with healing ability because they looked like allies. After they returned to the battle line, the monsters in the sky were completely reduced to the hunted side.

Eri gritted her teeth while making the monsters to prioritize dealing with the black crest butterflies. The loyal monsters headed toward the butterflies fluttering in the battlefield and rushed them all at once.

At that moment,

DOOOOON!! DOOOOON!! DOOOOON!!

Flowers of explosion bloomed one after another at the sky of the ruined city. The moment the butterflies were touched, they instantly exploded.

The voice of Suzu resounded to the dumbfounded Eri.

“Did you think that Suzu can really subdue a total of a hundred butterfly monsters? Even though only three days has passed?”

“…Are you saying there are also fakes there?”

“Yep. More than half are Nagumo-kun’s handmade butterfly golem. In exchange of scales they are carrying a large amount of combusting powder, see. Although it’s only mini treasure warehouse, seems like gunpowder that cannot be compared with dynamite is packed full into it. How scary isn’t it.”

Eri narrowed her eyes. When she looked, she didn’t notice before but there were black crest butterflies clinging on the head or the back of all the soldiers. Anybody would understand what the meaning of that was. While the soldiers exterminated the monsters and decreased their number, simultaneously it was also the countdown for the death of the soldiers.

“…This is checkmate? In this kind of place? Ahahah, how strangeeee. For Suzu to be the one who is destroying my plan. Even though you could just grovel like before without standing up again. Is this, also because of that monster I wondeeer.”

“Suzu don’t think she can say that Nagumo-kun has no relation in this. But, Suzu is here is unmistakably by Suzu’s own will. Because Suzu thought that if Suzu leaves this alone then Eri will be killed by Nagumo-kun.”

“What? Are you planning to say that you saved me I wonder?”

“Yep. Suzu come in order to save Eri. Because Suzu wants to restart with Eri one more time.”

“…enough already.”

Eri fell quiet once more. But, different from until now, it was only for a moment. Right after that, she invoked darkness magic ‘Slip Mind’ to Suzu while at the same time leaped at her. In a straight line, with her eyes carrying killing intent.

As though to say, would Suzu kill her or would she get killed by her, there was nothing else that could be done but to choose between those two choices. As though to cut away all of Suzu’s words as complete nonsense. As though to declare that it was impossible for her to take Suzu’s hand after this late.

“AaAAAAAAAAAAAAA-!! JUST DIEEEEEEEEEEEE-!!”

Toward Eri who performed suicide attack while yelling an abnormal shriek, Suzu bit her lip tightly. Her feeling wasn’t conveyed to Eri. It couldn’t be conveyed. Frustrating. Mortifying. Her reached out hand――didn’t reach.

“Why, it has become like this…surely, Suzu mustn’t say such words isn’t it.”

Suzu who looked like she was laughing and crying, bit her lip and blood trickled down, then she swept her fan.

At that moment, barriers were deployed enveloping the rushing Eri. Naturally, Eri used her disintegration ability and immediately cut apart the barrier but she was forced to stop for a moment. That was a fatal opening that was created forcefully by Suzu.

The moment Eri destroyed the barrier, the light petals that were controlled by the other iron fan rushed to Eri and wrapped her. Eri tried to sweep them away using her gray wings and bombardment and also her sword, but the light petals were like leaves fluttering by the wind, or possibly like river water that flowed unhurriedly, they swam in the air and evaded the attacks.

And then, right after that,

“Everything into the light, ――’Holy Severance – Falling Flower of Light’.”

Light exploded.

All the light petals exploded in a chain reaction. A combination technique of ‘Holy Severance – Sakura’ and ‘Holy Severance – Burst’. Surrounded by flower storm without any place to escape, impacts were fired inside without any spot spared from it.

With a timing that matched that, further thunderous sounds rang out consecutively in the battlefield. Along with those explosive sounds, several grand flowers of flame and impact bloomed proudly in the sky of the ruined city. The corpse beast soldiers that finished defeating the monsters were swallowed by the self-explosion of the dummy golems of black crest butterfly attached on their body and died.

Suzu was bathed in orange light by the several explosive flames. On her head, the fluffy Inaba fell. Inaba’s fluffy front leg patted on Suzu’s head peshi peshi as though to console her.

From inside the flame of light, bobat sound rang and a silhouette fell. White smoke was rising from Eri’s whole body and she fell on the ground. Her four limbs were twisted to strange direction, her ash gray wings were already scattered. Magical shockwave also exploded simultaneously at that time so her magic power should be already blown away too.

Suzu quickly waved her iron fan.

“――’Light Halo’.”

Then, halos of light linked into a net that materialized at the falling point of Eri. Eri was caught by that and she was dropped on the ground.

Suzu accompanied by Inaba landed down beside Eri.

“Kahah, gohoh………just, kill me.”

It appeared she barely retained her consciousness. Eri didn’t even move her empty eyes toward Suzu, she was staring far away and demanded for the killing blow.

“Eri…”

“Fri, end? Impos, sible…dying, is….better”

“…”

There was no disdain or contempt. Eri talked as though she wasn’t looking at Suzu, to that, Suzu bit her lip tightly.

“Everything, is just, the worst. …I, only…”

“Eri? Only…what? Tell Suzu.”

“…”

The words that stopped midway might be words that spilled out unconsciously even for Eri. Even with Suzu asking, she didn’t show any sign of opening her mouth anymore. It was obvious that Eri’s body was in a state where life was spilling out from her. Although her body was upgraded with the technique of apostle creation, the might of Suzu’s trump card the ‘Holy Severance – Falling Flower of Light’ wasn’t something half-assed. Without any treatment, she would only expire like this.

Suzu took out a container in the shape of test tube from her ‘Treasure Warehouse II’. The content was healing medicine. It was something that had its effect dramatically increased by Hajime’s metamorphosis magic, so it had ten times the effect of the highest grade healing medicine. It couldn’t be like god water that immediately completely recovered the health, but it was able to keep alive someone even from a near death state.

But, Eri who saw Suzu taking that out and guessed what she was going to do, pierced Suzu with a severe gaze that was unthinkable coming from someone who was about to die. There was no word. But, those eyes talked more eloquently than anything. She would decline any pity from Suzu even if she was on the verge of death.

Suzu clutched the healing medicine tightly, wondering with clenched teeth if this was going to be their conclusion. This was something that she was half-resigned to. Even so, as expected her heart clenched tightly.

But, she couldn’t be half-hearted. She couldn’t reach Eri’s heart. She couldn’t reach her. She couldn’t half-heartedly let her stay alive here. The path to let Eri live and brought her back wasn’t by sheer strength, it had to be done by connecting their heart and pulling her hand. If Suzu acted half-heartedly here, the tragedy of that day would be repeated once more in the future.

That was the only thing that she absolutely mustn’t do. A wish that blindly believed at convenient future and averted eyes from reality, what kind of future such thing would be connected with was something that Suzu understood really well to the depth of her bone.

Then, at the very least not by other’s hand, this should be done by her hand.

That was Suzu’s resolve.

Because although it was warped and imperfect but Eri was once her best friend. And then even now, she was able to wish to be best friend with her once more. That was why…

Suzu stored back the healing medicine. And then, in exchange her hand gripped the iron fan tightly.

Suzu and Eri’s gazes crossed.

But, at that time, suddenly immense magic power burst up from a place that was separated from them by several ruined buildings between here. Before long the pure white magic power that stabbed the sky changed into a shape of human ten meters tall, the arm of that giant was swung down below.

The fierce impact was transmitted even until the place where Suzu and Eri were at.

“…Kouki, kun.”

Eri opened her eyes and whispered.

Right after that, the light giant dispersed. It was as though it showed the fate of the caster…

“Kouki, kun…Kouki-kun!!”

“E, Eri-!?”

Eri’s body that should have been in the death’s door instantly shined gray.

And then, at the next moment her flickering wings and ragged body flew away with immense force toward the place where the light giant was seen.

Suzu who was unable to immediately move from being completely dumbfounded returned to her senses and chased after Eri in hurry.



 

[Vol 8] Chapter 13 – At the Ruined City



Circle-warning.gif This chapter is translated by Cobalt
and is rehosted with due permission.

“It looks like a city at the end of the century right from the movie…”

“Yeah really. I’ve seen this kind of scene at Bio -zard or something…”

Suzu and Ryutaro whispered those kinds of things while making crunching sounds with their steps. They ran their gaze at the surrounding alertly, but bewilderment was running on their face.

“Wait, Ryutaro. Stop that already. What are you going to do if zombie really comes out here.”

Shizuku replied with a repulsed face. And then, with her expression looked similarly bewildered, she ran her gaze at the surrounding. The scenery of a devastated city was spreading in the eyes of Shizuku and others.

When they came out from the rich colored space, they arrived at a modern city that looked nearly similar with earth with its maintained street and high-rise buildings crowding together. However, just like what Suzu and Ryutaro said, it was as though several hundred, or maybe even several thousand years had passed, everywhere they looked there were only decaying ruins.

There were buildings that looked like they could crumble anytime, there were also buildings that were barely standing by leaning on the neighboring building. All the spot that seemed to have glass attached had been smashed thoroughly, with the remains scattered everywhere. On the ground, there was rough and hard material like asphalt blanketing the ground, but there were countless cracks and undulations and also caved-in spots.

From how the faintly remaining words on the signboard scattered everywhere on the building wall or ground weren’t earth letter, and how they couldn’t find any traffic light at all on the street, furthermore from how the material of the building wasn’t reinforced concrete, they could barely grasped that this wasn’t a city of earth.

“Perhaps, in the past this city was crushed and then it was brought here whole. Something like taking a memento of what he crushed seemed like something that ****** ******* would do. There is also the trace of construction technique using magic that is completely impossible for the current earth applied here, it’s like someone that thoroughly built a complicated card tower before smashing it.”

“…There art a limit even for having a bad taste.”

“This is the worst…”

Even on earth, there was a lot of romance stories about ancient cities that didn’t remain in literature, cities that were excelling in technology even more advanced than the modern time or the like. Even this world might be a country that developed using magic in place of science until near the level of the modern earth.

And then, what was built up by those people was unmistakably trampled down by that Ehito Rujue while laughing. The figure of Ehito Rujue laughing loudly floated in their mind, turning their face into fierce loathing.

Although the city was devastated that it looked tragic just from looking, the townscape that looked similar to the modern city of earth made Hajime and others be somewhat nostalgic, they also felt that they were shown what would happen if Ehito was let free in the earth, causing them to tense their mind even further.

Before long, by the time they passed who knows how many intersections following the compass, a clock tower that looked just like London’s Big Ben entered their sight from between the gaps of buildings. It appeared that clock tower was the entrance to go to the next area.

Hajime stored the compass in his breast pocket while taking the path that was heading toward the clock tower through a huge intersection.

But, right after that, his eyes quietly narrowed and his foot that was about to step forward returned back. Looking at his dangerous gaze, even the members other than Shia guessed that there was enemy and readied themselves. Only Shia seemed to be the one who had determined the location of the enemy, her gaze fixed for a moment on a part of the surrounding buildings before moving to another location continuously. There seemed to be something ahead of her gaze.

“Hajime-san. We are surrounded, what are we going to do?”

Shia was tapping Vire Doryukken on her shoulder while asking.

Toward that, Hajime’s answer was…

“Hm? Of course, if there is a prey that enters the cage, then pulverizing it all together with the cage is common sense right? Everyone, prepare to jump.”

” ” “Eh?” ” ”

In front of Shizuku, Suzu, and Ryutaro who raised befuddled voice from being taken aback again, Hajime took out large type weapon from ‘Treasure Warehouse II’. It had a huge cross shape, at one of its side there were three protruding objects that looked like a wing attached.

――New Rocket & Missile Launcher Agni Orkan

There were two of them. The figure of Hajime holding two three-meter crosses attached with wings in both arms had the impressiveness as though he was clad with a reinforced exoskeleton.

“Now then. First of all, it’s troublesome so let’s blow up all of these thoroughly.”

Hajime who fixed himself in place with Agni-Orkan at both his sides was showing a demonic grin while pulling the triggers without hesitation. The inside of the surrounding buildings became noisy, but it was already too late.

pshuu pshuu pshuu With such sound the small metal plate on the surface of the wings slide, inside it, there were countless pencil missiles loaded up, those missiles flew out all at once.

Their number had already surpassed three hundred. The swarm of pencil missiles was trailing orange fire line while slipping smoothly through the door and window of the ruined buildings as though understanding that the enemies were there.

Furthermore, bashuuuuu with that kind of gentle sound, sixty large missiles were scattered from the six muzzles at the tip of the cross to the center of the ruined city, all within a few seconds, they scattered to all directions in order to trample their respective target.

Right after that, gruesome explosion sound and tremendous shockwave – flame explosion trampled the center of the ruined city.

gogogo Along with such roar, the group of ruined buildings who were only barely standing even in the best of times began to crumble all at once.

“Wai-, thi, this is bad. Everything, is falling toward here!”

“That’s why, I told you to jump.”

“Don’t say that so calmly, you one man army!”

The silhouettes lurking in the ruined buildings who barely survived the fierce attack of the pencil missiles tried to jump out from the windows in order to escape the collapsing ruins even while they had lost some limbs. Hajime who courteously sent them back(blown them inside) with the additional bombing of Agni-Orkan that was completely merciless got a tsukkomi from Shizuku while she invoked the ‘Air Force’ in her boots and leaped to the air.

The fragments of crumbling buildings rained down from above like a heavy rain, Suzu and Ryutaro also jumped away in panic amidst the sky that was rapidly getting cramped due to the group of the tilting buildings.

And then, they somehow avoided being swallowed by the crumbling buildings and landed on the rooftop of a derelict building in slight distance away.

“…You see, Suzu once saw the news on television. It was the image of an air raid in a conflict area. Suzu wonder if that feel like this.”

“Fighting is something fruitless huh. …No one will ever imagine of blowing up the whole city huh. This is already unrelated with technique or experience huuh.”

“Both of you, don’t get far-away look like that…I understand your feelings too.”

Dust rose up grandly. Looking at the ruined city that was instantly turned into a scene like a conflict area made Suzu and Ryutaro have a far-away look. Shizuku patted their shoulder while thinking inside her heart “Just what is strength?”. It was at that timing, gacha such sound that was like the symbol of ominous itself resounded.

Shizuku turned her face to that sound with creaking motion like a gear without oil, over there the figure of Hajime readying Agni-Orkan that he had finished reloading was…

” ” “You are going to attack again!?” ” ”

“If you are going to do something then do it until not even a piece of meat remain. This is the culture of Japan that is even got placed on the Kojiki.” (TN: Kojiki = Record of Ancient Matters (Japan’s oldest historical record))

There is no such bloodthirsty culture! Suzu and others were going to make such tsukkomi, but the triggers were pulled faster than they could open their mouth. The swarm of large and small missiles danced on the sky once more. Rain of death was pouring down at the intersection where the wreckage of destroyed buildings was scattered.

“There is nothing to do isn’t it?”

“Goshujin-sama too, he looked calm but it looks like his frustration hath piled up considerably. It can’t be helped. How about we watch over him warmly until our turn comes up.”

Amidst the flame explosion and the dust, Shia and Tio were sending gentle gaze at Hajime who was laughing loudly “HAA―HA-HA-HA” (TN: Imagine the laugh of Laharl from Disgaea) while continuously gifting lethal wounds at possibly hundreds of enemies lurking in the ruined city. Looking at those two, Shizuku who was plugging her ears with her fingers from the thunderous roar let out a sigh from the many difficulties in her future wondering if she really had to reach the level of the two.

“Why did I fall in love with this kind of person I wonder?” Just when she was thinking of something that was actually similar to what Shia once thought, suddenly Hajime turned back and aimed Agni-Orkan’s muzzles at his allies.

And then, in front of the startled Shizuku and others, Hajime pulled the triggers with not even a speck of hesitation just as expected. Looking at the missile swarm that immediately flew out, Suzu went “Hii!” with a pathetic shriek.

But, naturally the missiles weren’t aiming at the allies, the missiles drew irregular trajectory while evading Suzu and others beautifully and flew behind them.

And then, flame explosions were scattered one after another at abandoned building around five hundred meters away from them. It was truly an air strike.

Just what in the world is he attacking there? Suzu and others were thinking that while trickling with cold sweat from the attacking method that was bad for their heart. Right after that, pure white light pierced the sky from that ruined building.

“That’s, don’t tell me-”

“Na, Nagumo-! Stop it! Didn’t you say that you gonna leave Kouki to us!”

Suzu and Ryutaro turned back at Hajime while yelling. Yes, the pillar of light rising to the sky was undoubtedly Kouki’s magic power. Most likely Kouki released his magic power to defend against the sudden air strike. Hajime supposedly promised to leave Kouki and Eri to Shizuku and others, so the two of them directed flustered look at Hajime.

“That’s why I attacked them. Those two looked like they were going to run away after all. I made the explosion to surround them without any direct hit so it’s fine. In the end, it was just to hold them in place.”

Hajime declared “hold them in place” while looking at the scene of high-rise buildings collapsing like a joke at the surrounding. He only looked like a guy screwing around saying “I hit them with the back of my blade” while directing the sharp blade at the enemy.

However, in actuality Kouki’s magic power kept piercing the sky from inside the flame without any sign of weakening at all, so certainly Hajime didn’t hit them directly. Even when they understood that, as expected the cramping of Suzu and Ryutaro’s expression didn’t stop.

“It appeared they were heading at that clock tower to escape. As expected, we can go to another space from there. I don’t know why they are in this kind of place but…well, you guys can talk with them to your heart’s content.”

“Ye, yep.”

“Ou…”

Suzu and Ryutaro nodded, at the same time, Hajime leaped toward the clock tower in one breath. Following after he were Shia and others. Their movement that applied ‘Air Force’ and ‘Ground Shrinker’ made the distance of five hundred meters into zero instantly.

Kouki and Eri who had no place to escape surrounded by shockwave and flame from four directions also didn’t show any sign of moving from the rooftop of their ruined building, perhaps they had guessed they would be targeted with missile swarm once more if they tried to run.

Hajime and others landed on that ruined building.

“Aaaaa, we got discovered. Even though we expressly hid in one of Ehito’s space collection, why did you all came here of all placeee. Even though this place is the farthest place from the Divine Gate spatiallyy”

“Eri. Either way, I have to liberate everyone from Nagumo. If the other side comes by themselves to us, then this is actually a godsend instead, right?”

Kouki and Eri clung tightly to each other like a pair of lovers while exchanging a talk that strangely didn’t mesh with each other.

It appeared that from the bottom of her heart Eri didn’t want to get involved with Hajime and others, but it seemed that Kouki’s thinking that he had to rescue his comrades who he was convinced were brainwashed by Hajime didn’t vanish, so Kouki’s action was contradicting Eri who wanted to run away. Kouki’s eyes also looked cloudy, so they guessed that he had been brainwashed by ‘Bind Soul’ to the degree that he couldn’t feel the contradiction as a contradiction.

The gaze of Kouki who like always was equipped with a painfully bright holy sword and holy armor captured Hajime. Hatred, jealousy, rage――his gaze was muddy with such negative emotions boiling up.

And then, there was Eri who was rubbing her cheek on Kouki’s shoulder while letting out a coaxing voice that sounded sticky sweet, it was unclear whether it was subconsciously or consciously, but her attitude looked exactly like how her mother once was. Her outfit was clothes that had the chest and back part largely opened, the bottom also had deep slit inserted, the color of the clothes was pure white that matched Kouki. As though she was implicitly asserting that the one who was Kouki’s heroine was exactly her.

“Nagumo. You too are my classmate more or less. Originally you are someone that I have to save no matter what but…what you had done is too much. You killed your classmate, and you even brainwashed them…I, even if I have to dirty this hand, I will defeat you. And then, I swear I will save everyone from your filthy hand!”

“Yaaahnn. Kouki-kun, you are so coool~”

Kouki sent a smile at Eri who was clinging to him with intoxicated expression before readying his holy sword.

“…Hajime. Please go. Leave this place to us.”

“Is it fine? Those guys had become something strange you know?”

Shizuku severely gripped her black katana so hard that it felt like creaking sound could be heard while she was urging Hajime to go ahead. Hajime was scrutinizing the two with the magic eye behind his eye patch while confirming at Shizuku. What he referred at wasn’t about Kouki’s behavior, he was pointing at the overflowing strength from Kouki that was incomparable with everything until now.

“I know that. But, it will be fine. Your artifact is together with me. Besides, you have the objective to rescue Yue correct? We are the one who should do something about this absolute moron somehow.”

“….Well, I guess.”

Hajime agreed with Shizuku with a shrug, he gave a glance at Kouki who was sending him intense gaze with eyes lifted up in wonder hearing the way Shizuku called Hajime’s name and their talk that was filled with trust. And then Hajime urged Shia and Tio to go ahead with his gaze.

Kouki that guessed that Hajime and others were going to advance by ignoring him released killing intent so thick that was unthinkable coming from the Kouki before. His magic power also further roared and burst up.

“You want to escape-! You coward-! As I thought, I will defeat the filthy yo――”

The moment when he lifted his holy sword to let fly a slash, Kouki was blown away by an impact. Eri who was clinging to him was also forcefully separated from Kouki by an explosion of a really small barrier that was deployed near her unnoticed.

At the place where Kouki was standing before, there was the figure of Ryutaro with his fist outstretched unmoving.

“Kuh, Ryutaro. As I thought, you too are brainwashed by Nagumo…”

“What are you saying? Rather it’s me who is trying to help you right now yeah? Doing something like sending killing intent at Nagumo…no way I can let my best friend get turned into minced meat like that.”

“What are you saying…”

“So you ain’t getting it huh, the you right now. You got really messed up at the head there. That’s why I’m telling you, this awesome best friend is gonna beat you up black and blue until you wake UUUUP!”

Ryutaro howled. Kouki’s state that looked really tragic fanned up his rage. That violent rage was directed at his best friend who didn’t want to look at reality, and at his powerless self who couldn’t do anything until his friend was turned into something like this.

That violent rage was poured into the fist that was tightly clenched like a rock, Ryutaro leaped toward Kouki.

“Aaaann, geez-. That’s cruel to separate me from Kouki-kun. Is that something that a be-st-fri-end would do? Hey, Suzuu?”

“…Because Suzu feels that Suzu is your best friend, that right now, Suzu is here. Suzu won’t let Nagumo-kun and others lay their hands on you, so it’s fine to not be that scared you know, Eri?”

“…Hee, looks like you can talk big right now eeh”

Eri’s expression quietly vanished due to Suzu’s calm words and gaze. That was because Suzu’s image as a naïve girl and a docile enemy of little importance in her mind was crumbling, Eri could feel a larger presence from her. And also because she who was fully wracking her brain inside her heart due to the unexpected encounter with Hajime was seen through by Suzu.

Suzu floated a smile on her lips from looking at Eri’s change. She understood that she had finally become someone that Eri couldn’t ignore.

“Nagumo-kun. Just as Shizushizu said, leave this place to Suzu and others, ‘kay?”

Suzu said while drawing out the twin iron fans dangling on her waist and readied herself.

“…Don’t get half-assed. After all, it will be troublesome if I’ve got to kill her myself later.”

“Yep. Suzu gets it. Suzu will properly settle this, no matter what shape it ended in. Nagumo-kun and others too, be careful okay.”

Hajime shrugged, then he directed his gaze at Shizuku. Shizuku too, she smiled slightly and nodded.

“See you later.”

“Yeah. Later.”

A light parting. Be that as it may, those words were filled with the resolve to reunite again without fail. Gazes of trust certainly crossed each other there.

This time Hajime turned back for sure. Without looking back, he rushed to the clock tower accompanied by Shia and Tio. “Wait-” Kouki’s yell could be heard toward that back, but Ryutaro’s war cry that immediately resounded after that and the thunderous roar that his fist played erased that voice, making it immediately inaudible.

And then, Hajime, Shia, and Tio followed the guidance of the compass and vanished into the rippling dial of the clock tower toward another space.

“Araraa, he really went away. Even though it would be better if you weren’t obstinate and said ‘help meeee’ instead. Putting it bluntly, if that monster is not here then there is no problem at all you knooow?”

While laughing with a broad grin, Eri moved her gaze at Suzu and Shizuku who faced her.

“I wonder about that. Indeed, I am feeling an abnormal aura from the two of you right now. But, even we are by no means the same like before you know?”

“Ahahah, scary scary. I cannot let my guard down against Shizuku especially isn’t iiit. Then, how about I call my reassuriiing comrades tooo!”

Eri snapped her fingers. Right after that, BOOM with a thunderous roar the wreckages of the destroyed buildings at the surrounding exploded. From inside the bursting up dust and scattered debris, countless silhouettes leaped and surrounded Suzu and Shizuku.

“Puppet soldiers…weren’t they get crushed by Nagumo-kun…”

“Fufufuh, didn’t I told you. There is no problem if that monster is not here. You see these guys, their body is specially made, as expected a direct hit from missile is impossible to recover from, but they won’t break with something at the level of the building collapsing you knooow”

Furthermore,

“DOWAAAAAAAH!?”

Ryutaro was sent flying toward Shizuku and Suzu while raising such loud scream.

“――’Light Halo'”

Suzu immediately swung her iron fan, deploying a net made from linked light rings and caught Ryutaro.

“Ouch ouch. Suzu, you saved me there.”

“What happened, what about Kouki-kun?”

“No good yeah, that guy. He is not getting it at all, about his position, what the hell he is doing right now, everything. Even when I pointed out anything inconsistent, he just settled it as ‘brainwash’. It doesn’t look like that just one or two punch gonna be enough for him.”

Ryutaro sighed and scratched his head while reporting. Shizuku moved her gaze toward the surrounding puppet soldiers and Kouki who just landed beside Eri while asking more question.

“What about his strength?”

“No doubt about it, he got something done to him. You see him putting on the light that looks like ‘Limit Break’ right? He practically became strong like when he used ‘Limit Break’, but it doesn’t look like he is getting tired at all.”

“Is that so…well, we already resolved from the beginning that there will be many difficulties anyway.”

Looking at the three people who confirmed the situation with a small voice, Kouki showed a sad expression and opened his mouth while being wrapped in light.

“Shizuku, Suzu, Ryutaro. Won’t you three surrender? I don’t want to fight you guys. You are being brainwashed, and perhaps everything I say only sounds like nonsense for you, but I, want to save everyone. I will free you all from Nagumo’s curse!”

“Kouki-kun, how saaad. Beetrayed by your childhood friends, even so, you still try to save them heroicallyy”

“Eri…it’s fine. It doesn’t matter about me. As long as everyone is safe then that’s it. If I can just defeat the incarnation of evil that Nagumo…”

“It’s going to be fineee! After all Iii, only Iii, am Kouki-kun’s ally okaaay~”

“Thank you, Eri. Since the past, I only keep getting supported by you…”

Eri and Kouki gazed at each other. The emptiness in Kouki’s eyes increased while the rift of Eri’s warped smile deepened.

“See? That’s not a level where talking can go through right?”

“……Haa, indeed, looks like it. If that’s the case, to return that idiot to normal, we have to release him from Eri’s ‘Bind Soul’ and…”

“On top of that, there is also the need to beat up Kouki-kun until he is half-dead to teach him the reality isn’t it. …For the time being, Suzu will take care of Eri. After all, the destructive strength of Kouki-kun, with the support of Eri’s darkness magic is the worst combination.”

The three of them nodded to each other. Looking at such three, Kouki looked down sadly.

“As I thought it’s no good…got it. Then, first I’ll make the three of you powerless even if you will hate me for it later. And then I’ll defeat Nagumo and unravel the brainwash!”

Kouki’s mood heated up by himself and he readied his holy sword in overhead stance. Immediately, unusual magic power burst up from his body. A pressure that was even more powerful than ‘Supreme Break’ scorched the air.

“Chih, I don’t know what that is, but that looks bad-!”

Ryutaro tried to charge once more in order to stop Kouki’s technique. But, at that instant, the surrounding puppet soldiers assaulted the three all at once.

“Ahahahahah, I won’t let that you knoow? Don’t forget the lovable heroine-chan who is supporting the hero okaaay!”

Eri was laughing loudly while a western sword that seemed to be artifact appeared unnoticed in her hand. She waved it like a conductor baton. The double-edged blade that had thin red lines on its surface was clad with gray magic power.

“You only look like an evil female leader you know, Eri. If you aren’t self-aware of that, then Suzu will lend you my mirror.”

Suzu replied like that while elegantly waving her twin iron fans. The fans opened and a gentle wind blew, along with that tender magic power light spread like a sunset.

“Call the sanctuary right here, ‘Holy Severance’.”

Right after that, a barrier of light enveloping the three deployed. There the attacks of the puppet soldiers that came one after another――every single one of them struck using sword artifact that was clad in magic power. Gakin Hard sound resounded, the barrier emitting holy light perfectly blocked the countless sword attack.

Furthermore,

“Swallow, ‘Holy Severance – Burst’.”

The instant the twin iron fans were closed with a snap, the barrier exploded with heinous destructive power. Fierce shockwave and the broken fragments of the barrier blown away the grouped up puppet soldiers altogether.

“Nice job, Suzu!”

Ryutaro leaped forward. His sharp eye glint pierced straight at Kouki.

“Don’t let your guard down! ‘Holy Severance – World’.”

Suzu supported by lining up many layers of barrier possessing the radiance of Holy Severance to make triangle tunnel that matched with Ryutaro’s path. It had been proven that Suzu’s Holy Severance couldn’t be broken by the attack power of the puppet soldiers.

Ryutaro rushed fiercely inside the tunnel. The unknown technique that Kouki was going to invoke was so powerful that the air was rumbling. But, if he had Suzu’s protection, he could shut Kouki down before the invocation. Ryutaro was convinced of that.

But,

“You underestimate me too muuch”

At the same time, one puppet soldier jumped high forward at the same time when they heard that voice tone which rubbed anyone’s nerve the wrong way. That puppet soldier aimed his large sword at the barrier tunnel and swung down in one breath.

PAAAAAAN!!

“Wwha-!?”

The sound of destruction reverberated. Of all things, the moment an attack of that puppet soldier hit Suzu’s barrier directly, reddish black ripple spread and a violent impact scattered, just like that the barrier was pulverized like a paper scrap.

Ryutaro raised a shocked voice while twisting his body to barely evade the large sword that was swung down on his path, then in a perfect timing another sword attack approached from another puppet soldier.

A horizontal sweeping attack. In addition, a pincer attack that aimed at his neck and his flank. Ryutaro tried to repel away the attacks even while his posture was unstable by using the gauntlets of both his hands.

But, these two puppet soldiers weren’t normal. The swung sword flickered like an illusion, the real sword traced a trajectory that was different from the trajectory that Ryutaro focused on and approached him.

“――”

While screaming wordlessly, Ryutaro who realized that the defense of his gauntlets wouldn’t make it in time, within an instant, he used partial strengthening of Vajra to strengthen only the locations that the sword would hit.

Gakin A sound of metals clashing with each other sounded, the two attacks of the puppet soldiers were blocked by Ryutaro’s Vajra. But, the third puppet soldiers that appeared unnoticed at the front mercilessly thrust his bright red large spear that was flaming hot toward Ryutaro’s heart.

Ryutaro immediately crossed both his arms and resolved to receive the attack. Fierce impact assaulted Ryutaro, but his trusted partner, the gauntlets were somehow not pierced, it was enduring the attack of the spear. If the gauntlets hadn’t gone through Hajime’s demonic remodeling, perhaps even both his arms would also get pierced through.

But, the true worth of the burning large spear wasn’t just to burn the opponent that it touched. In the next moment, it looked undulating, and then instantly a large explosion occurred along with a thunderous boom.

“-aAAAAAA-!?”

Ryutaro who raised his scream this time was forcefully made to go back through the tunnel, he fell on the ground using ukemi technique and tried to stand right back up immediately. (TN: Ukemi, judo technique that is a way to fall safely.)

At that moment, two more puppet soldiers thrust their ******* sword. Not toward Ryutaro, but toward a ground slightly away from him.

Right after that, bikibikibiki such sound came out, the place that the swords stabbed instantly froze completely. That freezing instantly stretched toward underneath Ryutaro like a crawling snake, it attacked with perfect timing at the instant where Ryutaro was kneeling from his ukemi.

Due to that, the ground under Ryutaro’s legs was frozen and he got restrained, and then four puppets jumped for the final blow. Every single one held a large sword, the swords were similarly flaming red hot like the previous large spear user, if Ryutaro kept getting showered with attacks like this, then at this rate he wouldn’t come out unscathed no matter how sturdy he was.

Behind Ryutaro who was cornered into a desperate situation, there was Shizuku who was losing ground against the puppet soldiers who was attacking her until now using impossibly unique abilities. Shizuku saw Ryutaro’s distress and tried to go to his help, but due to a puppet soldier that created an improvised binding tool by manipulating the floor of the rooftop, Shizuku was held back in place.

Not only that, similar with Ryutaro, four puppet soldiers also leaped toward Shizuku whose feet was restrained. Two puppets held spear clad in lightning while the other two brandished sword clad in gray sands. It was obvious that it wouldn’t end well for her no matter which one she got hit with.

Shizuku showed unease from the unexpected strength of the puppet soldiers while she was about to use her new card.

“First is the most troublesome Shizuku, yes you. ――’Wicked Wrap’.”

“Uh, a?”

However, she was hindered by Eri. Black flickering globe suddenly appeared before Shizuku’s eyes, the moment it entered her sight Shizuku’s body became unable to move at all.

Darkness magic ‘Wicked Wrap’――a magic that obstructed the command from the brain to be sent to the body.

With this Shizuku failed to show her card and she exposed a fatal opening. Eri smugly made a sticky grin.

By using ‘Bind Soul’, Kouki was made to think that even if the three were injured lethally they could be revived later on. And so Kouki who was thinking about ‘saving Shizuku and others’ didn’t feel that hurting the three was evil, and he wielded his strength without any hesitation. There was no need to hold back because later they could be restored back to live.

Of course, there was no way such thing could happen, in the first place Eri wouldn’t let such thing happen. She would at least added the three into her puppet soldiers using ‘Bind Soul’, but she had no plan to properly let them stay alive.

Therefore, she chuckled when she was about to kill the first victim but,

“Dance down, ‘Holy Severance – Sakura’.”

At that instant, countless shining fragments rushed through the battlefield just like a sakura storm. Small countless radiances danced in the air with rustling sound zaaaaaa――. They spiraled with Shizuku and Ryutaro at the center while raising up a whirlwind.

And then the attack of the puppet soldiers was blocked softly by the condensed gathered fragments, dispersing all the impact. Not just that, the flower storm of light swooped down on the puppet soldiers who after attacking were showing lethal opening, like a muddy stream swallowing small fish.

After the flower storm of light passed through, there were the tragic appearances of the puppet soldiers there. Their whole body was mangled, their limbs couldn’t maintain their original form. And the most striking thing was how their head had become in pieces as though the head was exploded.

‘Holy Severance – Sakura’――this magic was literally making the powerful barrier that was Holy Severance into small fragments like sakura petal, if anything was touched by it then they would be cut, and when an attack came they would become flexible wall like a willow bamboo, it was a barrier that unified offense and defense into one.

When Suzu waved her twin iron fans like a traditional Japanese dancer, the sakura flowers of light moved like a stream matching with her movement.

“Fuu. Thanks for the save, Suzu.”

“Ou, thanks. Rather, what the hell with these puppet soldiers.”

“You are welcome. …Those looks like the characteristic magic that monster has aren’t they? Suzu cannot see anything like chanting or magic circle.”

Shizuku and Ryutaro pulled themselves together using the time that Suzu bought and they gathered beside Suzu. Their eyes narrowed gravely, vigilantly looking around at the puppet soldiers surrounding them.

But, at that time, Kouki’s technique was finally completed, the pure white magic power that pierced the sky began to converge on Kouki’s back like a video that was rewound. That abnormal magic power was gradually forming a shape with swaying motion.

“…This is your last chance. Although you all can be revived back to life later on, if possible I don’t want to hurt you three.”

Kouki sent calm voice at Shizuku and others.

Before long, the mass of magic power that Kouki emitted spread out like wings, and then thick and tough tail stretched out, a long neck and head rose, sharp fangs were formed and clanged with each other, brutal claws carved the floor of the building.

Kouki continued his words at Shizuku and others who were looking on in wonder.

“‘Heaven Might – Infinite Change’――this is a technique that makes it possible for Heaven Might that could only be activated as bombardment before to be continuously controlled in its activated state. This dragon, just by existing it carries the destructive power equal of the Heaven Might in full power. In addition, as long as we are in [Holy Precincts], I won’t run out of magic power, so trying to buy time is pointless. …You understand right? The current me is stronger than even Nagumo. All of you absolutely cannot win against me. That’s why…surrender.”

The light dragon that was formed from Heaven Might itself roared. At the same time, a bombardment was fired from its mouth, obliterating a high-rise building one kilometer from their spot in one attack. Indeed, on top of the ‘Heaven Might’ being released in full power without time limit, Kouki’s power didn’t seem to weaken at all, so it appeared that he was supplied with inexhaustible magic power.

“By the waaay, you see, all the puppet-chan at the surrounding, they have magic stone inserted in them, they are a hybrid of monster and human you knooow? With their teamwork and skill unchanged when they were still alive, they now also have the characteristic magic and spec equal to monsteeer. That’s riiight, for the time being, I gueeess you can call them ‘corpse beast soldier’.” (TN: That’s too long, in Japanese their name is just ‘shijuuhei’, but in English it got that long.)

Eri said that. She was implicitly conveying that there was an overwhelming difference in battle strength between them while smiling repulsively. She unfolded her gray wings on her back with a loud flap. With that she conveyed that she herself possessed a strength that resembled an apostle, inviting the three to despair.

Furthermore at the surrounding, it seemed there was corpse beast soldier that could use characteristic magic of healing, even corpse beast soldiers that were carved and blown up by Suzu just now stood back up with their wound healed, other than that there were also reinforcement corpse beast soldiers who seemed to be made to standby for just in case, they were gathering one after another.

Even after excluding the several hundred puppet beast soldiers that were exploded by Agni-Orkan at the beginning, there appeared to be nearly a hundred and fifty battle strength still remaining.

There was Kouki who controlled Heaven Might that carried immense destructive power with complete mastery, furthermore he had no time restriction, his own body was also able to constantly maintained ‘Supreme Break’ state. And then, there was Eri who was likely to possess a spec that nearly approached an apostle and also mastery of darkness magic, added by her ability that could thoroughly control a group of a hundred and fifty corpse beast soldiers.

Indeed, this situation could be said as hellish. If it was the normal classmates who were here then perhaps they would fall on their knees in despair.

But, the ones who were here were the people who had challenged great labyrinths, who had their weakness thrust before them and made to know their powerlessness. These people had faced themselves and swallowed down their dirty and embarrassing part, taking a step forward.

And then, these people had seen that young man, the one who no matter what kind situation he was in, no matter who he faced, he still wouldn’t take even a step back.

That was why,

“Stronger than even Hajime? That’s just too excessive even for a misunderstanding. That man, he is truly ‘the world’s strongest’ you know?”

“Yeah, exactly. Besides, aren’t you two looking down on Suzu and others too much? Something like this won’t even count as ‘strength’.”

“Infinite change, corpse beast soldier, whatever…hah, all these just ain’t enough at all.”

Only something in this level at best wouldn’t even count as a difficult situation.

Kouki’s eyebrow twitched in reaction. Eri’s expression changed from scorn into something cold.

In contrast, Shizuku took the stance of her sword draw art, Suzu looked like she was dancing with her twin iron fans, and Ryutaro took a karate stance. In their eyes, there was not even a speck of nervousness or despair. There was only calm resolve there, to do what they should do.

“Somehow, it’s really irritatiiing.”

“So the brainwashing influence is this deep…it can’t be helped. I will wake up all of you.”

With those words as the signal, the gong of the second round rang.



 

[Vol 8] Chapter 12 – Holy Precincts



Circle-warning.gif This chapter is translated by Cobalt
and is rehosted with due permission.

A world that was richly colored.

That was the scenery that lept into the eyes of Hajime and the others who stepped in into the Holy Precincts.

There was no end that could be confirmed. Various colors mixed in this space. It was as though they were lost inside a world within a bubble.

In that mysteriously colorful space, there was a chalk white path stretching straight forward. No, rather than calling it a path, it was like the top of a dam wall, it was more correct to express their location as ‘above a huge straight wall’.

Hajime and the others were taken aback for a moment. Despite so, they stored the skyboard that became ragged from the apostles’ attack into ‘Treasure Warehouse II’ and stood on the chalk white path. They couldn’t see any apostles even after looking around. It appeared the space that Hajime connected to using the degraded crystal key was a different place from the place that contained the apostles and monsters. They had resolved to clash with a great amount of apostles and monsters as far as their eye could see right after infiltrating, so this could be said as fortunate.

“What a mysterious space. I cannot grasp the sense of distance.”

Shia gave her impression while peeking down from the edge of the path. Just as those words sounded, even as she peeked below, the ground or the bottom of the wall were unclearly being swallowed by the extremely colorful space. Even the path straight ahead, after a certain distance, became swallowed by the colorful space that made it hard to confirm the distance.

“I guess it won’t end well if you fall down huh. Everyone, be careful okay.”

Everyone nodded briskly at Hajime’s warning. Like that they all began to run following after Hajime while staying vigilant of the surrounding.

They were traveling at high speed following the chalk white path in the atmosphere that was filled with uneasy silence. The ‘Compass of Guidance’ showed that Yue’s whereabouts was ahead of the chalk white path. Therefore they dashed believing on that, although there was not a single thing they could use to confirm the distance so they became doubtful whether they were really advancing forward.

If not for the compass that was teaching Hajime that the distance to Yue was closing even for just a little, perhaps even he would also feel doubt.

They advanced the path for several dozen minutes where no end could be seen with few words.

Finally, a change happened.

“It’s coming-. Bombardment!”

Shia’s rabbit ears stood up straight all of a sudden, at the same time she gave a warning. Regardless of their vigilance, everyone other than Shia was completely taken by surprise. It was the proof that Shia’s ‘Future Sight’ was activated, at the same time it also meant that the attack was a risky one that could possibly wipe them out.

Right after that, without any advance warning, silver radiant flashes attacked Hajime and the others from all directions. It was a meteor shower of death without a single gap, conveying clearly how no place of escape was left behind.

“Gather!”

Hajime’s angry roar flew. Everyone reflexively approached Hajime’s side. At the same time, Hajime took out a huge shield from ‘Treasure Warehouse II’. And then that shield which was manifested in empty air pierced the ground while magic power was poured into it.

As the result, Gashun! Gashun! such sound was raised, metal plates were sliding from the inside of the large shield in great speed. In the blink of eye the plates formed a dome that covered Hajime and the others. Metal plates that looked like scales stretched, it was variable large shield ‘Aidion’.

The moment the last metal plate slid into place and Hajime and co were completely covered, the flashes from all directions finally arrived. There was almost no impact. The attack was like a laser, the surface of Aidion was turning into dust. Obviously, the cause was the disintegration ability of the apostles.

But such thing was obvious the moment there was silver light. For that reason, Hajime chose the option of omni-direction defense with this Aidion.

“Hah, just try it if you think you can penetrate this.”

Hajime whispered while smiling fearlessly inside Aidion where there was the illumination of green light stone installed. That was the expression of his confidence. An absolute confidence that the likes of the apostle wouldn’t be able to penetrate his improved defense.

In front of the brutal characteristic ability of the apostles which was like a foul play, those words were something too insolent.

Normally.

Yes, even while Hajime was spouting out those insolent words, Aidion was completely blocking the disintegration bombardment. No, more accurately the shield’s part that was disintegrated was regenerating. It went without saying that the cause was regeneration magic. ‘Restoration Stone’ that was enchanted with regeneration magic was continuously regenerating the part of Aidion that was turned to dust as though time was rolled back.

Of course, the disintegration ability of the apostles was at the level where a building would become dust in an instant, so no matter how much regeneration magic was enchanted the outcome would be that the item got blown away before it could show any effect.

However, this Aidion was similar with ‘Sky Severance’ where it was a composite shield made of several layers of adamantium inserted with restoration stone, furthermore, Hajime’s ‘Vajra’ was also reinforcing it. In other words, even with one layer disintegrated, if the second, third, and fourth layer could buy time even for a second then the restoration stone could display its effect. Therefore, even with that disintegration ability, the apostles couldn’t hope to penetrate it.

“You guys, save your strength for the time being. If it’s just this many apostles then I’ll deal with them.”

“Eh? Deal with them…”

Shizuku was putting strength into the hand holding the black katana in the preparation of battle against apostle swarm once more, but Hajime’s words resounded as though to dampen her spirit. Shizuku reflexively asked back, but inside the large shield that was illuminated faintly by green light stone, looking at Hajime’s expression that supported the large shield――that look which looked like a wild beast made her words got caught up in her throat.

Right after that, the pressure that pushed on Aidion suddenly vanished. The all-out bombardment of the apostles was over.

Hajime transferred Aidion into ‘Treasure Warehouse II’, right after that the apostles showed their figure as though they were oozing out from the colorful space while making ripples. All of the apostles were clad in silver magic power, showing their seriousness right from the beginning. They sent narrowed gaze at Hajime who endured their all-out bombardment, in an instant…

――A curb stomp began.

DOPAAAAAAN-, at the same time when the familiar bursting sound roared, six apostles’ head easily exploded like a joke.

“-!?”

It was a swift defeat unbecoming for god’s apostle.

The apostles who lost six of their sister right at the moment when they made their entrance gulped audibly. The crimson flash that gouged the apostles’ head certainly attacked faster than the gun sound, but it should be possible to evade if it was the apostle in full power state clad in silver light.

The cause that negated the apostles’ evasion ability could be understood from the fact that all the six victims were all the people who blinked in that instant.

Hajime was taking the opening of the apostles’ mind. The number of the apostles who appeared from the space was nearly fifty people. Hajime confirmed all of them instantly and aimed simultaneously only at the blinking apostles with pinpoint precision…

Hajime had survived many battles against the apostles, that was the reason this special move with difficulty level that was like threading the eye of a needle was working. There was no way the apostles could understand what happened.

Because of that, they were unable to understand the reason why their sisters were shot without being unable to do anything, this too caused their head to be soaked in confusion for an instant.

DOPAAAN

With that four more people died. Their head exploded and fell on the ground like an insect with their wings clipped.

“Kuh, three people are to chant-. The rest continue on!”

One of the apostles gave out instruction while grinding her teeth with the usual expressionless face crumbling. It appeared that she was the manager who handed down the command even among the apostles. The remaining apostles obeyed the instruction and moved all at once.

The apostle that gave instruction――Zekst swung her twin large swords once and then took flight instantly with her silver wings flapped. She charged at Hajime while leaving behind afterimages.

But, to such apostle, the small murmur of Hajime reached her clearly.

“…Hee, so you are the captain.”

“――”

Amidst a large number of apostles flying around with countless afterimages filling the space to the limit, Hajime’s eye glint accurately caught Zekst’s figure.

And then, Hajime and Zekst’s gaze entangled inside the world where the rich colors looked fading and dull, right after that, slowly, and even slower inside Zekst’s mind, Hajime’s mouth…split.

At that moment, Zekst realized. This world where the flow of time became slow right now, wasn’t something produced because of her great speed, but it was the phenomenon of revolving lantern that someone watched at their dying moments. The reason of her realization was because, even while she was getting aware of the slowly approaching bullet clad in crimson toward her in the real world, the images of the many secret maneuverings ‘the apostle of god’ had carried out until now in all countries toward the people were also passing through her mind.

All apostles shared their memory with each other. Even if it wasn’t something that Zekst personally did, but something that ‘apostle’ did was something that Zekst did. …Zekst thought. Were the apostles who were destroyed before she also saw the same scene like this? The scene, of the people who they had been toying with until now, were now looking down at them mockingly.

Zekst’s body was accurately moving even while watching the revolving lantern. Her neck moved by itself trying to evade the flying bullet by twisting aside. But, mysteriously even with that Zekst was convinced that the approaching bullet would still pierce her.

And then, that conviction was proved right within an instant. The moment Zekst twisted her neck, of all thing, the bullet before her eyes shifted its trajectory slightly. Its path was accurately heading to Zekst’s temple.

‘Aa, really, what an irregular…’

After murmuring such thing inside her heart, in the end Zekst felt an impact, along with that her consciousness fell into darkness.

At the same time when Zekst fell, further seven apostles also fell on the ground with their head similarly blown away.

Hajime glanced at that scene while rotating Donner & Schlag in gun spin, then he scattered more bullets of death to all directions.

Although because Hajime’s arms rotation and the reloading speed were too fast, an outsider looking would only be able to see acrobatic gun spins repeating all the time. The realization of Hajime’s killing intent was displayed only by the fact that the scattered crimson flashes were shooting through the foreheads of the apostles without the slightest deviation.

“Wh, why-”

Unable to endure, one of the apostles who wasn’t shot down yet spoke with rough voice and words that could be taken as a question or escaping reality.

It was natural for her to be like that. They were the ‘apostle of god’. The sword of god that the likes of mankind had no hope to oppose. They were an existence that could trample the world equally like a natural disaster with just a single one of them! And yet, why, how they could be easily exterminated like this, dropping out just like flies…. Impossible. There was no way this kind of unrealistic sight could exist!

Right after that, a flash flew toward that apostle.

With an unknown emotion welling up inside her, that apostle drew a slash at the air trying to bisect that light with her shining large sword. The information that Hajime’s bullet which generated impact could crack their large sword with one attack in the previous battle was naturally also shared with this apostle, therefore she decided not to ‘make her large sword into shield’ but to ‘cut down the bullet’.

Like that, the beautiful silver trajectory split the crimson flash…was how it should be.

Instead, the result that came out was the explosion of the apostle’s head. Just before the apostle’s mind sunk into darkness, she whispered inside her stretched out perception.

‘The light…slip through?……’

It wasn’t unreasonable for her to have that misapprehension.

――Combined Metamorphosis-Creation Transmutation Special Bullet Living Bullet

That was the true form of the attack that slipped through the apostles’ evasion and large swords.

This ‘Living Bullet’ was a special bullet enchanted with metamorphosis magic, the simple explanation was that the bullet could listen to the command of the user――it was literally a living bullet.

Hajime developed this bullet after understanding that the sealing stone and the pseudo scorpion in the abyss were created by blending organic matter and inorganic matter, so simply put the bullet was a living golem in bullet shape that executed a simple order.

This time the command that Hajime gave was just one. ‘Hit the aimed place’, that was all. It was a small bullet, so even though they listened to order but they had no ego. So to speak it was like a program. Evade if there was an obstacle in front of the target, chase if the target moved. That was all they could do. The bullet couldn’t make U-turn if they passed the target and chased endlessly, it was also unable to circle around if a wall was made with silver wings to shot the apostle at the back of their head.

But, even so, the electromagnetically accelerated flash that reached the target within an instant corrected its trajectory just a few meters before it reached the target. No matter how unfair the perception ability and reaction speed the apostle had, there was no way they could evade or anything.

If the apostle tried to cut the bullet using their large sword but the bullet changed trajectory smoothly, it wasn’t unreasonable for the apostle to mistake that the bullet ‘slipped through’.

“Before, you guys said this right. That ‘the analysis about you is finished’. Just what time are you talking about I wonder. By the time you failed to kill me for the second time, the scythe of death god has already lined up on the neck of you guys.”

The gun spin moved at too high of rotation speed that it looked like a round shield. Hajime’s figure that moved with sliding feet turning over and over while firing flashes in radial direction looked like he was dancing.

And then as long as that dance of death was continuing, one by one the apostles had their forehead pierced, their head exploded, and fell like a puppet with their string cut.

If they tried using their large sword as a shield, then an attack with three impacts compressed into it would assault and with just a single shot, a fatal damage would be inflicted on the large sword, in a hairbreadth the second shot would pierce the forehead altogether with the sword. Even when they tried long range attack or magic, their breathing at the instant they were going to attack was perfectly read, so they were only exposing their opening instead, but if they attempted close range combat then they would be intercepted by a bullet with bending trajectory.

When they attempted to overlap their twin large swords and silver wings as a shield to charge through, six shots would burst with pin point accuracy at the same time, the tremendous shockwave was generated while smashing the iron wall, or possibly the apostle would run out of strength and got blown away. And then, that impact would spontaneously make them relaxed the guard of their large sword and wing, the curving bullet would attack weaving through that opening.

“While I was thinking of the ways to kill you guys, what were you guys doing? Did you analyze my fighting style? Hah, that won’t cut it at all. You got to train yourself, change your weapon, polish your tactic, heighten your proficiency, put double and triple layer of traps, and mass produce trump cards.”

The apostles’ worn-out remain vanished from the sky toward the ground like a cookie’s crumbling that spilled from a mouth.

“Shut up-”

Right after that, along with an angry voice that sounded like it was desperately repressing something that welled up inside the speaker, a silver sun materialized. The sun that brilliantly shined was something made from focused magic power of apostle enchanted with disintegration ability. Looking closer, under the silver sun there were three apostles raising their large sword piled into one. Most likely this was a large bombardment executed by multiple apostles.

Looking at that, Hajime was…snorting in exasperation.

“Is that your trump card! Fine, bring it on.”

“-…Vanish without any trace behind! Irregular!”

The three apostles swung down their sword in unison. The silver sun that was a compression of energy until the critical state radiated its light of ruin just like prominence. A super thick laser with diameter reaching ten meters approached Hajime in order to make everything of him into dust.

From ‘Treasure Warehouse II’, Hajime too out two pieces of disk――he took out two chakrams and threw them forward. One of the chakrams rotated in the air, when its flat part faced the approaching thick bombardment, at the next moment it divided into three parts.

The chakram was divided into three parts with equal distance between them, however, they didn’t scatter into pieces, the parts were connected by thin wire, the parts spread widely in an instant and created large circle before Hajime’s eyes.

At that moment, the silver huge laser reached Hajime…not, it was completely swallowed into the circle made by the divided chakram and the wire. And then, that swallowed silver light jumped out from the other chakram that also parted and created a similar large circle at a slightly separated place.

――Variable Chakram Orestes

The chakram up to now could only create a gate at the small inside of the chakram, but this new type chakram ‘Orestes’ that had improvement applied in it could separate and with the built-in wire inside, a gate that could be freely changed in size would be made. Depending on the situation, it could also be used as a guillotine by making something passed halfway into the gate and then decreasing the size.

The apostles never even dreamed that the focused bombardment by three apostles which could be said as a trump card would be returned back to them as it was, perhaps they were unable to move while performing the firing, their reaction was dull and they got swallowed into the light that they fired themselves, they were annihilated literally without leaving even dust behind.

“You guys don’t evolve. You cannot struggle to the death for the sake of living, for the sake of your wish, for the sake of what’s ‘important’. That’s why, I told you right from the beginning didn’t I? You all just wooden doll.”

“Irregular! No, you are truly, a true monste――”

A gunshot echoed. The bullet that curved in trajectory approached easily like a joke and pierced the forehead of the last apostle.

While silver feathers and apostle remains were falling like an illusion, Hajime spun the smoking Donner & Schlag and finished reloading, then he silently stored them in their holsters.

Looking at the result, he was uninjured from a fight against the fifty apostles of god. Completely. It was truly overwhelming.

That fact made Shia, Tio, and Shizuku’s expression to turn a bit into ecstasy. Suzu and Ryutaro leaked out a dry laugh.

‘Meteor Impact’ that destroyed the God Mountain, sunlight convergence laser ‘Burst Hyperion’, gatling pile bunker and living bullet…when Hajime was given time, that many absurd weapons were produced one after another.

What did it mean by a non-combat job. What did it mean by mundane occupation. Indeed Hajime’s body itself boasted monstrous spec due to an irregular event, but Hajime’s true weapon was no other than that power of development. And then, in every age what became a threat to humanity was always ‘something’ that was newly created. In a sense, perhaps it could be said that Hajime was in possession of the most terrifying talent.

While it had been too late at this point of time, whether they wanted it or not Shizuku and the others were made to understand that.

“It’s going to be troublesome if they come in succession. Let’s go ahead right away.”

Hearing Hajime who started running while giving out the order as though nothing happened, Shizuku and the others came back to their senses and chased behind him.

“Aaa. I wanted to show Hajime-san just now to Yue-san desuuu”

“Fufu, I thought that there might be this kind of thing. So I bring the image recording artifact. When everything is over, let art we hold a video appreciation meeting!”

“Tio-san, nice desu! As expected from the extraordinary pervert that might even leave her name in the history!”

“Fuhahaha, don’t praise me, don’t praise me! I would become shy thou know?”

Shia and Tio laughed with each other in composure while being inside the enemy base that was the Holy Precincts. Their feeling was loosening up with that while they dashed forward for a while.

Hajime and the others finally ran into a richly colored wall. When his hand touched the rippling wall, the hand easily sunk into the other side. They nodded at each other and the whole group leaped into the other side of the ripple.

If Nakamura Eri was asked what was her first memory that was the most intense, surely she would answer like this.

――The scene of Otou-san’s death.

It was when Eri was five years old. She went with her father to a public park with just the two of them, there the high-spirited Eri jumped on the roadway carelessly and with a devilish timing a car came charging forward, then her father died protecting Eri. In a sense, it was the result of a mundane traffic accident.

But, there was one result that wasn’t mundane. That was the state of her mother after that. Eri’s mother was a daughter from a slightly high-class family, but it seemed that she went against her family and married with Eri’s father, she was clinging all over the father to the degree that even Eri’s childish heart got embarrassed.

That wasn’t only because the mother merely loved the father, if someone took a step back and looked at it closer, perhaps it was on the level that could be said as dependence. For that reason, Eri’s mother that from the start wasn’t mentally strong was unable to endure the death of the beloved husband that supported her heart.

Because she was unable to endure, she bared her fang to the cause of death. Yes, her target was her own young daughter――Eri. Normally, a mother would swallow her tears while supporting her daughter who should be hurt because she witnessed with her own eyes the death of her father, that would be the correct way of living as a mother. But, as expected, although Eri’s mother held back in front of other people, when they returned home and there were only the two of them, she would direct her hatred at Eri without sugarcoating it at all.

For Eri’s mother, if her daughter and her husband were weighed on the scales, the scale would tilt to the latter, she loved her daughter was also only because Eri was her husband’s daughter.

At the time, the five years old Eri earnestly endured the violence that was carried out almost every day and the abusive language spewed out to her. That was because Eri who was smart for five years old was completely accepting the words of her mother that said “because of your fault” to her. Her carelessness killed her father――the one who believed that more than anyone else was no other than Eri herself.

It was only natural for her mother to be angry at her who stole the father that her mother loved. It was only natural that she who made her father died was given punishment to both her heart and body. Eri believed that from the bottom of her heart.

At the same time, Eri also believed that when this punishment was over, than her mother who looked like a demon would return to the gentle mother in the past who always smiled kindly.

Her mother’s abuse was ingenious, she had never done anything that might leave any mark on Eri’s body. Eri too had also never revealed anything for the sake of her mother, and also for the sake of the punishment to her. Because of that, such situation continued for a few years, but there was no one that could notice what happened.

However, for a child there was no way she would be able to always be smiling in such environment. As a child clad in gloomy atmosphere Eri practically didn’t have any friend at school. Her lone quiet self that looked like someone bracing herself waiting for the storm to pass was surely eerie for the children of the same age.

Isolation and self-condemnation and the pain of her heart, her feeling that was thinking of her mother, and loneliness…Eri’s heart was nearing its limit from all those. Like that she endured such situation for several years, but in a sense it also could be said as astounding how she endured that long.

A change happened at such gloomy days.

Nine years old――when she was in third-year elementary school. Her mother brought home an unknown male into their home. He was an adult male with an arrogant attitude and bad character. Her mother was making sickly-sweet coaxing voice at that man while clinging coquettishly all over him.

Eri couldn’t believe it. Didn’t her mother throw that much anger and hatred to herself exactly because she loved the father from the bottom of her heart, Eri thought.

That thinking wasn’t mistaken. But, the heart of Eri’s mother was far weaker than even Eri thought. To the degree that if she wasn’t supported by someone, then she wouldn’t be able to live properly.

From that day, Eri’s house was lived by that man.

The way the man acted in the house was exactly like a typical trash that often came out in a cheap novel. And then in addition, as though to follow the clichéd story of such novel, the gaze of that man toward Eri wasn’t something that was usually directed to a little girl.

The disgusting feeling that felt like it was crawling all over her body caused Eri to pass her time inside the house holding her breath even more than before. Even so, the act and speech of the man were gradually escalating, before long Eri called herself with ‘boku’ (TN: This way of calling oneself was usually used by a boy, a girl usually used ‘watashi’) and she kept her hair in rough short-cut style. That was the meager measure of the small Eri to defend herself from the thinking that ‘if he is not seeing me as a girl then’.

At school, Eri who even at normal time was already seen as gloomy and somewhat eerie, one day she suddenly changed the way she called herself and came with short hair like a boy, that caused the few children who even though they weren’t her friend but they still conversed daily with Eri, even those children distanced themselves from Eri. Eri became isolated further and further.

Even so, even if she felt that her mother betrayed her father, Eri still believed. That her mother would surely return to the gentle mother in the past. She pretended to not notice that such thinking was only a type of escape that averted her eyes from reality.

That hope of Eri that was like grasping at straw, was destroyed by an event that made her realize that the hope was really just a fragile straw. Finally the man bared his fang of desire at Eri. It was while Eri’s mother was going out for her night work.

Fortunately, though it was unclear if it could really be called fortunate, the neighbors who heard Eri’s scream notified the police, thanks to that Eri’s chastity wasn’t scattered. Eri herself was thinking that perhaps this kind of day would come, so she had prepared every day by opening the window so her scream could easily reach, that was also the reason she was saved.

And so being attacked wasn’t something shocking for Eri. Rather, she even thought that it was a chance. With this her mother should finally open her eyes. Her mother would cut the connection with a man that attacked her own daughter and she would remember Eri’s father. In any case, the man was caught by police, so their connection was severed. With this the livelihood of Eri and her mother would be improved slightly, she thought.

Yes, she thought like that.

Only until her mother directed a hatred that was even more than until now to her.

After finishing with the questioning from the police and she returned together with Eri back to their home, what came flying the very first to Eri was the mother’s slap. And then, the mother said this to Eri. “How dare you seduce that person.”

It seemed, for her mother, the incident where Eri was attacked by the man wasn’t an impetus for her to realize the trashiness of the man, but it was perceived by the mother as Eri stealing her mother’s man once more. Rather than about her daughter receiving assault, the matter of how the man was separated from her and how the man’s desire was directed at Eri were the matters that the mother couldn’t stomach.

A mother that betrayed her father, a mother that hurt her, a mother that was sad because the man was gone rather than about her daughter got assaulted…at this time, Eri finally realized. No, perhaps it should be said that she finally looked straight at something that she had actually understood but she averted her eyes from.

That was, that her mother didn’t love her. That her mother of the past wouldn’t return anymore. That the real nature of her mother wasn’t the gentle figure in the past, but the figure overflowing with ugliness in front of her eyes right now.

She realized those.

That was why――Eri broke.

Everything that she believed was an illusion. Her enduring was meaningless. And then, there was no hope for the future ahead. Those factors were far than enough to break the very young Eri.

When she woke up the next day not from her sleep but rather from her fainting, it was early morning when the sun still hadn’t even risen, there Eri slipped out from the home. This wasn’t an act of testing affection that children tended to do, to see if her mother would worry and came to search for her. It was for the sake of ending herself――in other words, for suicide.

She got out of the home was because she didn’t want to die near her mother for some reason.

Like that, Eri wandered unsteadily without any particular destination, and what she discovered was a river. A large river at a place slightly distanced from home. The well-maintained river plain became a good place for children to play. With this Eri who stared vacantly at the river flowing below from the iron bridge spanning above got a thought, let’s do it here.

It was a river with quite the amount of water, but the flow wasn’t particularly fast, and it wasn’t like the water level rose due to rain. For suicide by drowning, this place could honestly be said as unsuited. Rather than drowning, there was more danger from jumping down from the bridge and landed wrongly. Although even that risk would be lessened by the river water and wouldn’t cause death in many cases.

Eri’s body somehow climbed up with her thin arms, her upper body jutted out a lot outside the handrail. Like that as though being sucked in, Eri’s body was almost falling toward under the bridge…exactly at that time, suddenly a voice called at her.

――What are you doing? The voice said.

What entered into Eri’s vacant eyes that looked back was a young boy around the same age of her, he was wearing a jersey and was obviously jogging. Eri also knew well about this boy, he was someone at the same school with her who gathered all the popularity into himself, a shining bright boy――yes, it was Amanogawa Kouki.

Seeing the dark expression of the looking back Eri, Kouki guessed that she wasn’t in a normal state of mind, he pulled back Eri forcefully from the handrail and displayed his sense of justice in full.

To Kouki who persistently asked her situation, Eri explained with a lot of things omitted. She did that because if she didn’t then it didn’t seem like Kouki would let her go. Kouki who listened to the really shortened explanation of Eri then comprehended it like this.

Eri who was isolated in school was disciplined strictly by her father because of that. When she asked for help from her mother, even her mother than scolded her together with her father. Eri didn’t have any ally and feeling sad, she tried to suicide.

That conclusion couldn’t be said as mistaken from hearing only that fragmentary information. For Kouki who was still immature and fiercely under the impression that human nature was fundamentally good as his thinking foundation, thing like the principle behind the act of Eri’s mother was beyond his understanding, he was unable to even imagine that an adult male would make a girl the same age as him into the man’s outlet for desire, furthermore, the mother would instead blame her daughter for that. And so, the conclusion became like that within Kouki’s sphere of understanding.

Understanding it like that, with a smile and strength that made the girls in school into his captive even in that age, Kouki put his hands on Eri’s cheeks while declared from point-blank range.

――You are not alone anymore. I will protect Eri.

He said that. The word ‘protect’ was told to her, into the heart of a broken girl, right after she comprehended that she was worthless for everyone. It was said so surely without a doubt. From the most famous boy in the school that was like a prince, in a situation that could be said as dramatic in a sense, that kind of thing was said to Eri.

In the bottom of her heart, for the little girl who had been continuously searching for affection from someone all this time, that word was extremely intense.

Furthermore, at that day, Eri who somehow given up suicide was driven out by her mother to go to school, there at the school she was surprised because the girls in the class came to talk to her brightly one after another, furthermore when she knew that this situation was because of a word from Kaori…to say it frankly, her heart fell to him right there.

After that, the staffs of child consultation center suspected mistreatment from the behavior of Eri’s mother and they visited to investigate several times. However, even though she was young, she knew that if she was separated from her mother here then at the same time she had to move to another place, in other words, she would be separated from Kouki, Eri who sensed that then acted a ‘girl who loved her mother’ with all her might.

She felt like she was going to vomit, but in front of the staffs she embraced her mother with a full smile and acted the scene of a close mother and daughter. Even now Eri still remembered the expression of her mother at that time. Her expression that changed from shock into a cramped face, and then it vividly changed into definite fear.

Looking at her mother like that, what Eri thought was, “Aah, so it’s like that.” Just by changing the method, something like position or emotion could be overturned easily. Just by her smiling cheerfully as though her gloominess until now was just a lie, her mother immediately averted her eyes and shut up. When later she whispered “Next, what do you want me to steal?” jokingly, her mother went pale and she screamed while rushing out from the home.

Eri was convinced, that all of these were thanks to Kouki――the prince who suddenly appeared and swore to protect her. That in that day her prince saved and changed her. That she was reborn due to Kouki. That was why, her life from now on would be together with him who was like a radiant light and she would live similarly within the light.

She indirectly threatened her mother, and then she induced so her mother only delivered the living cost to the home, she arranged the environment so she could be at Kouki’s side…she was convinced that she was someone special that was chosen by the prince…

But, Eri was in a misunderstanding. For Kouki, Eri was nothing more than one person who should be saved by the hero of justice. After calling out to his classmates and asked them to be friendly to the isolated Eri, Kouki’s rescue was over with that. Similar with how in anime the people that were saved by the hero didn’t come out anymore at all in the next episode, for Kouki the matter of Eri was ‘a story that was already over’.

That was why Eri thought strangely of Kouki who only came in contact with her as though she was the same like ‘that other crowd’, why the other girls were unable to understand that she was Kouki’s ‘special one’ for some reason. ‘Because, that spot is the spot where I belong right?’ she wondered.

Due to that, Eri who was unable to approach Kouki in mind and body and could do nothing else except continuing to stare at Kouki began to notice various things.

The girls in the class who talked to her intimately did that only ‘because that was Kouki’s request’.

That at Kouki’s side, there was already ‘special one’ who accompanied him from even far earlier than the time when they exchanged words at the bridge in the early morning, that there was no place for her to belong or anything there.

That For Kouki, she was a someone whose story with him was already over.

The moment she realized that, it was as though she was going mad, no, she was literally going mad while thinking about the same thing continuously every day.

――You said that I’m not alone anymore right?

――You said that you will protect me right?

――I am special for you right?

――Heey, why, are you saying the same words to another person I wonder?

――Heey, why, are you not looking at just me I wonder?

――Heey, why, right now, you are not rescuing me even though I’m in this much pain I wonder?

――Heey, why, are you showing that kind of face to another woman I wonder?

――Heey, why, are the eyes you are looking me with is the same like with ‘that other crowd’ I wonder?

――Heey, heey, heey, heey, heey, heey, heey, heey, heey, heey, heey, heey, heey, heey, heey, heey, heey, heey, heey, heey, heey, heey, heey, heey, heey, heey, heey, heey, heey, heey, heey, heey, heey, heey, heey, heey, heey, heey, heey, heey, heey, heey, heey, heey, heey, heey, heey, heey, heey, heey, heey, heey, heey, heey, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why……

Like that Eri understood.

About the human named Kouki.

And then Eri remembered.

What she learned from her mother, how the emotion and act of someone could be changed so easily just by one act.

That was why,

“Like this I was able to obtain Kouki-kun into my hand isn’t it. Well, there were too many irregular things like another world summoning and so on though…”

“Hm? Eri, did you say something?”

In a certain place at the Holy Precincts, Eri who stared at a wasteland while whispering to herself caused Kouki to turn to her and he asked while tilting his head. To such Kouki, Eri smiled cheerfully while approaching him, and then she snuggled at his back. She was clinging coquettishly just like how once her mother did to that man. She did that unconsciously.

“Nope, it is nothing at all you knooow. I was just thinking that it will be great if we quickly defeat that demon, and then take back your childhood friends won’t iiit, that’s all you knooow”

“I see…. You’re right. I also feel the same. We have to quickly release Shizuku, Kaori, and Ryutaro, also our classmates from the brainwashing. Nagumo too, he is unmistakably a classmate but…that guy has done too much evil. Even if I have to turn my heart into a demon, I have to defeat that guy. Even if I have to bear the stigma as a classmate killer, but I have to save everyone, isn’t that right?”

“It’s going to be okay you knooow, Kouki-kun. Because I’m right at your side seee? I will help you every time. It is me, only me, that will be Kouki’s ally no matter what happened you knooow?”

“Eri…thank you. I can become strong like this, how I can fight that guy too, everything is thanks to Eri. Eri is my…”

“My? My what I wondeeer?”

Eri whispered into Kouki’s ear and deliberately pressing him to speak out the obvious answer. Against that, Kouki’s cheeks reddened slightly yet his words were firm.

“You are my…’special one’. No matter what happened, ‘I won’t let you be alone’ from here on. ‘I will protect Eri’.”

“Fuh, fufu, kuh, fuufufu…”

“Eri? ――Nmu-”

Eri who leaked out a chuckle from being unable to endure it caused Kouki to look across his shoulder with a worried gaze at her. While showing an expression of ecstasy, Eri piled up her lips on Kouki’s lips. And then, their lips separated with a silver string stretched between them. While staring back at Kouki’s eyes that looked empty somehow, Eri murmured smilingly.

“Yes, it’s fine like this. Kouki-kun, we are going to be together forever aren’t weee”

Dry wind blew.

――in the world where there is nooo one other than the two of us

The last words whispered inside Eri’s heart didn’t enter Kouki’s heart. In exchange of that, from a slightly distance place there was a sound echoing. Kouki’s expression warped into an ugly look. His eyes contained flame of hatred.

It was the footsteps of the hated enemy, and his childhood friends.