Inside the bright cave, Yua faced a lightning beast, wearing lightning around its body.

「Fast…..」

Lightning beast attacks Yua at the speed that can’t be registered by her eyes. She casts『Channel Light』to raise functions such as the eyesight and brainpower, somehow she managed to escape the attack.

The lightning beast moved behind Yua and tried to slash at her, but Yua gripped Yurial in her right hand and fired at its foreleg from the very close range.

Then, she raised her leg strength a took a distance from it.

Yua was on the defensive for a while already.

Even if she tries to attack, its speed is frightening, she can’t hit the beast so easily.

Adding to that, even if her attack hits, it is impossible for her to even penetrate its skin.

Yua knew about the source of its speed and hard skin. She even knew of a magician with similar qualities.

The speed that couldn’t be caught by the eyes, the solid skin that couldn’t be penetrated even by the Yuriel, the source of them was the lightning cloak on its body.

There are two types of the lightning attribute in the Leiria Kingdom.

The commonly known lightning attribute is an attribute derived from the wind attribute which is one of four basic attributes.

And the less well-known lightning attribute is the attribute compounded from the combination of wind attribute and fire attribute.

Lightning beast’s cloak was the latter.

The lightning attribute which is compounded attribute, incorporates the special effect of both wind and fire, the special effect of lightning attribute is『hardening+activation』.

This is the secret of the beast’s strength.

By cloaking itself in lightning, lightning beast hardened its skin using wind attribute, and at the same time by the special effect of fire attribute, activates his latent physical abilities.

「So troublesome …」

Yua muttered looking at the beast.

Gururu

The lightning beast roared, and its figure suddenly vanished. She felt that beast’s speed was gradually increasing.

However, she was still able to barely protect herself.

If you do not lose your cool, it is doable. Yua thought so.

However, the moment when the lightning beast moved in front of Yua and tried to slice her with its claw again, her movements were slightly late.

「Damn….」

Although Yua thought that she would be fine if she fought calmly, somehow she could not keep up with the movement of the lightning beast. And this was not the first time.

「Why….」

You thought that it wouldn’t be a problem if she dealt with it calmly, but for some reason, her body didn’t respond well enough.

It felt like she had a hole in her heart, Yua’s movement kept growing duller.

But Yua couldn’t understand what that feeling was.

The lightning beast continued its merciless attack, disregarding her emotional state.

「Why……」

She felt that each time she tried to concentrate on its attack, the hole in her heart grew bigger.

As if the more she fought, the more she regretted. Yua desperately tried to concentrate on the battle.

「I have to focus …」

Yua muttered to herself again, trying to capture the appearance of the beast in her field of vision. But the moment she looked at Seiya, her movements couldn’t help but slow down.

She couldn’t see the appearance of Seiya under a large number of rocks and stones, after the collision with the wall, but it was impossible for him to survive.

Yua understood such a thing well enough. Still, when she looked at that place, she couldn’t help but be mindful of it.

（It makes no sense …）

Yua desperately tried to convince herself.

（I just tried to use him to get to Aquaristan）

Yua tried to remind herself of the first though she had upon seeing him.

（He is a temporary partner, if he dies that is fine）

Trying to forget about Seiya, she thought of heartless things. But the more Yua tried to forget him, the more his figure imprinted itself in her heart.

「Why……」

Yua couldn’t understand.

I do not trust other people, I do not trust Seiya. So even if he died, I only feel a little sorry, but nothing more. Our connection comes to an end.

He died. Our relationship expired. I need to forget him.

Yua kept thinking as such.

But, for some reason, she couldn’t forget him. She couldn’t understand that reason. [¹]

No, she knew it but didn’t want to acknowledge it.

She was afraid of being betrayed again.

While Yua was thinking, the lightning beast didn’t cease its assault. In other words, it was inevitable that Yua fell into a pinch in a moment.

「Damn it……」

The lightning beast appeared behind Yua, who lacks concentration.

Because of the lapse in concentration, Yua couldn’t respond to its attack. Even if she started moving, it would be impossible for her to avoid the attack of the beast.

Just a momentary gap. However, in high-speed battle, the moment is enough.

Various responses are born in Yua’s head, but she didn’t have enough time to execute any of them.

（Death…….）

I will be pierced through the heart just like Seiya and die. Yua imagined this outcome in her head and strengthened her resolve.

「Tsk……」

Various regrets surfaced in her heart, but it will turn into nothing soon enough, so Yua stops thinking. She prepared to embrace the incoming pain.

（Here it comes……）

Yua was expecting the pain to come. But the pain never appeared, no matter how long she waited.

She was wondering what happened and slowly opened her eyes that she previously closed. And then she was startled.

「Eh……」
「Are you alright, Yua?」
「Seiya…..」

Behind Yua, there was a figure of Seiya with Hollins in his right hand, deflecting the attack of the lightning beast.

This story goes back a bit, just a moment after Seiya crashed into the wall and was buried by the rocks, he mysteriously regained his consciousness.

He felt it was very strange.

Why was he still breathing, why was he still conscious, why he even was here? Seiya felt strange, but he understood that he was still alive

「Why?」

Seiya wondered. He should have been pierced through the heart by the sharp claws of the lightning beast, he should have lost a lot of blood and died. That was an undeniable fact.

But even then Seiya didn’t feel any pain anywhere in his body, the only difference being that his surroundings were dark.

Other than that, everything was normal.

Seiya looked at his chest. There should be a wound from the beast’s claw. But when Seiya saw his own chest, he didn’t find any wounds.

「Why…Mm? This is……」

Not to mention the wound, he noticed that his clothes were mostly fine as well. There was still a small hole in the chest part, the white mana was leaking from that hole.

White mana, its identity is, of course, the holy attribute. But Yua wasn’t here right now, that meant that Seiya is the source of the holy attribute.

「What is happening?」

Seiya was watching his clothes with great concentration, soon enough the small hole vanished and his school uniform returned to its original condition

Seiya lost his words to an incredible sight. But soon he remembers an important matter.

「Right, Yua」

Seiya thought that Yua still didn’t know about his condition. He immediately became worried about her safety.

For Seiya, Yua was a mysterious girl he didn’t understand too well, but he still felt happy because she needed him.

Yua needed Seiya’s help. She needed the help of the Unknown. Never before someone asked Seiya for help.

Seiya, for the first time, felt like admitting to himself, he wanted to protect Yua.

「Have to help Yua」

Seiya slowly stood up and emerged from the darkness.

Then he saw Yua being in a pinch.

「『Mantle of Light』」

Seiya will use his power to protect Yua.