Isolated island was floating in the lake. There were four shadows on it.

First, a blue haired woman, that is looking down on the ground while floating in a chair.
Second, a big dragon, composed entirely of water, that is flying behind that woman.
Third, a boy, wearing the mana of light attribute and grasping the twin swords in both hands, while standing on the ground.
Fourth, a girl, standing on the ground like a boy, holding a white rapier.

And the four shadows existed opposing each other two vs two.

But the atmosphere here was somewhat light.

「Gedo-chan, ha-ha」
「Horrible naming sense ……」

Seiya and Yua, looked away from Undine, trying to suppress their laugh at Gedo-chan and her horrible naming sense. [¹]

Undine seemed to be angry with the duo.

「Aren’t you too relaxed? Do it, Gedo-chan」

As he was told by the Undine, Gedo-chan created a blue magic circle in front of his mouth and attacked the duo.

「『Dark Wave』」

Seiya immediately casts the『Dark Wave』against the water shot from Gedo-chan’s mouth.

Although Gedo-chan’s attack had considerable power, it was distributed in a wide area. So, Seiya’s『Dark Wave』easily dealt with it.

「Yua, which one is yours?」
「I leave the dragon to you……」
「All right. Then Undine is all yours」
「Yup……」

The two swiftly decided on their enemies and launched an attack.

In this environment, fighting solo will be more effective than cooperating. The two judged like that and split up.

Seiya grasped the twin swords and approached Gedo-chan with his raised leg power.

But, of course, Gedo-chan wasn’t staying still either. As a matter of course, he deployed a magic circle towards Seiya and unleashed an attack.

「Slow」

Gedo-chan won’t be able to hit Seiya because of its mass. Seiya thought this way, but the reality was different.

Gedo-chan’s speed was fast if you compare him to common magical beasts. With its massive body, it was even more impressive. But even if you say so, when he tried to hit Seiya, he wasn’t that fast in Seiya’s eyes.

Why so? It can be attributed to Seiya’s previous battle.

Prior to fighting Gedo-chan, Seiya fought the lightning beast at the god speed and achieved a brilliant victory. And then this fight happened.

Even his body still remembered the sensation of the speed. Besides, Gedo-chan was definitely slower that lightning beast and had a size that is hard to miss.

Even with the usual『Mantle of Light』, he had already seen through Gedo-chan’s movements.

Gedo-chan tried to shoot water again from his magic circle, but there was no one in that place already. At this point, he already moved behind Gedo-chan.

「This is the end」 [²]

Seiya pierced his neck with Hollins and poured mana of the dark attribute into him, trying to extinguish his body.

Gururu

But Gedo-chan does not seem to disappear anytime soon.

At that time, Undine said.

「It’s useless. For that child, as well as for myself, the effect of calming is a given」
「I see. But is it fine for you to tell this?」
「What do you mean?」

Undine tilted her head to Seiya’s words.

Ignoring Undine, he takes a distance from Gedo-chan and casts a new spell.

「『Dark Sphere』」
「This is!?」

The moment Seiya cast his spell, a large purple sphere appeared above Gedo-chan’s head. It swallowed him whole and disappeared.

Its power was in a different league compared to the time with the centipede.

And in a second Gedo-chan disappeared, leaving nothing behind.

「I didn’t expect you to overpower his calming power」
「Well then, what will you do now?」

Undine lost her words, seeing Seiya’s prowess.

What Seiya did was very simple.

Undine’s water had enough power to calm his power of annihilation. Then Seiya thought that it might word if he unleashed something even more powerful. Thinking like that he casted『Dark Sphere』 which is vastly more powerful than the『Dark Wave』.

Undine realized that she could be extinguished in a similar manner, and called forth a new Gedo-chan. [³]

「Gedo-chan」
「As I said, it’s useless」
「Who knows」
「what? …………this is!?」

Undine summoned Gedo-chan again, and Seiya leaked a surprised voice.

Because Gedo-chan, summoned by Undine, was larger than the previous one, and there were five of them.

「Their cooperation is quite something, you know」
「Tsk, how troublesome」

Seiya understood that Gedo-chan called by Undine was obviously different from the last one, and clicked his tongue.

It was then.

「Leave her to me ……」
「Yua? I see, she is yours」
「Yup……」

Looking at Yua, who was attacking Undine with Yuriel, Seiya reminded himself of his job again.

Seiya’s role is to defeat Gedo-chan as soon as possible and help Yua. Until then, Yua will deal with Undine.

Having understood his role, he faced Gedo-chan again.

「So my opponent is you」
「Yes……」

Undine stood up from her chair and landed on the ground for the first time, looking somewhat interested in Yua.

And the chair, that Undine was sitting on, turned into water rapier and flew into the hands of Undine

「I will play with you for a while」
「I won’t lose……」

Yua moved first.

Yua tried to penetrate the fairy with Yuriel, but Undine deflected the attack with her rapier.

She continued her attack and pushed Yua to the ground. And at the same time, she produced innumerable needles of water and released them towards Yua all at once.

「『Wall of Light』」

Yua tried to restrain Undine by creating three『Chains of Fire』while preventing water needles with『Wall of Light』, an intermediate spell of the light attribute.

However, Undine calmed the chains down and washed them away.

Undine used the water rapier and tried to attack, but Yua casted『Wind Blade』in response and aimed for the counter.

「It’s a nice attack, but it’s too weak.」

To counter Yua, Undine creates a shield of water to stop the attack.

In addition, Undine immediately changed the shield in front of herself into bullets and shot them all at once.

「Tsk……『Wall of Light』」

Somehow Yua exercised a defensive spell and prevented the rain of water bullets. At that time, Undine had already moved on to the next attack.

The blue magic circle appeared on her right hand and was facing towards Yua, it was about to release a spell.

Yua barely prevented the bullets of water, and she had no defenses besides『Wall of Light』that was about to disappear as well.

「Game over. Water laser」
「……」

The water laser, released with the voice of Undine, easily broke through the『Wall of Light』and penetrated Yua’s left shoulder.

Yua frowned in pain, but Undine was preparing her next attack without mercy.

「Water Laser」
「『Wind Clothes』」

Yua cannot prevent a water laser with a half-hearted defense magic. Yua thought so and casted『Wind Clothes』on her uniform to harden them.

This spell is a wind attribute elementary spell that can harden the object, lightning beast itself used a similar spell.

Yua thought that if she could use a simple spell to pinpoint the area of attack instead of wide defense spell, water laser could be prevented.

And the water laser, which was supposed to pierce her right flank, could not penetrate the clothes hardened by『Wind Clothes』, it only managed to scratch her.

Undine looked surprised for a moment and slowed down. Yua casted『Single Light』on her feet as soon as she saw an opening, and jumped at Undine.

「Damn it……」[⁴]

Flustered, Undine swiftly erected a water shield before Yua approached her. But as she finished, Undine realized that Yua was laughing.

However, because it was already formed, it couldn’t be helped.

Yua was aiming for the time when Undine formed a shield of water all this time. She cast a spell towards Undine behind a shield.

「『Flash』」

The next moment, dazzling light hits Undine’s eyes.

Because Undine formed a water shield, she had an illusion of safety and was preparing her next attack.

As a result, her response was delayed, and the light directly affected her eyes. Furthermore, since her shield was made of pure water, the light passed unobstructed right into her eyes.

「Kya!」

Undine fell to the ground rubbing her closed eyes. Yua aimed Yuriel at Undine’s throat a said,

「Cancel your magic right now … …」
「Will you spare me?」

This was the first and the last chance Yua gave her. Yua never killed anyone since coming into the dark territory. To be exact, she had never killed a person.

It felt totally different to take away the life of a beast that fights instinctively and someone human-like.

「I do not want to kill humans too much ….」
「Aren’t you kind」

Strictly speaking, Undine is not a human but a fairy. Nevertheless, she looked like a human and talked like a human, for Yua she was a human.

「You are naive after all」

Undine created a rapier with water and flicked Yuriel away.

Yua gazed at Undine, which had a rapier made of water.

「Tsk … … sneaky … … I will not hesitate anymore」
「Or so you say」
「『Holy Hammer』」

Yua casted『Holy Hammer』on Undine. But Undine does not seem to be under the pressure and continued her attack.

Undine’s water rapier scraped her cheeks, but Yua didn’t care and tried to penetrate Undine with Yuriel.

「Such attack won’t work on me」

Undine easily dodged the rapier. Yua tried to land an attack many times, but she doesn’t hit Undine even once.

Yua felt like it was only her, who moved like in slow motion.

「Why……」

But she figured it out right away why her attacks never reach the target.

「I have been calmed …」
「Oh, you figured that out?」

Actually, Undine took her time to calm Yua’s body. By doing so, her physical ability has been lowered and attacks were delayed.

But, once you know the cause, you can find a solution. Yua’s mind manipulates mana of the light attribute inside her body and spreads it around with her blood flow.

And a certain spell was invoked.

「『Mantle of Light』」

It was an original spell that could only be used by Seiya with his dark and light attribute.

For Yua, this spell should be a double-edged sword that can ruin her own body. However, with her current declined ability, no matter how much she raises it she won’t hit her limit.

The water played a role of the pseudo-dark attribute in this situation.

「You must be kidding……」
「This is the end ……」[⁵]

Undine couldn’t follow Yua’s accelerated movements.

Undine tried to defend herself with a water wall, but Yua’s attack arrived earlier than it was completed.

Yua pierced the area where her heart should be.

Then, using Seiya’s method, if you overwhelm her calming power she should explode from the inside.

「Why……」
「That’s why I said you are naive. Did you think that my body is the same as Gedo-chan’s? 」[⁶]

Undine said, convinced of her victory.

Seiya succeeded in destroying Gedo-chan, not Undine. Undine’s calming effect was dozen times more powerful than that of Gedo-chan.

In other words, Yua’s rising couldn’t overwhelm the calming of Undine.

「It can’t be … ….」

Yua lost her words. So she wasn’t able to notice the water gathering around her.

「Ufufu, it’s over.『Water Prison』」

When Undine uttered the name of the spell, water gathered around Yua, she was immediately entrapped inside the sphere of water.

The situation was reversed in a moment.

Yua was trapped inside『Water Prison』and couldn’t breathe.

And Undine gradually increased the water pressure of『Water Prison』that confined Yua, trying to crush her.

She didn’t hesitate to kill a human.

Inside the『Water Prison』, on the verge of losing consciousness, Seiya’s appearance was reflected in her eyes.

He was the first person, that she trusted from the bottom of her heart. She wished to be together with him forever. But now this wish was about to be unfulfilled.

If only she was stronger.

(Seiya …… sorry ……)

Yua quietly lost consciousness filled with regrets.

「Just stop already!」

A big purple magic circle appeared following the powerful voice, the five Gedo-chan were instantly annihilated.

Seiya struggled with Gedo-chan who attacked with a high degree of cooperation, but managed to succeed in the end and completely defeated them all.

And when he was about to head back to Yua, he saw her being imprisoned in a 『Water Prison』.

「Yua!」

When Seiya arrived at Yua’s side, Undine dispelled the『Water Prison』and released Yua.

But at that time her heart had already stopped and her body was rigid.

「Yua! Yua! 」

Seiya run up to Yua, who was lying on the ground motionless.

Seiya desperately called her name, but her eyes remained closed.

「Yua! Yua! Wake up. Hey! You pretended to be dead to deceive the enemy, right? I am here now so you can stop already …」

He frantically called her. Yua face looked like she was just sleeping.

But no matter how many times Seiya called, she didn’t wake up.

Her breathing was stopped by Undine’s『Water Prison』, she couldn’t bear the rising water pressure.

「Listen, Yua…」

It is said, that you understand the importance of something only after losing it. This was true for Seiya right now.

She was the first person that needed his help, the time he spent with her was very important for Seiya.

「It is a lie……」

Although Seiya wanted to deny it, he couldn’t. She wasn’t alive anymore. That was transmitted from her body even if he didn’t like it.

「Don’t screw with me」

In his heart, something very dark was born.

「Don’t screw with me」

The darkness grew in proportion to his anger.

「Don’t screw with me!!!!」

Something dark swallowed his mind, Seiya’s reason was cut off right at this moment.