“So you wanted to settle matters?”
“Yes, Luminus. You’ve evolved, haven’t you? I hadn’t anticipated that, but it’s a fine thing to see.”
Her blue-and-red heterochromatic eyes blazed as they stared straight at Granville, full of hated. Suddenly, the disappeared girl flashed into her mind—but she banished any sentiment from it.
“This wasn’t what I heard would happen…but that no longer matters. Prepare to face the afterlife, Granville!!”
And so open battle began between Luminus and Granville—the culmination of a rivalry that had lasted over a thousand years.
All I could do was watch as Luminus treated Hinata’s mortal wounds. The Resurrection spell was administered perfectly…but had no effect.
I couldn’t believe it. As long as the soul was intact, Resurrection should also work, restoring the spiritual and/or astral bodies as needed. So what went wrong?
Understood. The soul of the subject Hinata Sakaguchi appears to have vanished. It is impossible to restore lost data particles by any method.
Her soul’s…gone?
No, I knew it. That was the second time Hinata fell, so I could tell the difference all too well, and I was sure Luminus did, too. But a soul would normally never fade out of existence this quickly. I supposed we were holding out hope that we had just lost sight of her soul by some mistake, but that was a fruitless dream.
I didn’t think Luminus would be this thrown by it, though. She and Hinata must’ve been closer than I knew. And this was my business, too. I started to think about why this was happening, which made it hard to collect my thoughts. Now wasn’t the time for regrets.
“This wasn’t what I heard would happen…but that no longer matters. Prepare to face the afterlife, Granville!!”
With Luminus’s scream, I realized just how out of it I was.
Spacing out in battle… What was wrong with me? That’s just asking to be killed. I had to save my sadness for later and do everything I could here. Luminus’s words seemed odd to me, but I could think about what she meant later. I had calm down. Things hadn’t been settled yet. If I lost my temper and got defeated, then Hinata’s death—and the efforts of everyone else—would have been wasted.
It was a pretty forced effort, but I successfully managed to move on. If Luminus’s scream had come any later, things probably would’ve gotten even worse—because the next instant, the whole cathedral was engulfed in a massive explosion.
The light and shock wave from the blast burst out from the entrance to the middle of the site. Its speed was intense but still yawn inducing compared with the speed of light. Keeping my mind cool, I stepped up to protect the children and musicians. I turned an eye toward Shion and the others out of concern, but Diablo—who had returned at some point—had put up a protective barrier for them.
“Keh-heh-heh-heh… Sorry I’m late.”
“No, I’m just glad you made it!” I said, thanking Diablo. However, the real surprise was Shion. Ranga had noticed both the explosion and Diablo, but Shion still seemed to be entirely focused on the enemy in front of her. Her expression was terrifying, her face flush, as if intoxicated by the blood around her. It was oddly kind of alluring albeit definitely improper for a battlefield…but ah well. Despite being on the defense before, it looked like she was holding her own, which was good. I think I’ll leave Razul to Shion and Ranga for now.
I examined the cause of the explosion. The first thing that struck me was a gigantic aura—an evil presence, one that felt like your spine was freezing solid. This was more than just a bad feeling. It was an intense pressure, like the sky was falling down on you—although didn’t it feel a bit like the high-level elemental spirit that fused with Chloe? It resembled that but seemed a little different as well. The sheer size of this presence reminded me of what I felt with Chloe back then.
Report. The object is a material body. Unusual amount of existential energy detected. Its maximum level is equivalent to that of the subject Veldora.
Great. We’ve got a monster here! At least Raphael could measure it this time, although that didn’t calm my nerves much. If this was operating on sheer instinct like the Chaos Dragon, I could deal with that…but if it was sentient, I was screwed. Especially if it actually had battle experience—just imagining that scared me. I’d lose without a fight then. We’re talking energy several times my own…and either way, I had a feeling I’d have to deal with it.
Would this be enough to be considered dire straits by this point?
Then the smoke cleared, revealing an incredibly beautiful woman, naked as the day she was born. She stood there, eyes closed, her lustrous dark hair fluttering as she shone in a silvery light. It was like something out of a fantasy, and I was immediately smitten.
But now wasn’t the time to stop and stare.
“Are you the one who took my ark?! And you’ve even undone my spiritual seal and awoken Chronoa…”
Luminus was now shouting at a much more familiar figure who just entered the scene. It was Yuuki. So he’s in on this, too? Part of me still wanted to believe in him, but I guess Raphael was right after all—and given the choice, I was always going to trust Raphael first.
I thus felt no surprise at all as I turned my icy gaze to Yuuki.
“So you’re involved in this?”
“Oof, guess you know, huh? But that works, too, so…”
He spoke entirely off the cuff, not being shy at all. I was dealing with the real Yuuki right now, no doubt, but he’s a lot more shameless than I thought.
Behind him were two unfamiliar people wearing masks—an asymmetrical one leering at me and the other one looking angry. I assumed those were Laplace and Footman from the Moderate Jesters, and although I had a hunch about it before, I guess they really were linked with Yuuki.
“So you’re Luminus? My name’s Yuuki Kagurazaka. It’s an honor to meet you.”
“Silence! How did you undo the seal?”
“Well, about that—I’ve got this really unique thing called Anti-Skill that lets me cancel any type of magic or special skill.”
“…I see. Rather daring of you to reveal that.”
Luminus shot Yuuki a look full of loathing, although her senses were still firmly attuned on Granville. They were in a dead heat, and neither of them could afford any false moves. Granville himself was also eyeing the dark-haired girl, even as he dealt with Luminus’s attacks and fired back with his own. Duels between two experts like this went far beyond the realm of mere “skill.”
“Yeah, well, Rimuru already knows, so there’s no point hiding it. But I want to ask you something, too—well, not you, but Granville over there.”
“Heh-heh-heh… I can guess what it is, but go ahead.”
Yuuki sounded casual, but his eyes were surveying the area around him, never resting. As long as Leon and I had freedom of movement, he knew he couldn’t escape too easily…assuming he planned to, that is, but I’m sure he did. I really had no idea why he was even showing up at this point; something told me he didn’t anticipate this turn of events. With as many question marks as there were, moving around would be dangerous. I’d have to figure out from Yuuki and Granville’s conversation just what kind of situation we had fallen into.
“So about the Hero I heard was sealed inside that ark… I mean, ‘controlling’ her turned out to be super-easy. The seal just came right off! What’s the deal with that, Granville?”
Hero? That girl’s a Hero?!
This was making even less sense now. Why would a demon lord keep a Hero sealed away? And given how much Luminus seemed to care for her, this wasn’t any kind of normal sealing.
“You are right! Because this is both a Hero…and not a Hero. Right now, that child is a personification of evil, by the name of Chronoa…”
It was Luminus who answered Yuuki, her voice filled with intense rage and a surprising fretfulness. Calling this girl Chronoa a “personification of evil” sounded pretty foreboding to me—she must’ve been something really dangerous.
“Heh-heh-heh… You did very well, Yuuki. Not even I could dismantle the elemental seal on that ark. That’s why I took advantage of you. Now that she’s released, nobody could ever defeat her. Attention, demon lords! Attention, servants of evil! All of you will die here today!”
Granville erupted into laughter as he shouted. Awfully kind of him. Revealing everything without prompting like this sure helps me a lot…not that it makes this situation any better.
“Wow. Guess I lost this game of wits, huh? You sure got me good…”
Yuuki sounded surly about it. Sooner or later, though, this stalemate had to end. And now, with a relaxed motion, the dark-haired Chronoa started moving. With a light shake of her head, her eyes opened—and that was the signal for the free-for-all to begin.
I could ask Luminus what she knew later. For now, I had to survive.
“Diablo, handle this area for me.”
“…Yes, my lord!”
It looked like he wanted to say something for a moment, but he meekly agreed, perhaps sensing the atmosphere. He probably wanted to fight, I think, but now wasn’t the time for a back-and-forth conversation. I wasn’t going to change my mind, and I’m sure he knew that.
So that just left one question: What would I do now? Luminus and Granville were at a stalemate. Shion and Ranga were fighting hard against Razul. Yuuki’s group was trying to escape, and while I didn’t plan to let them, they were much less dangerous than Chronoa. I couldn’t just leave them be, though, which posed a difficult issue. They might stab me in the back—and forget about us fighting together here. Leon, meanwhile, had been acting like he was in his own little world for the past while—I honestly couldn’t put much trust in him.
Thus, I had few allies and lots of enemies. It was a disastrous situation, way too difficult to handle.
Chronoa’s eyes were open. She looked naked to me before, but now I realized she had a single bracelet around one wrist. It was glowing, emitting black particles that wrapped around her body—a system something like Hinata’s Holy Spirit Armor. Her armor, however, was pure black and much sturdier than what Hinata wore.
Next, Chronoa summoned a single sword, a beautiful rapier not unlike Hinata’s Moonlight, albeit with a jet-black blade.
Report. Although its shape is identical, its latent statistics are incomparably higher.
That sword and armor were both apparently way better than Legend class. Her sword was as strong as mine, or maybe stronger, which meant it was God class. I guess I could no longer be optimistic. It’s wasn’t just a matter of knowledge—she may have even had me beaten in skill, and I had a feeling her weapon could penetrate all my defenses. This was seriously becoming a do-or-die situation.
Report. The hostile subject Chronoa is—
I know, okay?!
I didn’t need Raphael’s analysis to understand how scary this girl was.
Following my instincts, I deployed Absolute Defense and commenced evasive maneuvers. Immediately after I began, a dark beam of light smashed through where I was just standing. It continued in a straight line, demolishing all obstacles it hit along the way. It was only stopped after breaking through a cathedral wall.
That was beyond crazy. If I was one step slower, I would’ve taken that head-on. Would I have withstood it? It all would’ve come down to luck.
Negative. Even with Absolute Defense from the ultimate skill Uriel, spiritual particles can still make their way through. It is only through predicting their movements and making the particles interfere with one another that they can be canceled out. The hostile enemy’s attack variation is greater than originally pictured, and prediction is therefore difficult. To sum up—
…You can’t defend it, right? Okay, then. “Absolute” Defense, my ass. But now was no time for whining. I’d have to thank my own quick-wittedness for dodging that.
And Chronoa was aiming her attacks at more than just me. Her next strike headed straight for Yuuki. He couldn’t quite dodge it, suffering a slight cut on his cheek. It wouldn’t be nice to cheer for that, but hopefully nobody minded if I let out a bemused giggle.
Still, Chronoa’s attacks were astounding. Even Yuuki’s Anti-Skill was helpless against attacks purely physical in nature. I suppose I had Cancel Melee Attack, but Yuuki enjoyed nothing that convenient. He had powered up his whole body, but he was still merely human. I had thought of Anti-Skill as a major threat, but maybe there were a lot of holes to it after all.
I had the time to ponder this while other people were fighting. Better come up with some kind of strategy before I’m aimed at again.
Suggestion. Deploy Summon Storm Dragon, part of the ultimate skill Veldora, Lord of the Storm?
Yes
No
Hey, that sounds nice!
I hated to use one of my most secret moves in front of such a big crowd, but it’d be even worse if I kept it hidden and fell into a hole I couldn’t get out of. If I lost someone like Hinata, it’d be too late after that. Luminus’s relationship with Veldora gave me some concern, but now was no time to hesitate.
So I leaped at Raphael’s suggestion. I had been practicing in secret, so it felt natural now. Opening a soul corridor to Veldora, I called for him.
(Mm? Rimuru? Well! I hope you are happy with yourself, going on a nice field trip without me.)
Great. He was dolefully pouting at me. And this wasn’t a field trip. I wish he wouldn’t lodge these accusations at me, but I didn’t have the time to argue. At times like these, you had to speak your mind.
(Veldora, please, I need your help. Lend me your powers!)
With a soul corridor, you could communicate your emotions more directly than with Thought Communication. Normally, you wouldn’t use a corridor for conversation, since any lies could immediately be spotted out, but if you really wanted to bare your soul, this was the best way. Thanks to that, I could tell Veldora seemed surprised.
(Oh-ho? You need my power? Well then, you will find few companions as trustworthy as I. I can certainly understand why you rely on me so!)
Crap, did I egg him on too much? No, I’d be okay. Veldora was bound to step up for me.
(I’m short on time. Can I call for you?)
(Pfft. A silly question. If you ask me so nicely, I could only respond in kind! Please go ahead. I will exercise the full extent of my force!)
Veldora turned out to be just as trustworthy as I hoped.
Consent acquired. Launching Summon Storm Dragon.
And in just a scant few moments, a gale-force wind blew over the cathedral…
Leon was struck dumb.
Was I too late…?
The girl called Chloe was without a doubt the childhood friend he had been searching for, an effort he spent hundreds of years on. He had even dirtied his hands with certain forbidden methods in the attempt…and now she was here. She was here…but that little girl was gone.
At first, Leon thought that Rimuru had done something—but he quickly dispelled the thought. As he saw it, the only conclusion to make was that something truly unexpected and mysterious had happened.
No… I can’t give up on this yet. Just now, I met her. There’s going to be another chance, I’m sure of it!
He decided to cling to that thought, persuading himself it was so. It helped him regain control, but by that time, things had suddenly begun to unfold quickly. A new enemy appeared, demonstrating unstoppable force. Her identity was unknown, but he could tell she had Rimuru playing defense. And Leon was no impartial observer; there was no guarantee he wouldn’t be targeted next.
Next Yuuki was attacked, dodging the strike with everything he had. Seeing that promptly made Leon realize that he was standing in a battlefield—but that realization came a little too late.
People knocked out of battle were already strewn near the cathedral wall. Leon had no way of knowing, but Rimuru had deposited them there so they wouldn’t get caught in combat. They were still alive but completely unconscious, so Leon wasn’t particularly wary of them. In normal times, he’d never make an error like that, but the shock of seeing this girl he pursued for so long suddenly disappear had made him lose his composure. Put it all together, and he had let his guard down—and that’s why, for that one moment, he reacted too slowly.
A small blast of magic shot out from near the cathedral wall. It didn’t look very lethal as it made its way toward Chronoa, who was currently preparing another attack on Yuuki. It certainly wouldn’t damage her, but the blast did exactly what its creator intended.
Chronoa turned around, her eyes settling on Leon.
“Tch… Trying to push her on me?!”
Despite his reluctance, Leon had to cast off all the niggling concerns in his mind. If he took his eyes off Chronoa, he’d be dead the next instant. Unless he seriously fought this out, even a demon lord like him would have a disadvantage—and even with a full effort, there may be no way for him to win this. That was how strong a threat Chronoa had become—and with the way things were, Leon could no longer distract himself with other issues.
One side of the battle was cheering at this. It was Yuuki’s group.
“Nice job, Teare!”
“What a great idea. I didn’t think she’d help out like that, but now I’m glad I took out that insurance.”
This move on Teare’s part was originally meant to antagonize Rimuru against Leon, but the opportunity never arose, so Teare kept playing possum. Her perseverance was rewarded at the perfect time.
“Hoh-hoh-hoh! Now we can get out of here once Teare makes it back.”
Being targeted by Chronoa made Yuuki sweat bullets, but now he was his usual composed self, kicking back as he observed the fight between her and Leon. Thus, he could easily see Teare clambering her way from the cathedral wall. He headed off to rescue her before Laplace finished up their preparations to retreat—and by the time he was back with her, Laplace’s spell was complete.
“All set, Boss. Let’s blow this joint.”
“I hear you,” Yuuki replied with a nod. “I think Rimuru’s up to something, so it’ll be dangerous to stay put. We better get out of here fast.”
He raised his hand up high, knocking out the magical barrier that covered the whole of Lubelius.
“Hoh-hoh-hoh! Nice one, Boss.”
“Whenever I see it in action, your skill seems like such a cheat…”
“Hey, if it lets us scram in a hurry, I’m all for it.”
As Laplace implied, escaping the center of this city with magical means would normally be impossible. Thanks to Yuuki’s power, though, they could modify anything and everything to their liking. It was a cheat, as Teare put it, but if it got them out of here alive, nobody was going to complain.
“I dunno who’s going to survive this, but whoever it is, I’m sure we’re gonna be enemies next time we meet. Anyway—good luck, guys!”
With those final words, Yuuki and his team left the battlefield.
I could see Yuuki and his cohorts escape. I resented that. Making good on their retreat, with all these threats left for me to deal with—but when I thought about it, this actually worked well. Someone like them, who could be either friend or foe—well, definitely foe right now—but teaming up with someone like that, I had no idea when they’d decide to betray me. It might’ve even become two on one against me, so having just one enemy to deal with now definitely boosted my chances.
The Western Holy Church held a great deal of influence among the Western Nations. If I made a public statement, and it received Luminus’s agreement, Yuuki would pretty much lose all standing in the West. Besides, the Free Guild was backed by the Council, and the boss of the Council was currently in active warfare against Luminus. If we won today, Yuuki was no longer a threat.
Convincing myself that his escape wasn’t worth feeling down about, I sized up the enemy in front of me.
“Rimuru, is that not…the Hero who sealed me away?” Veldora asked.
“Seems to be.”
“Ah, I see. She is not masked, but the area around her lips is identical. I see my eyes do not deceive me. Beautiful, is she not?”
Veldora’s speech accelerated as he bragged about her. Now really wasn’t the time for this. I wondered if a True Dragon even knew how to assess human beauty. It certainly lent more credence to the theory that Veldora lost after falling for her good looks.
“I agree with you, but right now she’s our enemy. Luminus sealed her away, I guess, but she’s out of anyone’s control right now. I think she was meant to be insurance against you, so do something about this!”
“How rude of you. Why are you ordering someone as irreproachable as me to ‘do something?’”
Who do you think you’re talking about here, man…? I almost had to applaud his audacity. But I didn’t have the time to put up with his nonsense.
“Enough jokes. Just take her on and buy me some time!”
“Kwaaaah-ha-ha-ha! Absolutely! We have a score to settle, besides. I was just thinking about how I wanted a rematch. It is all right if I defeat her, I assume?”
Wow! My hero!
Although, whenever anyone says that in a show or video game, they’re basically doomed to lose afterward.
“Yes, of course! Have at it!”
“Leave it all to me. I was defeated last time because I was in my dragon form. Now is a good chance to show you how I’ve grown.”
I’m glad he’s so confident, but hasn’t he actually gotten weaker since then? I don’t really see the logic behind being stronger as a human instead of a dragon…but I didn’t want to rain on his parade when he was so enthusiastic, so I sent him off with a smile.
Not like losing would kill him—that much I could be assured of.
“Are you all right, Leon?” I asked, turning toward him. Chronoa was still looking right at us, so I kept an eye on her.
“Yes, somehow. Don’t leave yourself open. She’s stronger than you can imagine.”
I decided to heal Leon a little. His sword was already cut in half, and he was thoroughly battered and bruised. I was impressed he held out this long. Thanks to his efforts, I had enough time to successfully summon Veldora.
“I realized that the moment I saw her. You saw how wary Luminus was. I’m not expecting this to be an easy win.”
That was why I broke out Veldora, one of my last resorts.
“And so you called for Veldora? I won’t ask how you did that, but having you as an ally is certainly reassuring. But even a True Dragon will have his work cut out for him.”
That I knew as well. Chronoa, after all, was the very person who sealed him away.
“Are you hurt?”
“No, I’m fine. I used an excessive amount of magic force to keep my sword intact, but this is nothing fatal.”
Of course, he couldn’t save his sword in the end. And as unconcerned as he looked, I was detecting a lot of fake stoicism. I didn’t have the excess capacity to protect Leon, so maybe this was the right thing to do after all? Good thing I kept my summoning to Veldora only.
There was actually one other person among us.
“Are you all right, Sir Leon? It is good to see you again.”
This was Charys. My summoning hadn’t gone perfectly after all, because Veldora insisted on bringing Charys along with him.
“Are you…Ifrit?” Leon asked.
“Yes. I have now received the name Charys and am in the service of Sir Veldora.”
“Ah. Well, glad to see you in good health.”
“I…was unable to read your true intentions. Thus, I failed to reach an understanding with Shizue Izawa. Receiving Sir Veldora’s guidance has helped me realize just how foolish I was.”
“…Has it?”
Leon nodded, although I wasn’t wholly sure he was paying attention. He seemed to be brushing Charys off, but I didn’t want to call him out on it. They both had similarly serious personalities, to be sure.
“Rimuru,” Leon said, “please buy me some time. I have a trump card of my own to reveal.”
I considered the chance he’d try to run, but even with what little time we had spent together, he didn’t strike me as that kind of guy. Let’s trust in him, then.
“All right. I’ll go support Veldora. Charys, defend this area until Leon’s ready.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it.”
We were all set to go. Leon promptly got to work on…something, with Charys protecting him—the old master-and-servant team reunited. Me, I went back to the battlefield. It was time to kick off the final fight.