Chapter 7: Before the Death Battle
Immediately after Lucius teleported to Duran, Christina stepped foot into the village beside the forest with Flora—who was unconscious—on her back.
The village was extremely quiet, but she could see villagers walking around here and there. They had also noticed Christina and were staring at her closely, but there was a secluded atmosphere hanging over the village that made it difficult to call out to them.
“Umm...”
In fact, when Christina looked at them and spoke, they averted their gazes with disgusted looks. But she couldn’t afford to feel timid. Christina approached the next villager she saw; the man was in his twenties and in the middle of working beside a cabin, so he didn’t notice Christina’s approach.
“Excuse me, do you have a moment?” Christina called out to his back. The villager flinched and turned around. When he spotted Christina with Flora on her back, he clearly froze on the spot. It seemed he hadn’t expected her to talk to him, as he looked around to check there was no one else nearby before replying.
“...Uh, yeah. Who are you?”
“Is there a doctor in this village?” Christina asked politely.
“A doctor... That would be the village chief,” the man answered with a murmur.
“Could you lead me to him? My little sister was bitten by a venomous spider and has a fever,” Christina explained succinctly.
“...All right.” The man looked at their tattered dresses in suspicion, but nodded quietly before walking off. Christina chased after him. They barely exchanged any words along the way, but the man kept glancing over curiously as he led them.
I suppose this outfit does stand out.
Christina looked down at her clothes and felt awkward.
“There’s one thing I’d like to ask.”
“What is it?” The villager flinched before turning back.
“What area are we in?” Christina tried to confirm their location with a vaguely worded question.
“The area? To the west of the Paladia Kingdom, I guess...? I’ve never really left the village, so I wouldn’t know,” the man answered, tilting his head curiously at the odd question.
Christina’s face stiffened faintly before she gave an awkward response. “I see...”
Pretty far from Rodania, then. And allied to the Proxia Empire...
They had finally made it out of the forest, but their situation hadn’t gotten any better. The influence of the Beltrum Kingdom, one of the largest powers in the Strahl region, wouldn’t be of any help here—if anything, it was more likely to be a hindrance.
It isn’t a distance I can travel while carrying Flora. What should I do...?
Faced with such a harsh reality, Christina’s face stiffened further. For now, something had to be done about the poison eating away at her sister, but she didn’t have any good ideas about what to do after that.
In the end, they arrived at the village chief’s place before she could come up with a plan to return to Beltrum.
“This is the village chief’s place. I’ll go explain the situation, so you wait here for a bit.”
The villager left behind those words and entered the house alone. Christina waited before the entrance and he returned one minute later.
“The village chief will see you. Come inside.”
“Thank you. Excuse me, then.” With Flora carried on her back, Christina gave a tiny bow before entering. A middle-aged man was waiting in the living room just past the entrance.
The villager who led them here stood beside the man who appeared to be the village chief. Beside him was another man of similar age. He stared at the filthy state of their dresses curiously when they approached.
“This... Welcome, I am the chief of this village. I’ve heard the general gist of things—you’re in need of a doctor, is it?” The middle-aged man introduced himself and bowed deeply.
“Yes. My little sister was bitten by a venomous spider in the forest. Could you examine her and see if you have any antidotes to treat her?”
“That can be done, but...would you two happen to be nobility?” The village chief looked at Christina with a searching gaze. Though it was fairly dirty, the dress she wore must have made him assume that.
“Yes.” Though she was technically royalty, Christina nodded without correcting him.
“I see, so that’s how it is. Hey. I’ll handle the rest, so you two can leave.”
The village chief ordered the two young men beside him to leave, but they remained standing there, reluctant to do so. The chief glared at them impatiently. “You’re in the way. And you shouldn’t be here to witness a noblewoman’s medical examination. Leave.”
“F-Fine.” The two men exchanged looks before dragging their feet outside.
The village chief bowed his head. “I apologize for the youngsters.”
“No, I’m the one who’s sorry for causing a fuss,” Christina said, bowing in return.
“Now, let me take a look at your sister. There’s a guest room at the back of this floor, so please head over there. I’d offer to carry her myself, but I’m afraid my back isn’t what it used to be...”
The village chief urged them to move, smiling wryly at the latter half of his words. Thus, the two of them headed towards the guest room.
“By the way, may I ask what two nobles were doing in the forest? You appear to be alone, too...” the chief asked along the way.
“We were traveling on board our transport vehicle when we were attacked by bandits. My sister and I escaped with our lives by running into the forest, but...” Christina answered tactfully.
“Oh, my... How awful that must have been for you. Wouldn’t there be quite a commotion over your disappearance by now, then?” the chief asked worriedly, as though he believed her story just now. They were the words of a noble—as long as there were no clear contradictions or suspicious factors, they wouldn’t be suspected. Though the collar around Christina’s neck was a little curious...
“Yes, most likely.”
“Considering the state of your little sister, you should stay here for the night. It may not suit the taste of nobility, but we have warm food here as well.”
“Thank you very much.”
They arrived at the guest room, and the village chief invited them inside. “Now, come in. Lay her down over there.” Christina moved beside the bed and set Flora down gently.
“...Flora?”
Flora hazily regained her consciousness and opened her eyes.
“The village doctor is taking a look at you.” Christina smiled gently to reassure her.
Flora spotted the village chief standing to the side. “Thank you very much...” she said weakly.
The doctor shook his head and began his examination. “No need to thank me. Now, where were you bitten by the spider? Please tell me all about the situation when you were bitten, and how much time has passed since then.”
“She was bitten in the neck by the spider early in the morning. She used detoxifying magic immediately, but it didn’t seem to have any effect. We were walking all afternoon, which seemed to make the venom circulate...then she passed out with a fever,” Christina answered on Flora’s behalf.
“I see. If you would excuse me... Hmm, I see, I see.” The village chief approached Flora and moved her hair to check the affected area. He immediately spotted the swollen, bruise-like mark.
A black mark, huh? I do recall there being a venomous spider in the forest that can create this. If left untreated, the black gradually spreads until it turns into necrosis. It can be treated immediately after the bite by applying a strong alcohol, but I have no idea how to treat this once it’s progressed so far... I’ve heard that the symptoms can become contagious if aggravated, too...
The village chief stared closely at the mark on Flora’s neck. If the poison eating at Flora’s body was the contagious type, then those symptoms were extremely troubling. The thought of the poison spreading through the village was terrifying, so he wanted them to leave as soon as possible. But he hesitated to say that directly to nobility.
“Will Flora be okay?” Christina asked.
“...It doesn’t look good,” the village chief answered with a pained look.
Christina paled immediately. “Y-You can’t treat her?”
“Unfortunately, I don’t have the means to treat her. Perhaps if you had a noble physician... Also, it’s possible that these symptoms may not be poison,” the chief suggested with uncertainty.
“Not poison...?”
“I fear it may be an infectious disease. If left alone, the skin will gradually blacken and rot away. It may have been treatable immediately after the bite, but I haven’t heard of anyone recovering from these symptoms after so much time has passed. While it’s truly regrettable for me to say this...”
“That can’t be...” Christina’s face grew visibly paler by the second.
“...”
I fear the disease may spread, so could you leave the village? Those words were on the tip of his tongue, but the village chief swallowed them in front of the nobles.
“Will Flora... die?” Christina asked with bated breath.
“I am not sure. I’ve heard that necrosis spreads rapidly...and since it’s on her neck, it could be bad. There’s also the fear of the disease spreading, so it may be best not to get too close...”
“Wha...”
Don’t get close? There was no way she could do that. Christina almost wanted to argue back angrily, but she could sense that the chief was troubled by Flora’s presence as a source of disease and swallowed her words.
Suddenly, the two men who had left earlier reappeared. They must have ran here, as they were panting for breath. “D-Dad! There’s big news!” they said from the other side of the open door.
“Wh-What is it?” the chief asked in confusion, seeing the serious atmosphere.
“Some important person from the kingdom has come to the village!”
“What did you say...?” The village chief slowly turned his head to look at Christina and Flora.
Did they come in search of us? If so, that means the Paladia Kingdom is involved in this incident as well...
Christina immediately processed her thoughts, but she lacked the information to make any conclusions.
“Do you have someone in mind?”
“I have no idea...” Christina shook her head nervously.
“Yo.”
“We’re coming in.”
Two new men appeared in the doorway. It was Lucius and Duran.
“Wha—?! Ngh...” Christina shot to her feet and braced herself on reflex. However, she was belatedly reminded of the fact her magic had been sealed by the collar around her neck.
Duran’s eyes widened in interest. “Ooh. What a fiery spirit we have here.”
“This is the older sister, Christina Beltrum,” Lucius informed him. The two of them marched into the room without reserve.
“Then the one lying down must be the little sister, Flora Beltrum. Hmm, she seems to be in a pinch beyond help...” Duran’s gaze turned to Flora, lying down on the bed.
“Haha! Must’ve been poisoned by some annoying creature of the forest.” Lucius laughed heartily, making an eerily accurate guess at the situation.
“Is that true?”
“...” Christina held her silence at Duran’s question.
“Hey, chief. How about it?” Lucius asked.
Overwhelmed by the atmosphere in the room, the village chief gave his answer in trembling fear. “Y-Yes, sir! She was apparently bitten by a spider in the forest! I’ve just informed them that it cannot be treated here...”
“I see... Heh, this is why you should’ve just waited quietly at the cabin. Now you’ve gone through all this effort to leave the forest before being found anyway. A wasted effort, if you will,” Lucius said mockingly.
“Ngh...” Christina bit down on her lip and clenched her fists.
She couldn’t deny that. If they had chosen to wait in the forest cabin, Flora wouldn’t have been bitten by the spider. That was the thought in her mind, but—
“I-It wasn’t wasted. It was my fault. I slowed Christina down...” Flora joined the conversation from where she lay on the bed, protecting her older sister.
“Oh, you’re awake.” Lucius looked at the bed.
“Your voice...is familiar,” Flora said weakly.
“I’m honored you remember. It’s my first time meeting the first princess, though. Good day—I’m Lucius Orgueil.” Lucius introduced himself in a pompous tone and grinned.
“Y-You’re the one who tried to kidnap Flora in Amande...” Christina’s gaze sharpened.
“Yeah, but I was interrupted by that bastard.” Lucius was reminded of that time and lowered his voice in irritation.
Duran patted Lucius’s shoulder to calm him before looking at Flora. “Save that anger for when he arrives. More importantly, we might be able to treat the second princess at the Paladia Castle.”
“What...?” Christina’s heart swayed. Her precious little sister could be saved.
“The price will be one night in bed with the first princess. How about it?” Duran added.
“Wh... Y-You wretch!” Christina glared at Duran, red in the face.
“Ha! Although, the pathetic sight of her filthy dress has made me lose my appetite. Who would imagine the princess of a major kingdom falling this far? She looks worse than a harlot from the outskirts. Nay, I can only see her as a beggar,” Duran ridiculed.
“...”
What a rude and unrefined man this was—Christina had never been so disgraced since she was born.
“Hehehe. A princess of an enemy nation. And a strong-willed one, too. Mm, what a wonderful woman indeed.” Duran laughed mockingly, but Christina had no idea if she was being praised or insulted.
“...What’s going on here?”
Just at that moment, Rio was suddenly standing before the door, looking around at the inside of the room. Christina, Flora, Lucius, and Duran were present. What kind of combination was this? He questioned the situation with a stern and doubtful face.
“S-Sir Amakawa?! Why are you here...?” Christina was shocked, her mouth falling open in a daze.
“Well, this is a surprise. How did you arrive already? There’s at least thirty kilometers from the capital to this village.” Duran stared closely at Rio. Only ten minutes had passed since he teleported here, so how was Rio here already? But Rio had flown at full speed after leaving the Paladia capital.
“There’s nothing to be shocked about. This guy can move at monstrous speeds.” Lucius glared at Rio.
“What’s the meaning of this?” Rio’s gaze sharpened, but Lucius drew his sword and pointed the tip at Flora’s throat.
“Wha...” Facing upwards where she lay on the bed, Flora stiffened faintly.
Rio also braced himself to fight at any moment.
“Whoa, there. Do you intend on fighting here?” Lucius said, looking at the dangerous air around Rio, who was ready to draw his sword.
“You were the one who drew first, no?”
“Now now, there’s no need to rush. I’ve wanted to kill you with every fiber of my being since the last time we met—I feel the same way as you.”
Without looking away from Rio for a moment, Lucius sunk the tip of his sword into Flora’s neck by a mere millimeter.
“...” Rio didn’t seem to want Flora hurt, as he frowned while subduing his bloodlust.
“Ha. That’s more like it. We can’t even swing our swords fully in this cramped place. Let’s move the slaughter outdoors.”
“...Fine.” Rio agreed to Lucius’s proposal.
“Prince Duran. Could you carry Princess Flora?” Lucius asked Duran, but Duran shot Flora a single glance before refusing point-blank.
“I refuse. She’s filthy and she reeks. I have no interest in holding such women.”
“...” Both Flora and Christina trembled with flushed faces.
“Hah, fair point. Hey, first princess. You carry your sister.” Lucius gave the order to Christina instead. The entire party then left the village chief’s house together. Curious onlookers had gathered around the chief’s house, watching them leave the house with a heavy air.
“Get lost. This isn’t a show.” Duran threatened the villagers in a sullen mood and they scattered in every direction. For some reason, the village chief and the two villagers with him had followed them, so Duran turned to them as well.
“There’s no need for you all to come along either. You’re in the way.”
The three men nodded and retreated back into the house. After that, Rio, Duran, Christina, Flora, and Lucius left the village, walking in that order.
“Princess Christina and Princess Flora should be separate from our confrontation,” Rio said to Lucius as they walked.
“That’s not quite right—they’re functioning perfectly well as hostages right now, are they not? You fought at Amande for the second princess’s sake as well. Anyways, Reiss is after these two for some reason or another. Though he has been continuously thwarted by you.” Lucius chuckled coldly, thrusting his sword at Christina’s neck.
“...” Christina broke out in a nervous sweat at the prickle of danger she could feel on her neck. Like Lucius said: no matter how she looked at it right now, they were the shackles holding Rio down. She felt terrible because of that.
“Anyway, he has a rather curious connection to you two royal sisters. I was interested in that as well, so I decided on choosing you two as hostages,” Lucius added smoothly.
“What are you saying...?” Rio frowned.
“Oh, I just found your suffering to be similar to your father’s. You have no obligation to save these two, yet here you are. Haven’t they repaid enough of your good with evil?” Lucius asked, hinting at something.
Christina and Flora held their breaths as they listened.
“So? What about it?”
“That’s not something to be dismissed, is it? I’m talking about the reason why an orphan from the slums left the Beltrum Royal Academy and went across the border, changing his name to Haruto. Ring any bells to you, Rio?”
“...And I’m asking: what about it?”
His identity had been revealed past the point of hiding anything from Christina and Flora, but Rio’s expression didn’t waver at all—he was fully aware that Lucius was trying to provoke him. However, Christina and Flora didn’t look good. Lucius purposefully made his way beside Christina to peer at their faces.
“Haha! The princesses look more upset than you. Hey, princesses. Does the name ‘Rio’ sound familiar to you? The boy you looked down upon, charged for a groundless crime, then banished grew up into this guy here. Aren’t you curious about his past? Don’t you have anything you want to say?” Lucius could see through Christina and Flora’s state of mind and chose words to incite their sense of guilt. Their expressions grew stiffer and stiffer.
“As usual, you’re even nastier than me.” Duran sighed, shaking his head.
“Watch it, Rio. Your murderous aura is scaring the princesses,” Lucius jeered at Rio’s back.
“...” Rio continued ignoring him.
“Listen up, princesses. His parents used to be from the Yagumo region. Because of some unavoidable circumstances, they migrated to the Strahl region, and the place they chose to settle down just so happened to be the Beltrum capital,” Lucius continued by himself, exposing Rio’s past to Christina and Flora.
“His father, Zen... He was a real capable one. He used his skills to distinguish himself as an adventurer, which was how he caught my eye back when I still lived in Beltrum’s capital. I managed to win over his trust after that, but what surprised me the most was the fact that Rio’s mother was a royal with a sheltered upbringing. Apparently, Zen was Ayame’s personal guard.”
Rio’s mother was royalty. This fact made Christina’s poker face crumble, her gaze trembling in shock.
“You could compare it to a princess of your kingdom marrying a knight. They both migrated since some problems happened, but that bastard, Zen, was living a happy life. Ayame was head over heels for him, and they both adored Rio. The picture-perfect family, if you will. I socialized with the family—I even played with young Rio often.”
Lucius exaggerated his emotional tone as he spoke, as though he were recalling those memories fondly. Then his mouth twisted with a smirk.
“It made me sick to my stomach, so I decided to destroy it—that happiness. I killed Zen before Rio was old enough to remember, then killed Ayame when he was five.”
“So you were the one who killed my father after all...” Rio interrupted Lucius’s monologue when he paused, speaking in a tone devoid of any warmth.
“That bastard was in such despair when he realized he was betrayed by his best friend. He made a face like the one you had when Ayame was killed right before your eyes.” Lucius could sense that Rio’s anger was slowly building and grinned crudely as he spoke.
“How awful...” Flora muttered sadly, her face flushed with her fever.
“Awful? Your kingdom did plenty of awful things to him too. He was just a brat living happily with his mother up until he was five. He may have roughened around the edges from two years struggling in the slums, but you gave him plenty of harsh treatment just because he was an orphan, no?” Lucius took this chance to prod Christina and Flora’s guilt once more.
Does this man intend to use us as hostages against Sir Amakawa? If so, why would he dig up Sir Amakawa’s past and reveal it to us like this...?
Christina sweated nervously as she tried to figure out Lucius’s intentions, but there was no way she could—the only thing she knew for sure was that she and Flora were potentially the reason why Rio was backed into a corner right now.
“What’s wrong? Cat got your tongue, princesses? I don’t know if he’ll save you, but why don’t you try begging Rio for your lives? Are you thinking of a convenient excuse for yourselves? You know he’ll probably save you even in this situation.” Lucius looked at Christina and Flora’s faces, mocking them.
“I...” Christina’s hair stood on end. Like Lucius had pointed out, part of herself felt expectant—expectant for Sir Amakawa to save them. Feeling ashamed of herself, Christina bit down on her lip. She had been so enthusiastic about protecting Flora herself, but in the end, she hadn’t been able to. Instead, she was seeking the assistance of the person she had caused so much trouble for in the past.
Even though I have no right to that...
But even if she had to sacrifice herself, she wanted to protect Flora. She had no choice but to rely on Rio for that. So, Christina tried to think of a way to give Flora the highest chance of survival. For example, if they had to be used as hostages, she needed to make sure that Rio discarded her first. And so, a pained look flashed across Christina’s face for a brief moment, before she made a curt statement.
“...That’s not true.”
“Oh? What isn’t?” Lucius asked curiously.
“It’s only natural to sacrifice the individual for the sake of the kingdom. If you wish to condemn that as an awful deed, you can condemn it all you want. I don’t recall ever doing anything awful to him—at least on an individual level, I believe. Flora may not think the same.” Christina spoke as though she were reciting a memorized speech. There was no hint of her emotions behind those words at all. However—
“Heh heh heh. How terrible. Rio was placed in an environment that could make the average person’s misfortune sound petty, you realize? He could have grown up as royalty instead. Yet through some kind of mistake, he became an orphan in the slums at the age of five. If you’re saying it’s only natural for someone like that to be used up for your political benefits, then you’re truly cold-blooded to the core.” Lucius cackled in delight, eagerly bringing up Rio’s misfortunes.
“I don’t believe you should be the one saying that, since you’re the one who made him an orphan... But you’ve made one mistake. I have no value as a hostage.” Christina looked at Lucius with clear disdain.
“Did you hear that, Rio? What do you think? Sounds real admirable, eh? She’s trying to anger you on purpose—probably so that she’ll be the first to go, right?” Lucius chuckled, seeing through her plan.
“Wha...” Christina tried to object, but she ended up biting her lip bitterly instead.
“Did you go senile walking around the forest? This bastard wouldn’t forsake you. If he was going to abandon you, he would’ve cut down my back ages ago. He’s trying to save you in this situation. The hypocrisy is disgusting,” Lucius spat.
“That’s enough. How far are we going?”
Rio called for Lucius to stop. They were currently on a hill, several hundred meters away from the edge of the village.
“Fine. Let’s settle this,” Lucius said, pointing his sword at Christina’s neck.
“Ah...” Christina swallowed her breath and froze.
“What, can’t draw your sword?” Lucius sneered.
“...” Rio glared at Lucius sharply, but didn’t draw the sword at his waist.
“Ha. If you want to win against me, you should throw away everything other than your bloodlust. You’re the same as Zen—you try to fight while carrying excess weight on you. And yet, you’re strong. That’s what I can’t stomach. Living like a walking contradiction... But that’s precisely why you’ll die unable to protect those close to you. I’ll prove it to you—the foolishness of a human carrying around that kind of unnecessary weight.” Until now, Lucius had been using an exaggerated tone to provoke Rio, but the bloodlust he had been holding back was released as he glared back at him.
“I don’t get it... What do you gain from me throwing away that so-called excess weight?” Rio asked in an indifferent tone. Lucius was obviously speaking of Christina and Flora.
“I’m saying if you don’t, you won’t be able to defeat me in this battle. Then... Was it Celia Claire? And a woman named Miharu—I’ll go after those women next. Of course, I’ll enjoy them to the fullest before killing them. Don’t worry, though. I’ll leave you half-alive and bring you along to witness it,” Lucius boasted to irritate Rio.
“...”
Perhaps it was because Celia and Miharu’s names had been mentioned, but Rio’s wrath swelled. As though to embody that rage, a tremendous amount of magic essence poured out of Rio’s body.
“Ha! You finally look like a proper avenger now.” Lucius smirked, removing his left eyepatch.
Rio observed every small move Lucius made so that he could react if he tried to harm Christina and Flora. Then, Lucius suddenly hugged Christina towards him, Flora still on her back.
“Eep...!” Christina let out a shriek as she lost balance. Meanwhile, Lucius took his gaze off Rio and looked into the distance. Immediately after that, Lucius, Christina, and Flora disappeared.
“What?!” The one who raised his voice in confusion was Duran, who had been silent until now. He was astonished by Lucius’s sudden disappearance, but—
Over there!
Rio was able to identify Lucius’s location with precision. He could see someone falling from the sky several meters away, as though he had teleported there.
However, Rio wasn’t about to lose to that. He used his wind spirit arts to forcefully accelerate his body and approach Lucius.
“Eek!”
Lucius grabbed the fabric of Christina’s dress and threw her and Flora together towards the ground. The fabric at the middle of the back of her dress ripped loudly. There was no way she’d walk away unharmed after falling several dozen meters.
“Tch...” Rio manipulated the wind to super forcefully change his direction, accelerate, and catch the falling Christina and Flora. He then landed on the ground with the two of them.
“Protect them if you can.” Lucius stood behind Rio, his sword swinging down from overhead.
He’s so fast! Wait, this is—
Rio hugged Christina and Flora close to him as he parried the blow one-handedly with his sword. But even he couldn’t handle that much—his balance was completely thrown off, and he could barely manage to parry the attack.
“Hey, what’s the matter? Huh?! Your movements have dulled!” Lucius swung his sword without a care.
“Guh...” With Christina and Flora embraced in his grasp, Rio stood his ground to fight back, but he was at too much of a disadvantage. Even Christina could tell that just by looking.
“Sir Amakawa, you can throw me aside!” Christina twisted her body around to plead at him in a panic.
“It’s dangerous, so please stay still. Keep a tight hold of Princess Flora and don’t let go of me!” Rio ordered, hugging Christina even closer.
“Your back’s wide open!”
Lucius suddenly disappeared from before Rio. In the next moment, he was standing diagonally behind him, swinging his sword at his back. However, as though predicting that move, Rio charged forward with Christina embraced in one arm. Lucius’s sword cut through empty space at the last moment.
He really is teleporting after all. The last time we fought, he also moved as though he was teleporting, but he didn’t base his fight around this ability. Is it the power of his sword? Or does it have something to do with his eye? There’s quite a lot of magic essence flowing from it...
Rio evaded the attacks while analyzing the situation with precision. He surmised that the reason why it seemed like Lucius had teleported was probably because he really had teleported.
In reality, he’d been able to predict Lucius’s warp destination just now by feeling the fluctuation of ode and mana around him. But it was still an extremely troublesome ability—he wouldn’t be able to let Christina and Flora escape somewhere safe like this. Thanks to that, Rio was unable to separate from the two of them, which made it impossible for him to move at high speeds.
This made close combat rather difficult, as Lucius was able to move freely by teleporting around. His prospects were far too poor like this...which was why Rio decided to discard his hand. He gathered the essence within him and stomped against the ground.
A two-meter-wide circle of earth underneath Rio and Christina’s feet protruded from the ground, lifting them ten meters into the air.
“Huh?” The sudden floating sensation had Christina shell-shocked. She was tremendously confused by the sight of the ground beneath her feet rising like a living tower.
“Impudent brat!” Lucius swung his sword diagonally upwards from the ground.
The black blade of his sword released a pitch-black strike, severing the earth tower Rio had created at the base.
Rio put essence into his feet and leaped off the tower before it crumbled. Immediately after, the earth tower that had acted as his foothold fell apart into rectangular blocks that floated in the air.
Wh-What’s happening? What’s the meaning of this? Are we floating as well?!
Christina glanced around in a panic, looking at the blocks floating in the air and themselves in mute amazement.
No one had uttered any spells to activate magic until now, yet all kinds of supernatural phenomena kept happening one after another. Her surprise was only natural.
Meanwhile, Rio looked down at Lucius on the ground and pointed his sword at him. No sooner had he done so than the group of blocks floating in the air all started falling towards the ground at a rapid speed. No, it was like they had been fired by an invisible power.
If each block weighed several kilograms, they should make quite the impact by the time they fell to the ground. In reality, the blocks that crashed into the ground created small craters and dust clouds.
Wh-What is that? What’s happening? Is Sir Amakawa using the ability of his enchanted sword? But wasn’t his enchanted sword a wind sword?
Christina could no longer keep up with the situation. However, Flora had once witnessed Rio fight using spirit arts, so she wasn’t as surprised as her older sister. Still suffering from the poison, her expression was dazed as she looked down at the ground.
But, just then—
Boom!
A tremendous explosion roared from behind Christina and Flora.
Wh-What?!
Christina whipped around in confusion. There stood Lucius, who should have been on the ground, with his sword held overhead.
“Tch...”
And yet, he was unable to slash Christina and Flora in the back. Rio had created a barrier of magic essence to block Lucius’s sword. Still, a single blow from Lucius’s blade had enough force to crack the barrier...
At any rate, Lucius’s attack was blocked, making him click his tongue in irritation. Christina and Flora could also see the faint light wall blocking Lucius’s sword from reaching him. They also knew that it was Rio who had put up the barrier, though they hadn’t seen him do so.
“Now it’s my turn,” Rio said, summoning orbs of light several centimeters wide around him. Of course, Lucius had no intention of just taking the hit and disappeared on the spot.
But Rio was able to predict where Lucius would move to with a high degree of precision. He fired the orbs at the area on the ground where he foresaw Lucius appearing. There were about a hundred or so orbs of light that orbited in the air before falling to the ground. In addition, Rio made full use of his tremendous magic essence to continuously create more orbs, firing them at the ground. It almost looked like a meteor shower of light orbs.
Wh-What? What is this, really...? Christina became even more confused.
At the Royal Academy, Rio had been mocked as a failure for being unable to make a contract with magic. And yet, now he could create magical phenomena without even chanting a spell... He was even flying in the air, with no sign of falling anytime soon.
The rain of light orbs Rio was firing each had the might of a lower-grade spell, but together they were an overwhelming threat. And he was firing them a hundred at a time towards the ground every few seconds. Did he have an endless amount of essence? The scale of the phenomenon being created was greater than advanced magic—it was practically on par with the highest grade of attack magic possible.
However, Lucius was also impressive. He dashed about the ground, swinging his sword to cut down the light orbs while evading the rain of attacks. He sometimes disappeared and reappeared in a different position in the distance.
After a while, Lucius came to a stop and looked up at Rio floating in the air. Suddenly, a voice sounded from above their heads.
“Here, you can have these back.”
Lucius was looking down from ten meters above Rio’s head, pointing the tip of his sword at him. Immediately after, several hundred orbs of light surrounded Rio in every direction.
Did he absorb my light bullets to use himself?
Rio immediately deduced that there was no possible escape route and poured essence into his sword. He created a storm to blow the orbs away, forcibly making a hole in the encirclement. He then tried to escape through it.
“I won’t let you!” Lucius teleported to cut into Rio’s exit route. He poured magic essence into his sword to stock up dark energy and strike Rio with it.
However, Rio also poured essence into his sword to counter Lucius’s attack with a blast of wind. Their respective energies clashed, forming a tremendous shock wave.
What a fight this is...
Christina had been desperately clinging to Rio with Flora in her arms for some time now, watching the battle that she couldn’t believe was happening between two humans. Flora seemed to be having a tough time being moved around midair so much, as her feverish eyes were unable to stay focused.
“Damn it...” While Lucius could teleport, he wasn’t able to fly—the shock wave from his attack hitting Rio’s sent him falling down. The fact he wasn’t able to defeat Rio despite his favorable position made his brow furrow in frustration as he teleported straight to the ground.
Rio also lowered his altitude, glaring at Lucius as he descended. Once he landed, about ten meters of ground lifted up in square tiles.
“Wha...?!” The sudden spectacle left Christina speechless once more.
The tiles that lifted up blocked their view of Lucius before them—in fact, they collapsed over him, crushing him underneath.
However, Lucius teleported to evade the attack, moving out of the range of the tiles that lifted up and fell—based on his original position, he had moved horizontally to the side.
He didn’t teleport through the wall... That confirms it. Lucius’s teleportation ability only allows him to move where his left eye can see.
Using the attack just now, Rio was able to confirm what he had noticed while firing the orbs of light at Lucius from above.
“Tch...” Lucius clicked his tongue in annoyance.
“Is Princess Flora all right?” Rio suddenly asked Christina, who now stood beside him. Dazed, she snapped back to her senses and answered him in an apologetic tone.
“Y-Yes... Umm. To be honest, she’s not in the best condition. She’s been poisoned with a toxin that couldn’t be treated with magic.”
“I see. Then we shouldn’t move her around too much,” Rio said, staring at Lucius standing ten or so meters before them.
There’s no doubt that Lucius’s enchanted sword can control space. His main powers are the ability to teleport short distances visible to his left eye, and the ability to absorb spirit arts and fire them back. He hasn’t used it yet this match, but he can also open a hole in space and thrust his sword through it like last time. That essence-engulfed left arm of his must also have some kind of trick to it...
Rio recalled their fight thus far and analyzed the ability of Lucius’s enchanted sword. Those were the highlights he had to be careful of.
Just then, Lucius transferred his sword from his right hand to his left hand.
He switched his sword to his left hand? Wasn’t he right-handed?
He had always fought with his right hand until now. Rio grew more wary of Lucius’s left arm.
“There’s one thing I find incomprehensible,” Lucius suddenly said to Rio.
“...” Rio watched him silently.
“Be it your spirit arts, swordsmanship, or martial arts—where did you learn all of it?”
“Who knows?”
“You’re far too proficient in your movements. Even if you have talent, there’s a crazy amount of experience behind your skills. It’s not something a brat in his teens should be capable of. Supposing that you learned your swordcraft during your childhood, you would have learned it from the Royal Academy in Beltrum—but those movements aren’t the Beltrum Kingdom style.”
“...They’re my own style.”
“Your own style? Well, whatever. It’s time for round two—a fresh start. Unfortunately, however, I’m right-handed. I may not be able to go as easy on you with my left arm, so don’t hold it against me.” Despite his clear suspicion at Rio’s answer, Lucius dismissed the matter and checked his grip on the sword clutched in his left hand.
The left arm is the one I burned away without a trace in the last match. It must have been regenerated through some kind of forbidden technique along with that left eye...
The fact he switched his sword meant the ability couldn’t be activated unless the sword was in his left hand.
“Wh...?!”
Suddenly, Lucius swung his sword ten-odd meters in front of Rio, but the blade of the sword had disappeared and was closing in from behind. Rio promptly held his sword ready behind his back and caught the blow. The sound of clashing metal screeched, surprising Christina into looking for the source of the sound. When she spotted the blade that had warped through space to float in the air, she broke out in a cold sweat.
“Ha! So you’ll react to this attack like it’s nothing as well, huh? Come to think of it, I’ve used this move once before the last time we fought. But...” Lucius said unhappily as Rio thought to himself.
If he can use that attack just now without any restriction, it might be a little risky trying to do this while protecting two other people.
Rio felt a sharp pang of danger—and that danger had already approached. Another sharp clashing screech echoed.
“Huh...?”
Christina looked in the direction of the sound. This time it didn’t come from behind Rio, but Christina. Rio had gone around her to catch the blow—even though Lucius was still standing over ten meters away. Then, at the next metallic clash in succession, she finally understood. Once again, although Lucius was before them, this time it came from the left of Flora...
...Is he warping just the blade of his sword using space sorcery?
The reality was exactly as it appeared, and Christina was filled with terror the moment she understood it.
“I knew it—you can tell where my attacks are coming from, can’t you? Cheeky bastard. But this isn’t all I’ve got—thanks to the left arm you lopped off, I can use my sword even better than before. Here, let’s turn up the pace,” Lucius said, then resumed swinging his sword. One swing, then another, followed by one more—all at different angles and speeds.
Clang, clang, clang. The sound of swords clashing gradually got faster. Rio saw through Lucius’s attacks and knocked back all the blows, but he was treading on thin ice doing so.
“...” Christina was frozen stiff. All she was doing was standing, yet she felt closer to death than living. The attacks seemingly came from nowhere, but Rio blocked them all for her—that was the only thing keeping her alive.
This made it even harder for Rio to leave Christina and Flora. The moment he did, the two of them were as good as dead.
“Don’t worry. Simply slashing from afar isn’t artistic enough for my tastes. I’ll come closer, then,” Lucius said, using his teleportation to warp behind Christina and Flora. By the time he finished warping, he had already made a stabbing motion.
Rio immediately cut between Lucius and the princesses, but the distance to Lucius was oddly far.
Oh no!
Rio hurried back to his original position as soon as he realized why. The next moment, the blade of the sword Lucius held came flying. If Rio hadn’t returned, it would have pierced through Christina’s body, but—
“Guh...”
Though it had only been a moment, that moment cost Rio everything. He was unable to block the attack successfully and took the blade in his left arm.
“S-Sir Amakawa?!” Christina paled. It was clear that he had been stabbed in order to protect her.
“Ha, finally a hit. Looks like blood does flow through your veins after all, eh? Well then, let’s keep the show going!” Lucius chuckled smugly, then started to attack using a combination of teleportation and warping his sword blade.
“Tch...” With his left arm wounded, Rio had to protect Christina and Flora while evading all of Lucius’s attacks. It would be one thing if he were alone, but it was obvious that protecting them was a burden.
“Hey, hey! What’s the matter?! Huh?!”
Lucius’s body and sword teleported around, rushing Rio from every possible direction. Rio had to block the 360-degree onslaught on the three of them by himself—if he tried to counterattack, Lucius would kill the other two as soon as he left their side.
Having said that, he couldn’t escape through the air carrying the two of them. Being in the air would open him to attacks from below, and carrying the two of them meant even more openings.
On top of that, if he fired his spirit arts carelessly he could risk having them absorbed. The conditions weren’t just bad—they were the absolute worst. The range he had to defend had tripled, after all. Plus, Lucius kept teleporting to the worst areas to attack Rio.
This time from the ground...
The sword blade came shooting out, aiming for Christina’s foot. Rio struck it from above to block the attack. Deflected, Lucius’s blade retreated into the darkness with a sinking noise—but as soon as it did, it flew out from a different location to aim for Flora. And the moment Rio dealt with that—
“I’m over here!”
Lucius teleported to slash at Christina. Rio closed in to slash back at him, but Lucius disappeared before he could do so. Instead, a sword came flying out behind Christina, aiming to pierce her back.
“...” Christina and Flora were standing frozen in fear of the attacks seemingly coming from nowhere. Lucius was clearly aiming for them as the encumbrances.
“Ngh...”
Christina, Flora, Christina, Christina, Flora, Flora, Christina, Flora. The attacks came in an irregular but continuous pattern. Finally, Rio was unable to block an attack aimed at Christina and stepped in himself to take the attack.
Christina was unable to see Rio moving at his ultra-rapid speed, but his vigorous movements caused his flowing blood to splatter against her cheek. She snapped out of her daze when she wiped her cheek to see Rio’s blood. That was the final straw for her.
“...S-Sir Amakawa! It’s fine! Just leave us! You’ll be defeated at this rate! Please stop this already!” Unable to watch on any longer, Christina pleaded to Rio with an anguished look.
“...” But Rio didn’t answer, and he didn’t cease his movements to cover the two of them either. Sharpening his senses, he calmly predicted where Lucius’s body and sword would warp to and moved to block them.
Christina...
Leaning against her sister, the poison had made it barely possible for Flora to remain conscious, but the pained call of her sister had reached her. That was enough for her chest to feel like it would burst.
“Please stop, I’m begging you, please...”
He was so close, yet her voice couldn’t reach him. Christina’s pained voice trailed off weakly. Her heart was truly on the verge of breaking.
Meanwhile—
Concentrate. Eliminate all waste to the limit.
Rio hadn’t given up in the slightest. In fact, over the course of the attacks he had to deflect from every angle, he was gradually sharpening his mind until he had maximized the efficiency of his movements and memorized Lucius’s attack pattern.
There’ll be a chance to counterattack. For now, I just have to keep evading the attacks and muster the magic essence for that chance. And for that, I have to picture it. My most powerful technique...
The logic was simple. Spirit arts were a technique that involved using life energy of ode and natural energy of mana to alter the world to one’s will. If two spirit art casters tried to activate two different arts at the exact same position, as long as the two arts weren’t similar enough to be merged, the stronger phenomenon would overwhelm the weaker phenomenon.
In other words, the one with a greater amount of influence over the phenomenon would activate in its complete form. This was affected by the nature of the art, the scale of the art, and the skill of the caster. If the strength of the two arts rivaled each other, the two arts would clash with each other when activating, but when there was a significant difference in the strength of the casters, the opponent’s art could be completely voided.
Thus, if Lucius was teleporting around them by activating his space-altering phenomenon, Rio simply had to fill the area with a powerful enough art to overwhelm that. Once he did, Lucius wouldn’t be able to attack Christina and Flora anymore.
However, moving through space was a phenomenon that had extremely powerful influence; it wouldn’t take just any old art to obstruct that activation. He would have to create a phenomenon at a large enough scale to fill the entire area with mana. That was why he had to imagine it—an art greater than anything he had ever activated before.
He had a vision. The ability a previous opponent of his used before—or rather, the ability of that weapon. He would recreate that with spirit arts.
More power, greater quality... Rio desperately kept up his defenses as he waited for the moment he could counter this hopeless situation.
A long, long minute passed.
“...”
Flora was as pale as a sheet because of her poisoned body and high fever, but the same applied for Christina as well. She would have done anything she could to help, but she knew that making the wrong move could result in hindering Rio instead.
“Hah... Hah...”
During a brief pause in Lucius’s attacks, she could see the rare sight of Rio panting harshly for breath. His stamina had been exhausted by taking Lucius’s attacks and he was bleeding openly, which was something he couldn’t recover. Considering the scale of the art he was about to activate, he could only allocate the minimum amount of essence to heal himself. Meanwhile—
Tch, he’s holding out for longer than I thought. My attacks are even starting to miss.
Lucius was feeling impatient.
Rio had the handicap of having to protect two dead weights. Lucius should have had the advantage, yet he couldn’t clinch a victory—performance-wise, he was definitely the one losing, so it was no surprise he was feeling impatient.
“Let’s end this already,” Rio said after catching his breath.
Fighting an intense battle injured while gathering the most essence he’d ever had in his life was a difficult task even for Rio, who had finally finished his preparations.
“Huh? Are you sleep-talking now? I’m the one winning here,” Lucius snapped.
“I won’t let things go your way any longer. I won’t let you take anything. Never again...” Rio glared at Lucius with a sharp look. Even though the surroundings were completely dry, Rio manifested a tremendous amount of water in an instant. The water completely surrounded him and the princesses, then swelled rapidly to try and swallow Lucius as well.
“Wha...” Lucius nearly froze for a moment, but he quickly looked up and teleported to the sky.
That bastard brought out a ton of water in an instant.
Lucius looked down at the scene from above. The amount of water Rio had created was great enough to swallow the entire village nearby. Yet the huge mass of water didn’t break shape at all, maintaining its elastic droplet shape.
What the hell is going on...?
Lucius poured essence into his sword and released a slash of darkness at the water mass. However, the strike merely bounced off the surface of the water—it was unable to open a hole. On top of that, the water that rebounded off the surface returned to the mass. It was just a waste of magic essence.
“Tch... I can’t see what’s happening inside. I can’t teleport like this... What is that bastard trying to pull?” Lucius hatefully glared at the mass of water Rio had created. Meanwhile, inside the water, Rio had created a dome of air several meters in radius around him.
Wh-What...is this...?
Christina looked around the inside of the dome.
360 degrees. No matter where she looked, it was just water, water, and more water. There was so much water, she couldn’t see outside the bubble. The water was tinged with essence and sparkled, illuminating the inside of the dome.
Pretty...
Christina forgot about reality for a moment—that was how wondrous the scenery was.
“I’m going to counterattack by manipulating this water. You’ll be safe as long as you don’t move from here. Please just wait for me to finish this battle,” Rio said to her.
“R-Right...”
Did you create this? What exactly is happening right now? Such questions filled her head, but Christina didn’t say them out loud. She didn’t feel the need to. The situation had long exceeded what she was capable of understanding.
“Then I’ll be off now,” Rio said.
The wall of water around them started undulating, twisting and turning to change shape, separating into a total of sixteen bubbles of water.
Each one of those water bubbles changed shape further. Eight of them turned into long dragons that flew about freely in the air, while the remaining eight were fixed on the ground, taking the shape of dragon tails to protect Christina and Flora.
Eight dragon heads and eight dragon tails. They all moved as though they were one gigantic being, and Christina felt a sense of déjà vu when she looked at them.
“Is that Sir Hiroaki’s...Yamata no Orochi?”
Indeed, it was very similar to Hiroaki’s specialty—in fact, it was on a higher level compared to that one.
It was majestic enough to be its final form.
Rio used wind spirit arts to fly out of the circle of tails. After he had ascended to a certain level, he looked down at Lucius from above the eight heads of the water dragons.
“Ha... Hahaha! You’ve left the royal sisters completely open!” Lucius, who had been overwhelmed by the spectacle until that moment, smirked and attempted to warp his body beside Christina and Flora, but—
“I can’t teleport...?!”
That couldn’t be! Lucius tried to warp his sword blade inside the tails to attack Christina, but he couldn’t teleport the sword blade, either.
What the hell is happening...?
Lucius broke out in a nervous sweat. Rio sent one of the water dragons to fall towards him on the ground. The amount of mass-energy falling was immeasurable.
“What—?!” Lucius attempted to teleport overhead in a hurry. This time the warp worked, and he instantly moved where he expected to go.
So I can teleport.
The very moment Lucius thought that, another water dragon appeared before his eyes.
“Damn it!”
Lucius warped to another position. The spot he moved to was also in the sky, but another dragon was waiting for him where he appeared.
Th-That bastard! He’s completely predicting where I’ll move to!
As though to prove that, yet another water dragon closed in on Lucius to attack.
Each of the eight heads of the dragons were over ten meters long and flew freely across the entire sky, attacking Lucius immediately no matter where he warped to. They even moved to provide support for each other—nay, it was Rio who was controlling them to do so. The speed that they moved at was no laughing matter either.
“Don’t mess with me!”
Even though he could teleport, there was nowhere to run in the skies. Rio would release a water dragon wherever he warped, forcing him into using his short-distance teleport successively. At this rate, he’d have his hands full with just evading the attacks. Their positions were completely reversed from before.
My new body’s increased the number of times I can teleport, but using it this many times in succession is bad. If only I had taken those two princesses on the ground as hostages... Shit!
Lucius tried to get a grasp on the situation by making another attempt at attacking Christina and Flora from above, but he still couldn’t teleport.
Then I’ll just have to teleport beside you, Rio!
Figuring the caster wouldn’t manipulate an attack towards himself, Lucius tried to teleport beside Rio. However—
“...I can’t teleport?! Guh!”
For some reason, he couldn’t warp to Rio, either. Then, in his panic, one of Rio’s water dragons managed to strike Lucius. It was like colliding with a gigantic iron ball. Lucius’s body was blown away at an incredible speed, smashing into the ground.
“N-No way...” Seeing the other water dragons closing in, he promptly attempted another warp—this time, successfully.
Wh-What...
His body should have been enhanced, yet it took everything in him to stay standing. Apparently, the attack just now had been especially effective, as his legs were trembling.
I can’t teleport beside the bastard. I can’t teleport beside the royal siblings. Did he find a way to seal my abilities?!
Lucius couldn’t reach the skies without teleporting, so approaching Rio was made exponentially more difficult by being unable to warp.
“Then how about I aim for the princesses, then?!”
Lucius strengthened the degree of his body enhancement and ran towards Christina and Flora within the dragon tails on unsteady legs. If he couldn’t warp, he’d just have to run—he had no intention of giving up. However, the meters-long tails undulated like whips, sweeping across the area Lucius was trying to cross. The ground was completely overturned, almost like a natural disaster had occurred.
“Sh-Shit!” Lucius barely managed to evade the attack by teleporting upwards. Wary of another attack coming immediately, he tried to teleport successively to run away, but—
...What?
His teleportation didn’t activate, because Rio himself was rapidly descending towards Lucius.
“Wha...?”
The tip of a sword pierced through Lucius’s torso like a meteor, throwing him down to the ground.
“...” Rio stabbed his sword into the ground, right through Lucius’s body. He looked down at Lucius’s astounded expression without letting go of his sword. The blade had definitely gone through Lucius’s heart.
“Guh... Ha... Ngh... Nnngh...”
Lucius coughed violently, expelling the air and blood in his lungs. That was the moment he finally realized Rio’s attack had hit him.
“It’s over this time...” Rio grasped his sword hilt in both hands and twisted it. To finish him off, he completely destroyed Lucius’s heart.
The light in Lucius’s eyes faded rapidly.
“H-Heh... So you finished it yourself? Those water dragons must have been a decoy. Damn it... I let...my guard...down...”
Eyeing Rio through his blurry vision, Lucius chuckled. Contrary to the hatred that filled his head and chest, he was grinning. The only thing barely keeping Lucius alive right now was his physical enhancement. This time, Reiss wasn’t here to save him. He would surely die this time.
For some reason, that thought made laughter surge within him.
“I don’t get it at all... Why would you do that for those princesses... Beltrum’s nothing to write home about. It’s been possessed by Reiss—a walking plague of a man. That kingdom won’t last long... Gahaha...hah.”
Lucius squeezed out the last of his energy to speak to Rio. Blood spurted from his lips.
“I’m the one who doesn’t get it...” Why did his mother have to be killed? Why did his father have to be killed? He had to spend eleven years tied up by his revenge because of that.
Rio looked down at Lucius on his deathbed and strengthened his grip around his sword. The flames of revenge burned intensely within him.
At the same time, he recalled his fond memories of his mother, Ayame.
The happiness he had lost. The days he could never get back. The affection he’d never feel again—all of it was taken by this man.
That was why Rio felt no pity as he watched Lucius on the verge of death. He wouldn’t forgive him. He would never look back. As long as he was alive, he would live only for the purpose of killing this man. That was all.
Yes, that was why—
“...”
Silently, Rio thrust his sword deeper through Lucius’s heart.
“...”
Lucius fell completely silent. His life had ended.
He’s dead.
Without batting an eye, Rio looked down at his face. He had killed him. With his own hands.
This was the final destination of his revenge, but there was no sense of accomplishment here.
He hadn’t sought revenge for a sense of accomplishment.
If anything, he felt a sense of loss and a darkness that overflowed from it. But this was indeed the conclusion that Rio wished for—what he had wanted from the very beginning.
He had no regrets.
“...It’s over.”
Rio activated his spirit arts through his blade and set Lucius’s body alight. The body instantly burst into flames, and Rio pulled his sword out of Lucius’s heart and took several steps back. The flames burned at an intensely high heat, turning Lucius into ash in a matter of moments.
Eleven years since his mother was killed.
Eleven years of living for revenge.
It was a long time coming, but it was finally over.
He hadn’t given any thought about what to do beyond this—he had lived with the intention of devoting his all to it.
There was no need for a future, he had thought.
But now, Rio had a place to return to. He had thought everyone would hate him if they knew the truth, but that wasn’t the case. That was why—
“Time to go home.”
Rio turned and started walking. There were people waiting for the return of someone like him, and he wanted to go back to them. And so, he would return.
Rio glanced up at the water dragons in the sky and dispersed them into mist, then did the same for the tails on the ground. The mist created a sparkling rainbow that covered the area. Walking through that arch, he headed towards the ragged forms of Christina and Flora.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login