Chapter 16
IN THE CENTER of the small village, Meimei rampaged wildly through approaching fighting dolls and Chimera’s troops. She deprived foes of their consciousness with single blows and asked Glad, “If I take all these down, the big one will come out, right?”
“Sure will. That’s their last defense, after all,” Glad replied, mercilessly stabbing Chimeras.
Meimei wanted a fight with a strong foe, and she hoped the giant doll would provide that. Glad had felt it underground, the spirits’ power trapped within. It had to be Chimera’s trump card. If they defeated the enemies here, Glad believed that the enemy would have no choice but to send it onto the battlefield.
“You baddies can’t stop meee!” Meimei trusted his assessment and fought even more fiercely, charging through Chimera Clausen’s fighters, trampling them in the blink of an eye, and proceeding toward the next group of guards.
“Suppose I’ll leave the rest to her.” Watching as Meimei mopped up enemy forces, Glad figured he was no longer needed here. He switched focus to preserving and recovering his mana to prepare for his final battle.
There was a loud explosive sound, and a crowd of fighting dolls flew at him from behind. Their broken limbs, unable to maintain their original form, fell around him. Glad, who’d been quietly focused on recovering his mana, grimaced and turned toward the source of the blast. A group of people bearing matching white weapons had appeared.
They were a varied group, and were all dressed differently save for one thing: each of them wore a scarf with cat paw-print marks on them. It was a bizarre uniform, but they followed the man leading them like a real unit, putting the enemies to rout.
When this Isuzu group reached the village square, they immediately got to work cleaning up the remaining foes. Their leader, Mizar, stayed behind and gazed at Glad. “The way you dress… You’re the Skyfolk man from the reports?”
Glad didn’t know what these reports were or who’d informed this man about him, but he replied curtly, “Probably.” He then glanced at the unit’s white weapons and muttered, “You have some interesting equipment.”
When the soldiers swung their snow-white weapons, they easily cut through Chimera Clausen’s black blades. Glad’s interest was piqued by weapons that could so easily defeat those black abominations.
“By the way, who is that? Looks like she’s on your side, yeah?” Mizar asked, watching Meimei as she mowed down hordes of fighting dolls. She looked like a little girl, but her ferocity was enough to make heroes quake in fear. Mizar’s reports had indicated the presence of a sidekick, but he hadn’t expected said sidekick to be so…overwhelming. It was natural to wonder who this young lady might be.
But even Glad himself didn’t know much about her. When asked point-blank, he had little to say. “I met her along the way here. She calls herself Meimei; that’s all I know,” Glad fell silent, staring back at Mizar.
“I see… Fate works in mysterious ways.” Mizar figured that there must have been some reason for the Skyfolk man’s vagueness, so he quit probing into the girl’s identity and instead simply asked if they could leave this front of the battle to her. Anyone could see that Meimei was strong. Rather than sticking close to her, Mizar would prefer to annihilate foes further away. This would be an effective way of splitting the focus of the enemy forces.
“Do as you wish. I leave the rest to you, Isuzu Alliance,” Glad answered. He left without waiting for a reply. Mizar called after him to ask what he meant, but Glad did not answer. He simply said to Meimei, “See you soon.”
“Don’t worry, I got this!” She blasted away the enemies nearest to her and used the resulting opening to pat Glad gently on the back, sending him on his way.
Meimei knew Glad’s objective—not the details, but the fact that he was here to get revenge on someone far beyond redemption. His target awaited him here, and Glad knew that this cowardly foe would run away if he thought he was at a disadvantage. What’s more, Glad already had an idea of how he would try to escape. Thus, he would wait there for his prey to show himself.
As someone with a warrior’s spirit, Meimei supported Glad in his goal; she believed revenge was a worthy reason to fight.
Glad departed the village to make his way to the ambush point. Meimei saw him off, then returned her focus to the enemies before her. “I can feel it. It’s almost here…”
Most of Chimera Clausen’s troops had already fallen on the battlefield, but there were still mobs of fighting dolls in the fray—to the point that one had to wonder where they stored so many. Dozens continued to appear from up ahead. But unlike the ones before, these seemed to be special models with spirit weapons.
Meimei sized up the power of their spirit weapons. Her eyes turned silver as she activated the sage’s Angel’s Eye.
“Is this their trump card? I don’t like the look of…” Mizar said.
These dolls felt different from the ones they’d fought thus far. Realizing that, Mizar had his troops fall back to wait and watch while he stepped to the front. Fortunately, only fifty of the new dolls had appeared; he and Meimei could probably manage them on their own. Or so he thought—unfortunately, the situation progressed faster than he expected.
“Meimei, you and I—” You and I can take half each, he tried to say…but Meimei’s next actions shut him right up.
“Almost boss time!” As soon as the fighting dolls appeared, Meimei yelled and glowered at all of the enemies up ahead with silver eyes. She thrust out her right hand, palm open, then clenched it into a tight fist.
“What is that?!”
Mizar and his subordinates were left speechless. The instant Meimei balled up her fist, all of the dolls stopped moving at once. Those that had kicked off the ground to charge, those swinging their weapons—all of them stopped as if held in place by an invisible hand, struggling to escape.
This was [Immortal Arts: Empty-Handed Reverie], which allowed the user’s grasp to reach everything in their radius of perception. Such an ability could only be mastered by those who suffered particularly arduous trials, but by doing so, they gained the ability to grasp targets, regardless of distance. One who mastered this ability could literally take hold of a battle.
“You can’t stop me that easily!” While everyone had fallen silent, the corners of Meimei’s mouth crooked up. Explosions boomed ahead of her, whipping up violent winds. There were as many blasts as there were dolls, dyeing the blue-tinted village and the night sky a dazzling red.
This was the power of [Immortal Arts Earth: Crimson Bouquet]. The close-range, high-firepower spell displayed its might, blowing every single doll to smithereens. Remains of dolls showered down as embers. Meimei stood in their midst and turned her eyes toward the edge of the village, praying for the victory of the one she’d spent these past two weeks with. The ephemeral crimson bouquet was like a parting gift of flowers for Glad.
Even setting aside the raw power of the attack, restraining a crowd of enemy constructs and calling forth those explosions without so much as an incantation were not feats just anyone could perform. This was beyond even the most advanced magic, perhaps even rivaling Uzume’s true identity as Kagura of the Seven Stars. As the only person present who knew who Uzume really was, Mizar gazed curiously at Meimei. As he looked, half-interested and half-terrified, he realized something. Mizar gasped. “Could it be…?”
Long ago, shortly after the founding of the Isuzu Alliance, Uzume had told Mizar about the other apex mages who once stood beside her. All of the Nine Wise Men—except for Luminaria—had seemingly disappeared from the world. One of these missing mages, Kagura herself, led the Isuzu Alliance; it wouldn’t be surprising, then, if others were out there somewhere.
On closer inspection, incredibly, this girl matched the features of one of the Wise Men Uzume had described. Such well-honed fighting techniques, the unique cadence with which she spoke, mastery of the Immortal Arts despite looking like a child—and most of all, the use of a technique that no one other than the Wise Man herself was known to have mastered. It was as if her entire existence was screaming the truth—that she was Meilin, the Controlling Fist.
Why was such a hero present here? And why as the helper to a Skyfolk priest?
“Could it be anyone else…? I doubt it.” Mizar’s brain couldn’t keep up with it all. But for the moment, he decided to set the question aside, satisfied with the knowledge that this girl, whoever she was, was on their side.
***
“Now it’s sure to spawn!” Meimei cried enthusiastically as she looked toward her feet. She’d shown off her strength plenty by now, so it was about time for Chimera to send out their ace in the hole.
It seemed this girl’s top priority was simply to fight a strong foe. Not realizing that Mizar knew her identity, she kept searching underground for that one presence. “Back up!” Meimei suddenly called out and jumped backward.
Mizar reacted at once and quickly retreated as well. The ground burst open, and something shot out from below. Within seconds, a giant figure towered over the village square, lit by the still-burning blue flames. It was a man-made construct with four arms and four legs, a beast far bigger than the many-legged doll she had fought back at Chimera Clausen’s facility. It was more aptly called a weapon than a doll.
“Uh-huh… So that’s their final defense.” Mizar gulped when faced with such an oppressive, overpowering being. He readied his sword and urged his subordinates to stay on their toes. Vast spiritual energy powered this weapon of war—a warrior such as Mizar would not be able to sense it. But the man had two eyes in his head; he knew that this thing was a force to be reckoned with.
Yet he felt no fear. Mizar backed away and took up a defensive posture, waiting for the question that was sure to come. Within the many-legged weapon, there was a whirring noise. It was activating.
Just then, Meimei turned to face the group and called out, “C’mon, let me solo it! Please? Please!”
Yep—that was exactly what Mizar wanted to hear. Whenever Meilin encountered a rare strong foe, she would always say those words—this he knew from Uzume’s stories. Mizar immediately replied, “Absolutely. All yours.”
“Thank you, thank you!” Meimei hopped around, obviously excited, before taking a stance directly in front of the weapon to await its first move.
This was why Mizar had felt no fear. He knew just how strong Wise Man Kagura, the leader of the Isuzu Alliance, truly was. If he stood with an ally who could rival her strength, then there was no reason whatsoever to fear defeat. Mizar wouldn’t refute that he was passing the buck on this one, but he was the sort of man who prioritized safety and success. That said, he wouldn’t leave it entirely to Meimei; he watched over the fight, ready to assist if anything went wrong.
After ordering his subordinates to search the village for any remaining small foes and eradicate them, Mizar left them to it and focused his attention on the battlefield where Meimei had begun to fight.
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