HOT NOVEL UPDATES

Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari (LN) - Volume 9 - Chapter 10




Hint: To Play after pausing the player, use this button

Chapter Ten: When Trust is Lost

“You break into my lab and mess with my things! You’re like snakes.”
“That means a lot coming from you.”
“Ha! You’re a persistent fool, aren’t you? Very annoying.”
“Again, you take the words right out of my mouth.”
He was annoyed? I was annoyed. I didn’t want to waste any more of my life on this guy!
“You don’t seem to understand how much trouble you’ve made. I’ve come to make sure that you do!”
“Ha! You and your pals are all from a world that is going to be destroyed regardless! I just made good use of it before the inevitable. You should be grateful!”
“No. I won’t let anyone destroy Naofumi’s world, not while I’m around. Give back what you’ve stolen,” Kizuna said, stepping forward.
“Well, well. If it isn’t the grand entrance of our long-missing holy hero!”
“Yeah, Glass and— Well, wouldn’t we all be in trouble if we lost the holy heroes, or the vassal weapons? Who would protect our world from the waves? If you really think that you’re fighting for our world, then you won’t hurt us.”
If everyone ’s theories were correct, then the world couldn’t afford to lose its heroes. That doesn’t mean that he couldn’t hurt us though.
 
“There will still be three holy heroes left after I get rid of you. We should be fine. Just think of all the research I’ve done on behalf of this world. Once you understand the waves, they aren’t so bad. It’s just an update—an update!”
What the hell was this guy talking about ?! I ’d always heard that we couldn’t let any of the heroes die. The heroes in Kizuna’s world worked the same way, or so I’d been told. Were we wrong?
“Kyo!” Yomogi shouted and stepped forward. “Is it true that you took control of another world’s protective beast and used it to destroy?”
“Huh ?! ” Kyo barked, glaring at Yomogi.
“And did you steal that beast’s energy and come back here? Did you do this to the vassal weapon holder? Did you turn his friends into monsters ?! ”
“Oh enough already! Give it a rest, will you?”
“Kyo !? ”
“Don’t try and instruct me! I always said that you never knew when to shut up, didn’t I? Do you think you’re my mother? Just because we’ve known each other for a while doesn’t mean you’re my wife! ” Kyo shouted at Yomogi, like a dam had burst.
The color drained from her face as she listened to him berate her.
“You’re always so damn annoying! I thought giving you that exploding weapon and sending you on an assassination mission would finally be enough, but now you’ve brought these people right into my lab! You’re such a bitch!”

“You . . . but . . . so these women, these friends of the man with the vassal weapon . . . or of that scientist from another land . . . why did you turn them into monsters? Why did . . .”

“What am I supposed to do with another guy’s used goods? Sure, if some of them wanted to come over to my side, I could have looked the other way.”
Used goods? I could hardly believe my ears. He couldn ’t like a woman that had been with someone else?
“It’s good to see your face again though, Yomogi, don’t worry. When they kill you, I’ll be sure to exact revenge! Everything will be fine!”
Yomogi shook with rage. She ’d believed in him for so long, hearing him say these things must have been devastating.
“It seems I was mistaken about you. I should never have trusted you.”
“Huh? You’re going to kill me know, just because I didn’t say what you wanted to hear? You’re sick! I’m nothing like what you want me to be!”
The more he spoke, the more I hated him. He really knew how to get you in a bad mood.
Yomogi had truly cared for him, worried about him, tried to correct his path when he went off course—and now he was calling her a bitch?
If she was a bitch, then this guy was seriously screwed up.
He was trash, below trash—the scum of the earth. He was the male version of my arch-nemesis , Bitch .
This piece of crap had snuffed out Ost and her mission. I was so filled with rage I could hardly think straight.
Yomogi drew her katana and pointed it at Kyo.
 
“You think you stand chance against me? Really? I’m a genius!”
“It’s not about winning or losing. I must make up for being misled, for believing a lie and doubting the truth. I must do it for myself. I must see you punished!” Yomogi turned back to face the rest of us. “Kizuna and your friends, and those of you from another world, please, lend me your strength. We must stop Kyo!”
“You don’t have to ask me twice! That’s why we came,” Kizuna said.
“Exactly. Enough talk! Let’s get this over with. A victory tinged with regret for our past missteps—what better way to take this jerk out?”
Sure, there were people like him in the world—people that grated on you every time they opened their mouths. Anytime you gave them the opportunity to speak, you ’d regret it. In a way, he reminded me of the other three heroes. Why did my enemies all share these traits? It was still a mystery to me.
But I knew one thing: there was no reason to let this jerk mouth off anymore. There was only one thing left for us to do. Make him pay!
“What? Well, you’ll see for yourself soon enough. This is the end of you all!” Kyo held out his hand, and all the homunculi, along with Albert and Trash #2, rushed to attack us. At the same time, the book in his hand slapped open, and its pages flapped out and flew around the room.
“Aim for the one in the back!” Kyo shouted, jabbing a finger at Rishia.
“More and more, every time you speak, I lose more patience. I cannot tolerate you any longer!” Rishia shouted.

What now? It was like something snapped in her. Her voice boomed over the chaotic room, like the hero of a story, if there ever was one. I’m going to start calling her “protagonist.”

If only she could figure out how to act like this all the time.
When Rishia got excited like this, she was actually pretty useful in battle. I mean, she didn ’t have a vassal weapon, but she had really impressed me during the last battle with Kyo.
“Shooting Star Shield!”
“Is that your only skill?” Kyo laughed viciously.
“It’s a pretty good one.”
“That flimsy thing won’t do you much good. Hope you have a better plan than that!”
“How’s this?”
 
 
Albert, Trash #2, and the homunculi shattered the barrier, but its pieces remained floating in the air.
“Raphtalia!”
“Yes!” she shouted, drawing her katana.
“Oh! You might be fast, but how far do you think you can make it?”
“What makes you think she needs to go anywhere?”
Raphtalia understood what I meant without having to hear it. When the haikuikku activated, she immediately used the speed to cast a spell.
That ’s right—she could use the speed for things besides sword attacks.
“Drifa Light!” she shouted, casting the spell on the floating barrier chards.
“Rafu!”
Oh Raph-chan cast a spell too, and she got the timing just right.
The light flashed over the barrier shards that everyone was focused on, and it was so bright that Trash #2, Albert, and the homunculi were blinded.
“Heh. Is that it?”
“Just wait.”
The shining fragments spun around the room as I raised my shield.
It left the perfect opening for my team.
They say the beginning of a battle is the most important part, don ’t they?

Kizuna and Glass were the first ones to make use of the opening Raphtalia and I made.

 
“Double Lure Hook !”
Kizuna hit Albert with her skill that doubled future damage, and Glass took a sip of soul-healing water before using her own skill. She used a powerful, fire-based attack.
“Circle Dance Empty Formation: Moon Break!”
Her fan split in two, and she held a half in each hand. Bringing them together over her head she traced out the shape of a full moon, then forcefully brought the fans down.
“Moon . . . Verse!” Albert shouted, as if not wanting to be outdone.
But Glass was much faster.
Her attack met his, tore through it, and kept on going. It slammed into Albert, nearly tearing his shoulder clean off.
“Careful, there! I still have plans for this guy!”
Some pages flew from Kyo ’s book and fluttered over to Albert, where they attached to his shoulder and pulled it up and back onto his torso. Reconnected, he was bathed in a green light.
It must have been some sort of healing spell.
“I’m not going to get outdone by Kiddo and Kizuna! Therese, let’s go!”
“Okay!”
L ’Arc’s scythe flashed and turned into pure energy, while Therese cast and activated a support spell.
“Shining Stones! Exploding Thunder Rain!”
It was one of her best spells.
What? Rishia held up her short sword and filled it with magic.
 
“Combo Skill! Electric Disc!”
“Hyaaaa!”
Resonating with L ’Arc, Rishia quickly slashed her sword horizontally and neatly slipped it into its sheath.
Enormous discs of electric energy shot from L ’Arc’s energy scythe, and Rishia’s attack followed behind, absorbing the trailing energy and . . . no, it fed the trailing energy back into the rotating disk as it slammed into the crowd of homunculi crowded before Kyo.
The attack was so powerful that it blasted their limbs off.
“My turn!” Filo shouted.
“Wait—you’re on magic support duty. Use your humming fairy songs to back us up. Do you have a song that can speed up magic cast time?”
“Um . . . I’ll try a song I know!” she said, turning into her humming falcon form and flying over to rest on my shoulder.
I thought Kyo would have a snarky comment for us, but instead he realized that Filo was up to something, and he glared at us spitefully.
I was casting Zweite Aura over and over.
I felt like it was getting easier to cast the spell without thinking too hard.
I don ’t know how to explain it in game terms, but it felt like my throat was more open and clear, like the incantation just slipped from it easily and activated the spell.
“Gahhh!”
Raphtalia sliced through the crowd of monstrous homunculi. And whenever Kizuna or Glass left an opening for follow-up attacks, Yomogi rushed in to take advantage.
 
I was impressed by their coordination.
“You idiots all have to work together, huh? Cause you’re too weak to do anything on your own!”
“You like to pick fights because you have no friends to work together with.”
“Shut your mouth!”
“You first! If I hurt your feelings, why not call for some of your monster women?”
We were like children fighting. Oh well, that’s the sort of thing that happened in fights like these. Then again, we were fighting for our lives— this wasn’t playground fisticuffs.
“Oh that’s right. You didn’t want to bring the women over because you were afraid they’d turn on you once they figured out what you were really like. Just like Yomogi.”
“Shut up!”
Still, I was glad the women weren ’t here. They would just make more trouble and more casualties—both of which I’d rather avoid.
We had a lot to worry about. If the enemy ’s numbers were too large, and if they acted with a lot of coordination, they might be able to attack in ways we wouldn’t be able to handle. Then again, the women might figure things out and turn on Kyo mid-battle, which is probably why he didn’t involve them in this.

Maybe they just weren ’t powerful enough to be much use to him— though with those crazy weapons, they might have been a threat.

Maybe he was trying to keep them from getting hurt, and he was really a feminist like Motoyasu.
Doubtful, considering that he called them used goods just because they ’d been with someone else. I guess he only cared about his own women.
“Okay, so how about I show you some of those same attacks you saw back in the Spirit Tortoise’s core chamber? Or, actually, a lot has happened since then, so I’ll have some new variations to show off. Let’s see how long you can survive!”
“Survive? Ha! How stupid are you? Did you forget that we already beat you once ?! ”
Kyo opened his book and began to cast a spell. A mandala-like pattern appeared on the ground around him.
Suddenly, I felt an enormous, invisible pressure, forcing us to the ground.
I ’d seen this before, the last time we fought Kyo—his obstruction attack.
“You don’t have many ways to get around this, do you ?! ”
He was right about that. Having crossed between worlds, we were a little weaker than the last time. Enduring this gravity attack took all the strength I had. I don ’t think the Demon Dragon Shield was powerful enough.
“That same attack, again? We were weak when we met in the last world, but you know that we are back at full power now, right?”

“It’s a little heavy, but not near enough to stop me from moving. Did you really think that would be enough to stop us?” Kizuna said.

Glass and Kizuna kept approaching Kyo, attacking whatever was in their way. Of course, Kizuna was just supporting attacks.
When they got near a homunculus, she ’d hit it with Double Lure Hook. Then Glass would slice the monster in two.
I was impressed. Kyo ’s spell really didn’t seem to affect them the way that it had back in the battle inside the Spirit Tortoise. It had been devastating then, but I guess it was because Glass and the others were weakened after crossing over to our world.
Still, past victory didn ’t ensure that we would come out on top this time.
“I knew you’d say that!”
Liar! Did he think I wouldn ’t notice how surprised he looked?
The pattern on the floor around him grew larger and brighter.
Hm . . . I could feel the power in the room, like it was filling with the Spirit Tortoise’s energy.
“Ugh . . .”
I cast Shooting Star Shield, and the barrier broke immediately. The shattered pieces flew at Kyo, but they fell to the floor before reaching him.
Just how strong was this gravity field of his? Was it going to crush us to death?
Now Glass and Kizuna were forced to take a knee.
“Aha! This world’s heroes and vassal weapon holders, I’d forgotten all
about you. You’re all so weak, I can’t tell you apart.”
 
Everyone on our side of the battle was forced to the ground. We put both hands flat on the floor and were straining to climb to our feet.
“Ughhh!”
Even Filo fell from my shoulder and struggled to stand against the gravity field.
The homunculi didn ’t seem to have any trouble at all, which made me think Kyo was able to control who was affected by his spell. What could be worse?
“Ugh . . . I can’t move.”
Kyo turned to focus on Kizuna and Glass.
“Looks like this is going to be over even faster than I thought. Are you really going to lose right now ?! To my very first attack? Ha!”
If there was any time to cast a spell, this was it. I could use a skill or two during the incantation.
“Air Strike, Second, Dritte Shield!”
I quickly called for shields to materialize and protect us from the wild attacks of the homunculi, Albert, and Trash #2.
Under the weight of the gravity attack, they weren ’t going to stay in place for very long. Their defense was higher than Shooting Star Shield’s barrier, so they were holding—at least for a little while.
“Your struggles are worthless!”
“You sure about that? Change Shield!”
The shields were already taking a battering, so there was only one thing left for me to do. I ’d change them to the shield I had equipped—the Demon Dragon Shield. It had an equip effect called C Demon Bullet.
 
C was short for “counter attack,” so I assumed it meant that the shield would fire a magical bullet whenever it was attacked.
The shields instantly transformed, were hit by attacks, and began to fire magical demon bullets at the enemy.
“?! ”
The bullets were made of magic, so the gravity field didn ’t affect them.
They flew in every direction, slamming into the enemies and into the mandala pattern on the ground.
The mandala flickered, and it s effect on the gravity field in the room weakened—that was our chance!
“Heh, I’m impressed. I’ll have to make a note of that one.”
“Don’t get too haughty! Chain Shield!”
Chains shot from the shield, linking all the shields together. Then they spun around the room, entangling Trash #2 and the homunculi.
“Now!”
“Yes!”
Raphtalia drew her charged katana, activating the haikuikku state and using it for a skill.
“Double Lure Hook !”
Kizuna didn ’t let the opportunity slip by—she hit the enemy with Double Lure Hook, which would double the damage from the next attack.
“Nice work, Kiddo! Let’s go, Therese!”
“Yes!”
 
Lightning struck his scythe again.
“Combo Skill! Electric Disc!”
L ’Arc and Therese teamed up and used a combo skill to follow Kizuna’s attack.
The disk shot over the battlefield, and Raphtalia dashed to follow it. Just before the disk collided with the enemy, she shouted a skill name.
“Instant Blade! Mist!”
It was Raphtalia's most powerful attack, the same one that had killed Trash #2 the first time.
L ’Arc’s electric flying disk crackled with energy—it was their strongest combo skill.
“Gahhh!”
Trash #2 and the homunculi were sliced to pieces and electrocuted at the same time.
Had they just been cut apart they might have been able to regenerate, but with the electricity, it should be enough to end it.
“That’s not all! Ruby Flame!”
Rushing to finish the job, Therese summoned burning balls of magic flame from the accessory I made her and sent them careening into the monster corpses.
“Naofumi! Protect the others!”
“I know! Shooting Star Shield!”
Just as the barrier appeared to envelop us, Glass slapped open her fan and began to dance. She was holding Kizuna ’s hand—they were dancing together.
 
“Circle Dance Zero Formation: Reverse Snow Moon Flower!”
A breeze lifted cherry blossoms and blew them at the enemy. Therese ’s magic set them ablaze. They burned and sliced up the fallen enemies.
Snow Moon Flower was an area of effect attack, but she could keep it from hurting her allies by holding hands with them.
After all the attacks cleared, there was no trace of the enemies they ’d hit.
“Not bad,” Kyo muttered.
Kyo remained, along with his neo-guardians and Albert, the man with the mirror of the vassal weapons. Everyone else was gone.
Glass was facing Albert, ready to take him on . She could probably handle him on her own. Kizuna couldn’t attack humans anyway, so she was stuck supporting Glass for now.
“Looks like we took care of your little experimental homunculi army, eh? What are you going to do now?”
“Experimental? Ha! I didn’t make these things. I suppose I made some improvements to them, but you just killed the person who made them.”
He must have stolen them from Trash #2.
“He was doing his own research, you know. The things that I make are far more impressive.”
“I bet,” I sighed. I didn’t want meet any more inventions.
But isn ’t it strange that all three of them were researching homunculus?
What was going on? There were too many coincidences.
 
“You must be proud of yourself for surviving my gravity attack, ha! You are so clueless—you’ll see!”
“Kyo! Give it up! You’re finished!” Yomogi shouted.
“Shut up! I’ll kill you along with the others! My research is nearly complete—and you’re all getting in the way!” Kyo snapped, stepping forward and raising his book.
How were we supposed to fight Kyo if he commanded all the Spirit Tortoise ’s energy?
We were weaker than the last time we fought Kyo, but on the other hand, Glass and L ’Arc were stronger. We had a chance. We could do it.
“I’ll make it quick and finish you all off at once. Behold my skills!”
Pages flew from his book and filled the room, fluttering and flapping around our heads before they turned into shining sheets of energy itself.
“You losers can’t cast combo skills without the cooperation of your allies? Pathetic!”
This guy couldn ’t say anything without turning it into some kind of boast.
I was really getting tired of him.
Trash #2 had been the same way. These people were enough to drive me crazy.
“Behold!” Kyo shouted, pointing a finger at Kizuna. “Flame Formation: Magic Explosion!”

Kizuna quickly dropped to a defensive posture. A split second later, I realized why.
 
Flames appeared around Kizuna and . . . no—the flames were pouring out of her.
“Arrghh! My magic !? ” Kizuna shouted. She was on her knees, staring at her hands. She looked like she was about to collapse. Glass ran over to support her, lifting her to her feet.
“It’s shaving away my soul power, too ?! ”
“Ahahaha! This is my first time using it on a holy hero, but I’m impressed with how well it works!”
I was about to cast a healing spell on Kizuna when Kyo pointed his finger at me and howled, “Don’t bother with that! Rot Formation: Magic Explosion!”
“Ugh . . . ah . . .”
Spiraling wind whipped up all around me, dark and thick with magic power. I could feel it draining my magic away.
But . . . But that was all it did.
“Damn. You’re the type with no offensive magic to begin with. You’re an irritating little bastard!”
“Yeah . . .” I moaned. I took a bottle of magic water out of my shield and drank it, then immediately cast Zweite Heal on Kizuna to heal her wounds.
I had given Kizuna a bottle of magic water before the battle, and she drank it, realizing it would replenish what she ’d lost to Kyo’s attack.
“Ah, I see. Your skill steals the opponent’s magic power, then uses it to produce a spell that hurts its owner,” I announced. It was clever—and hard to counter. The stronger your magic power, the more the skill would hurt you.
 
It had a weakness though. It wouldn ’t work very well on people without offensive magic to begin with. That was why it didn’t actually hurt me at all.
“What do you think? There’s more where that came from! Let’s see what it does to that foolish spirit who’s been sipping soul-healing water!”
“Glass!”
Kizuna ran to protect Glass.
“Kizuna! Ahhhhh!”
Kizuna was caught right in the path of the attack. She was sliced all over her body. She took heavy damage. Worse than that was she hadn ’t been able to protect Glass from the full brunt of the attack, and Glass took damage too. The attack must have had an effect over an area.
Luckily, Glass didn ’t take so much damage that she was knocked out of the fight, but that attack of Kyo’s was going to become a problem if we didn’t figure out how to deal with it.
It appeared to have a very short cool down time. If he used it in quick succession on us, we ’d end up taking a lot of damage.
It was close cousins with the defense rating attacks I ’d dealt with before. Only that this was for magic.
“Think we’ll just sit back and take this? Ha! Kiddo, let’s do this!”
“Wait, L’Arc! He’s already hit us with magic power and SP attacks! He could have . . .”
“Strength Form Explosion!”
Magic blades of light burst from L ’Arc and spun around him, slashing at him ruthlessly. Knicks and cuts and gashes appeared all over his body.
 
Blood spurt from his wounds.
“Gahhhhhh!”
“L . . .L’Arc!”
“I’m alright! Ain’t nothing I can’t handle—ARGH!” he shouted, swinging his scythe.
The tip swished by Kyo ’s face, missing him by a hair.
“Oh look at you! Not good enough!” Kyo jumped back and sent a stream of pages flying at L’Arc. They slammed into him and sent him soaring backwards, but Therese ran over and caught him before he fell to the ground.
“Whooeee—The Spirit Tortoise energy is great stuff. I can do anything with it! I can use your own strengths against you!”
All he had to do was point at us.
And based on how quickly he ’d been using it, it must not have needed much from him.
The very strengths we needed to beat him powered his attack. He could use them against us!
Luckily, the attack didn ’t seem fatal—yet.
It s attack power must have been based on some kind of calculation that was different from simply taking the target’s attack power as is.
The sort of person that would be most affected by an attack like this would have a special attack power that ignored defense all together. There was no one in our party like that.
I was probably the closest, actually.
 
The worst part was that Kyo ’s attack actually used whatever trait it was targeting. Not only would the target take damage, but it would also lose the ability of whatever trait had been targeted. It was a really bad combination for us.
If he hit me with it and took advantage of my defense rating, it would leave me unable to defend for a while.
“That’s enough experimenting for now. ” he said. Pages from his book curled up and turned towards us.
He wasn ’t going to send out all those attacks at once, was he?
“Take this!”
I felt an impact jolt through my stomach, followed by a sharp pain that ran through my insides. I heard myself moan in pain. I could hardly stay on my feet. I quickly checked my stats.
It was as I feared. I ’d taken heavy damage. But worse than that, I was left without any defense.
The Shooting Star Shield barrier had absorbed a lot of the direct damage from the attack. Had it not been there, I might have been killed. But, considering my defense rating, the barrier shouldn ’t have been enough to keep me alive. The damage must have been calculated some other way, or I must have been blocking it with some other ability . . . like maybe something I’d gained through support magic, or one of my equipment’s effects.
It wasn ’t an attack that any of us could use, so it was difficult to pin down exactly how it worked. My guess was that the skill was really intended as a debuff , and this attack ability was some kind of side effect.
 
“Ouch! Owwie!”
Filo and Raphtalia had taken heavy damage. Filo was rolling on the ground in pain.
I ’d been able to protect Raph-chan, so she was okay.
There was only one person who managed to stay on her feet. Someone who se stats were so low to begin with that Kyo’s attack hadn’t managed to do anything to them .
The better your stats were the more damage the attack did. But, it wasn ’t able to deal any fatal damage, and that was its weakness. But it had another weakness—it was no good against people with low stats, against someone whose true power wasn’t reflected in the numbers.
“Ri . . . shia . . .”
Rishia didn ’t look like she’d been hurt at all.
Judging from that, the attack must have only worked on base stats, which are raised or lowered to hurt the target.
It didn ’t work on support effects, or on other, more specialized types of power.
At first glance, it looked like it was invincible, but it had weaknesses— and now we knew them.
As for the weapons, I hadn ’t figured out what it did to them. It was a bit different from the defense rating and defense ignoring attacks that Glass ad L’Arc used. Glass’s stats went up when her energy increased, which is why Kyo’s attack might have been able to kill her. Kizuna had been there to take the brunt of the attack.
 
Rishia stepped out ahead of Raphtalia, Filo, and I, and glared at Kyo. She was going to protect us.
“You! How can you still be on your feet?”
“Because your attacks are worthless against me.”
“I guess that means you’re the weakest of the bunch! Ha!” Kyo burst out laughing while Albert raised his mirror, preparing to finish her with a final attack.
And the only person that was left to stand against them was . . . Rishia?
“Does it feel that good? Paralyzing your enemies so you can laugh at them? Does that make you feel powerful?” Rishia barked, glaring at Kyo. She drew her sword and leveled it at him. She moved so easily it was like she was completely unaffected by the gravitational field.
“Exploiting the enemy’s weakness and making the kill, it’s sort of the first rule of battle. Don’t you know that much?”
“That is not a battle. That is called trampling on the weak.”
“God, you’re insufferable! Die already!”
Pages shot from his book and folded themselves into the shape of a flaming bird.
“Do not think you can take our lives so easily.”
Moving like a ninja, Rishia dashed left and right, slashing through the flying birds of flame with her short sword. The birds fell to pieces and fluttered to the ground.
“What the hell? You’re really getting on my nerves!”
Yes! It was like this was the very moment that Rishia had been waiting for—the role she’d been born to play. She’d been relegated to assisting the rest of us for so long, but now she was the best fighter in the party.
 
“You’re so annoying! I can’t stand it! Barking on about justice, you’re just as bad as Yomogi!” Kyo shouted like a spoiled child.
Ha! What a brat!
I climbed to my feet and cast a healing spell.
“I’m not mature yet. I can’t do all that I should, and I always need help. But . . . but I . . .”
She griped the hilt of her short sword and held it out in front of her. She was moving exactly how Eclair did when she used her skills.
She hadn ’t studied and she hadn’t trained extensively. She was just trying to copy what she’d seen.
“If there’s such a thing as destiny, then I believe it is mine to put a stop to your ambitions!” she yelled, rushing forward, the top of her blade glinting in the light.
I cast a support skill just in time to help her.
Then I saw that Kizuna had the same idea, and her skill landed at the same time as mine.
“Attack Support!”
“Double Lure Hook !”
The skills flew at Kyo, they would connect just before her blade hit him. I hoped that my skill hit before the Double Lure Hook skill . If it didn’t, Rishia’s attack would only be strong enough to annoy him.
“Ugh!”
 
Kyo quickly grabbed Albert and shoved him between himself and Rishia ’s blade.
My skill hit him, followed by Kizuna ’s Double Lure Hook. Finally Rishia’s thrust followed, and her blade slammed into Albert’s mirror.
I felt the force of the impact from across the room.
The vassal weapons, like the holy weapons, were impossible to destroy. If he used the mirror like a shield, he ’d probably be able to fend off her attack. But if her attack was strong enough, it would pierce right through the mirror itself and impale Albert.
Glass had don e that once to me, when she used Moon Break after drinking soul-healing water.
“Ugh . . . ga . . . gagagaga . . .”
Her blade stabbed through his mirror and slipped deep into his chest.
“Ah . . .”
Rishia was stunned at the sight of blood, and stepped back a few feet, speechless.
Blood sprayed from Albert ’s chest, splattering both Rishia and Kyo.
Albert ’s eyes rolled back in his head, and he collapsed.
A glowing ball of light rose from his corpse and then slowly circled the room. Then it looked as though something split off from it before the ball of light floated through the wall and left the building.
Was that . . . was that the mirror vassal weapon?
 
It was like it checked to make sure that the person who held it was really dead before it left for good.
 
“Unbelievable! I’m supposed to believe that this weak little girl just killed a holder of a vassal weapon ?! ” Kyo snapped, glaring at Rishia. He shot a glance over at Kizuna and me.
I wonder if the Support Attack skill I used was . . .
“It looks like you can use a skill just like Double Lure Hook, Naofumi,” Kizuna said.
“I guess so. And if we can use both of those skills, then we can do some serious damage.”
That ’s right. If it worked the way it seemed, then we could use two multiplying skills at the same time, essentially quadrupling the amount of damage we could do. Pretty damn impressive.
When Rishia was in this awakened state, her attacks were pretty strong to begin with.
“Rishia, I know there are still these neo-guardians around, but focus your attacks on Kyo.”
Kizuna and I waited for the cool down time on our multiplying skills to run out, then prepared to use them again.
Kyo was speechless, like he truly couldn ’t believe what he’d just seen. He glared at us with bloodshot eyes. He looked furious.
Oh man , I’d been waiting so long to see that look on his face! Ha!
“This isn’t over! Not yet! You’ll see what I have up my sleeve!”
Again, pages flew from his book and filled the room. The mandala appeared on the floor around him again, and the gravity in the room began to grow stronger and stronger.
 
But Kyo was breathing heavily, and it showed. He was trying really hard. Things weren ’t so easy for him anymore.
I became aware of energy flowing around the room. He was gathering more and more Spirit Tortoise energy around himself.
But a lot of the energy flowed into my shield. An icon appeared in my field of view.
“Sorry to say it, but I don’t think that’s going to work,” I shouted at Kyo.
I held my hand against my shield and imagined the shield I wanted to switch to.
I hadn ’t met the conditions to unlock it, but I had to believe that it had been waiting for this exact time to reappear.
Kyo was glaring at me—staring at the shield in my hands.
He ’s seen it before. That’s right—it was the very same shield I’d used to defeat him in the last world!
The Spirit Tortoise Heart Shield.
It was the shield I ’d received from the same being he tortured and controlled, the being whose energy he stole—The Spirit Tortoise. Ost.
Let ’s see if he recognizes it—the real difference in our power!

Spirit Tortoise Heart Shield (awakened) 80/80 AT abilities unlocked : equip bonus: dragon vein protection equip effect: gravity field, C soul recovery, C magic snatch, C gravity shot, life force up, magic defense (large), lighting resistance, SP drain nullification, magic support, spell support. special effect: 20%; mastery level 100

Any trace of exhaustion I ’d had disappeared in an instant.
“Looks like changing weapons will take care of Kyo’s status nullification attack.”
“Ahhh. That’s really good to hear,” Kizuna nodded, pleased with my new discovery. She switched to a new weapon.
If we kept on top of the healing magic, we ’d be able to avoid losing the battle due to that.
But there was a bigger problem.
It didn ’t look like I could use Energy Blast. Twenty percent was not a very big number.
I wasn ’t sure what I needed to do to raise that number, but it seemed pretty clear that I couldn’t use the attack if it was only twenty percent charged.
But there was yet another, bigger problem.
I was concerned about the gravity field listed under its equip effects.
When I focused, I could see a gravity icon in my field of view. It indicated that the current gravity level was very high. I thought hard about lowering the level, and suddenly, all the people that had lost the ability to move climbed to their feet.
“I feel so light!”
“What’s going on? Did you do this, Kiddo?”
 
“Yeah. Looks like I can control gravity with this shield.”
“Wow! That’s pretty convenient!”
It was. That would take care of one of Kyo ’s most irritating attacks— the one he’d clearly stolen from the Spirit Tortoise.
“See? What do you think? You better keep on generating that gravity field if you want to keep us down.”
“You fool! Don’t condescend to me!” Kyo screamed, his eyes burning with rage. “How long do I have to entertain you weaklings ?! ”
“Oh, calm down. You’re like a little kid that screams when they don’t get their way.”
He was happy as a clam when everything went according to plan—when he had control over everyone. Otherwise, he threw a temper tantrum. How old was this guy?
Kyo tried to use his ability stat-based skill again. But I found that it was relatively easy to dodge. A quickly deployed Air Strike Shield was all it took to block it.
I ’d found a way to deal with both of his worst attacks, so unless he came up with something more impressive, it looked like victory was becoming more and more likely.
I didn ’t want to overplay my hand here, but I felt like it was time for a taunt or two. “Alright then, do you want to hear about all the ways I’m going to make you pay for your misdeeds?”

I used Attack Support to summon the little dart into my hand, and turned to face Kyo.
 
“Kizuna and I will hit you with these attack multipliers. Once we confirm that they’ve both hit you, the rest is easy. It doesn’t matter who actually delivers the attack—whoever hits you next and . . . boom! That’s it. Maybe it will be Glass or L’Arc. That would be ideal. They could use a stat-based attack just like you!”
For example, we could deal enough damage that he ’d need to use a lot of magic to heal it, but then, we could make it so that the magic itself would kill him.
“It’s really kind of elegant, the way it punishes you for accumulating all this power.”
“You . . . you bastard!”
“Kyo! If you surrender . . .”
It was Yomogi. What was she going on about now? I didn ’t want him to surrender!
Did she think I ’d let him live if he did? If that’s what she thought, I’d have Kizuna remove her from the battle all together.
“I’ll make your death easy.”
I nearly fell over. I liked where she went with it, but she really was like a wild boar.
Comparing her with Glass and Tsugumi, she really stood out—she was different from the rest.
Kyo went on trying to hit Rishia with his special ability and stat-based attack, but it wasn ’t going well.

Pages from his book flew at her, but she was slicing them all out of the air before they could connect with her , even when they approached from behind.

It was like she ’d gained abilities specifically for destroying Kyo.
Her abilities and his weaknesses fit together so perfectly that it was hard to not see an element of fate in it.
“You think you’re so special! You’re nothing but a pissant!”
“Then you’re getting your ass kicked by a pissant!” I shouted.
Kyo stamped his feet in in anger, “Silence! I’ll kill you! How dare you talk back to me like that! ”
This whole time I ’d thought that he had grown extremely powerful because of the Spirit Tortoise’s energy, but maybe the strength he’d had last time was a temporary thing. Still, I couldn’t help but feel like he was still holding back.
“I’m not finished with you yet!” he shrieked, grabbing a strange, creepy looking object from where it hung at his waist. It looked like a bookmark. The moment his fingers touched it, he smiled.
“You’re so proud of yourself because you found a little accessory that made you stronger. That’s not real strength! I’ll show you what real power is!”
He stuck the bookmark into the book of the vassal weapons. The second it slipped between the pages, I felt a great weight fall over the battlefield.
Damn it . I should be able to control the gravity field with the Spirit Tortoise Heart Shield, but . . .
 
“Not so fast!” Kyo barked, and hundreds of book pages plastered themselves all over the surface of my shield.

That ’s all that happened, but immediately a floating “X” appeared over the gravity field adjustment icon. He locked it !?
Worse yet, I could feel the pages draining energy out of the shield.
Damn it! At this rate I was going to be forced to switch to another shield.
“Eat this!”
“Feh! Not so fast!” Rishia shouted. Her movement was clearly slowed by the increased gravity field. Kyo dodged her attacks and the followed up with a barrage of fluttering book pages that sent her flying.
“Dammit! This creep has so many tricks up his sleeve!”
He seemed to have an endless variety of ways to defend himself .
“Ahaha! Weren’t you going to hit me with your little multiplier skill? I’m over here!” Kyo laughed.
I wanted to throw the attack support dart at him, but I couldn ’t even raise my arm.
“Well, you heroes with your holy weapons, and you creeps with your vassal weapons, have been a bit more trouble than I expected. Time to take care of that!” Kyo laughed, pulling another bookmark from his pocket and thrusting it into his book. “I thought something like this might happen, so it’s a good thing I went ahead and messed with your dragon hourglass in advance.”
“What are you talking about ?! ”

He had already done something to the dragon hourglass? How could that be?
“I wasn’t able to destroy the dragon vein defense barrier, but the effect works outside of this building. How did you think I was able to see what was going on over there?”
He was watching through the dragon hourglass? How many secret technologies did he have ?!
“Unfortunately when I use it, you’ll all get a bit of a power boost too. But if I don’t use it, I can’t steal your power—so I guess I have no choice!”
What was he blathering on about? What was going on?
A liquid-filled tank rose up from the floor behind Kyo.
What was it? What was he doing?
His lips moved quickly, he was whispering some kind of incantation to himself.
What was happening? I had a really bad feeling about this.
The incantation itself was very short. He reached out and brushed the tank with his fingertips, and in response the liquid in the tank swirled and vanished, as if he were absorbing it.
Was it magic water? Or could it be . . . soul-healing water?
It looked like the skill was pretty expensive.
 
 
“Different world, different reason. Shatter the barrier walls, and summon the great phenomenon!”
“Waves of Destruction! Dimension Wave!”
Crash!
Immediately after Kyo finished the incantation a terrible sound rang out.
“Wh . . . A skill that causes dimension waves ?! What ?! ”
“How could . . .”
“It can’t be! What are you thinking ?! ”
“Kyo! You’re the one behind the . . .”
Before she could finish shouting in surprise, Kizuna and the others vanished from the room.

 





COMMENTS

No Comments Yet

Post a new comment

Register or Login