Episode 88: Rage
“Sharka, I’ll handle the Hoshiros guys, so don’t interfere.”
My grandfather appeared right next to me without any warning.
It was as if he had suddenly emerged from subspace.
My grandfather spoke with the face of a predator who had found its prey.
“Understood.”
To be honest, it’s reassuring to have Grandfather here.
“I have no interest in the others, so I’ll leave them to you.”
The fact that he’s entrusting this place to me means that Grandfather knows about my power.
Perhaps Father shared it with him.
“Huh, thank you? But please be careful. It seems like they’re planning something…”
(…but he’s already gone.)
How impatient can he be, Grandfather?
The sounds of clashing swords and explosions began soon after that.
(I probably don’t need to worry too much about Grandfather.)
It’s not good that Father-sama and Roa have been separated.
If it turns into a free-for-all, it will turn into ground zero for flying attack magic, and the risk of being ambushed will increase.
(Roa, stay.)
I signal Roa to stay put.
Roa nodded with a tense expression.
With this, Roa should act together with Father.
Now, I need to gather the hate on myself.
“As planned, go.”
“Yes!”
One of the three Stella-Class, a man named Leoriel, orders a Stella-Class clad in black.
I wondered what was going according to plan, but the one in black headed towards Roa and the others.
(Tch, they split up. I was going to crush them all at once.)
In front of me are two Stella-Class.
A lanky man with orange hair called Leoriel, and a man with black-purple hair called Corvus.
“You guys are Heroes, right?”
“…Huh?”
I call out to the orange-haired man named Leoriel.
What a bad-mannered brat-like reaction.
“Only Heroes would be reckless enough to launch a terrorist attack in a place where the country’s leaders gather.”
“Shut up… Sharka de Ortenos, are you the one who killed Aquila and Lynx?”
Leoriel ignores my question and asks me instead.
And then he mentioned names I’ve heard before.
Just asking about those names is as good as saying that they are Heroes from the Alliance.
(Aren’t they being too careless? …They have the air of fake elites.)
For now, I’ll play dumb.
“Who knows, I don’t know those guys.”
“Don’t play dumb, we have proof that you did it. Besides, there are suspicions that you are a Demonbane Warrior, is that true?”
There’s no doubt that the Hero Alliance and Hoshiros are connected.
(If that’s the case, Alberto is probably involved too.)
Luna doesn’t seem to be related.
Nicholas… I should be wary of him, just in case.
“I don’t know. If you guys are Heroes, I’ve been told to cut you down. Let’s get started.”
“Tch, you’re an irritating brat… I hate being looked down on by younger people more than anything…!”
Leoriel cursed and scratched his head vigorously.
“Calm down, Leoriel, don’t forget our priorities.”
“…Ah, that’s right, Corvus. It’s your job, get it done quickly.”
The other man with black-purple hair admonishes Leoriel.
Is this guy the brains or something?
“Kukuku, understood.”
Corvus refines his Magical Power.
I was wary, thinking he was going to cast a spell, but that’s not it.
…It’s a strange flow of Magical Power.
Magical Power is traveling through the air around Corvus…
“Kyaa!”
Suddenly, a girl’s scream rises.
Looking to the side, Luna was suspended in the air as if restrained by something invisible.
“W-What is this… Ugh, I can’t move.”
The suspended Luna had cuts in her clothes, and pieces of cloth began to fall, revealing her in a scandalous state.
From below, you could completely see the white, high-quality underwear inside her red miniskirt.
Cuts appeared on Luna’s Stella-Class body, and blood oozed out.
(Cuts… Could it be a Star Tool?)
In the midst of my hesitation, a single solution came to mind regarding this phenomenon.
But before I could move, Nicholas moved.
“You bastard! Let Luna down!”
Nicholas was enraged, and the color of his hair began to shine emerald green.
The same Wind Magic color as Barbat’s.
Nicholas unleashed a powerful Wind Magic.
It didn’t have the sharpness of Barbat’s magic, but it had enough firepower to deal damage.
However, it scraped the ground on a large scale and directly hit Corvus… but it didn’t.
The magic seemed to hit an invisible wall right before hitting Corvus and dissipated like mist.
“W-What, my Wind Magic isn’t working?!”
“Nicholas, his Star Tool is probably ‘Thread’. He’s using ‘Hardening’ and ‘Invisibility’ to make it float in the air or make it look like an invisible wall.”
I explain my thoughts to Nicholas.
I doubt that Nicholas is siding with the Alliance at this point.
“Correct, I am Corvus of the ‘Thousand Thread Severance’, the eighth seat of the Thirteen Stars of the Alliance, who has buried many nobles with this ‘Thread’. We will kill you nobles and rewrite our rankings to obtain the higher seats.”
As expected, I hit the jackpot.
Thread is quite a unique weapon to use.
Aquila was the same, but do all the members of the Alliance have this kind of special skill?
(Even so, Thread, huh… I want it.)
“…What thread?! Then I’ll take him down in close combat!”
Nicholas rushes out, clad in Body Enhancement Magic.
…Why would he make that decision?
If he knows that magic doesn’t work, now he’s using Body Enhancement Magic?
Nicholas seems to have a significantly reduced intellect because he’s enraged.
Leoriel, another Hero, stood in Nicholas’s way.
“I have no business with you! Get out of the way!”
Nicholas fires Wind Magic in rapid succession.
Leoriel drew the long sword he wore at his waist and slashed.
That strike cut through the Wind Magic and sliced Nicholas from the front.
“Gah!”
Nicholas fell, bleeding profusely.
This is bad, that’s a fatal wound.
“Brother!”
Luna’s sorrowful scream echoed.
“Seventh seat of the Thirteen Stars of the Alliance, Leoriel the ‘Swordsman’. There’s no way that nobles like you, who have lived carefree lives without any hardship, can match my sword.”
Leoriel said that and shook off the blood.
“Ugh, Brother…”
Luna sheds tears while being suspended in the air.
Poor Luna.
She seemed to be genuinely worried about Luna, and unlike Barbat, he was a good brother.
“For our plan, Princess Luna of Naia will have to leave the stage here.”
Corvus holds out his right hand and moves his fingers.
(Luna is the target, well, of course I’ll stop it.)
I made a pistol shape with my fingers and shot an ‘Intimidation Orb’ at Corvus with pinpoint accuracy.
Then Corvus’s Magical Power was disrupted, and the Thread lost its power.
“What?! Huh? What’s going on? All the Magical Power paths have been severed?”
Corvus reached the depths of confusion with just that.
I caught Luna, who had fallen, and held her in my arms like a princess.
And then I cast Healing Magic on her.
“Aah…!”
Luna made a sensual sound.
I could feel the sensation of Luna’s plump thighs in my hands.
What a texture.
She’s fleshy, but not fat.
The overflowing life energy of her growth period dwells in this flesh pressure.
(Huh? What is this?)
When I touched near the base of her thigh, something stuck to my hand.
–Liquid.
It felt a little sticky, and for some reason, I was drawn to it.
(Hah… I’m in the middle of a battle. Concentrate, concentrate.)
I suppressed my curiosity and put Luna down on the ground.
“Lord Sharka… My brother… My brother!”
Luna is distraught after her brother was cut down.
“Luna, I will definitely save your brother. So please wait for me.”
“Ugh… Lord Sharka, please… please…”
…I can’t let Nicholas die now.
I want to show her that she can rely on me.
“Impossible, impossible, impossible! Unbelievable…! There’s no way a noble could interfere with my Magical Power…!”
Corvus scratches his black-purple hair.
His eyes are hollow and unfocused.
Like Aquila, is he the type who was quite confident in his special skill?
(Even so, remote control of Thread, huh…)
Suddenly, an idea comes to mind.
“…Should I try it?”
I grabbed the Thread that Corvus was manipulating and used “Puppet Magic”.
Then Corvus’s Thread wriggled freely.
“Wh-What…!”
Corvus was speechless with shock.
The shock of having his specialty nullified and then stolen.
“As expected, Star Tool get.”
It seems Corvus was indeed manipulating the Threads using Puppet Magic.
I’m glad I practiced Puppet Magic diligently every day since defeating Aquila.
I immediately wiggled the Threads and bound Corvus.
“Guh… what do you think you’re doing?”
“Just what you were trying to do to Luna.”
“N-No… stop it, stooooop!”
I linked my finger movements with the Threads and clenched my right hand.
“Gyaaaaaaaaah!”
The Threads tightened, tearing Corvus’s body to pieces.
Corvus’s death throes echoed.
“Alright, one down for now.”
I muttered to myself and turned my gaze to the next one, Leoriel.
Leoriel, without sadness or anger, looked down at Corvus’s corpse with a sneer.
“…To be killed by one’s own trap, how pathetic, Corvus. That’s why you shouldn’t just focus on magic…”
“…”
Leoriel muttered merciless words about the death of his comrade.
“…In the end, what matters is your own body and martial skill.”
“True.”
I completely agree with that.
In the end, it’s all about your own self.
I think I’m the one who should be saying that, since I didn’t have a Star Tool until just now, but I’ll keep quiet.
“The Magical Power of Body Enhancement honed to the limit leads to ‘Fighting Spirit’! The essence of martial arts that even upper-ranked Stella-Class can barely handle, I’ll show it to you!”
Leoriel’s Body Enhancement Magic aura, which had been rising redly, changed to a white, circulating aura.
(What is that…?)
Leoriel kicked off the ground with otherworldly speed, closing the distance in an instant.
(Fast!)
A speed that far surpasses even Stella-Class Body Enhancement.
It rivals Roa’s top speed, and even my grandfather.
“Die.”
Leoriel swung his longsword at me.
Horizontal slash, upward slash, downward strike.
He bewildered me with a variety of sword techniques, but I barely dodged them all.
As I gradually started to see them, I noticed that the sword had an ominous color.
“This is… poison?”
“Hehehe, you guessed it. Demon Beast Poison. Just one graze and you’re on your way to the afterlife.”
That’s bad. Does that mean Nicholas has been poisoned?
This makes it even more important to not prolong this.
“You dodge well, but my sword will only get faster!”
Leoriel swung his sword with gusto.
Certainly, having a Hero with this much power is a threat to the nobles.
An ordinary noble would never win in a one-on-one fight.
Wasn’t he ranked seventh?
Does that mean there are still six above him? Heroes really can’t be underestimated.
However—even so, it’s far from my level.
“Haha, just dodging? It seems you’re completely helpless.”
“…No, I’ve already grasped your range.”
“Huh?”
I stepped into the gap in his swordsmanship—and swung my fist with all my might.
◇◇◇◇
“Huh?”
Leoriel’s thoughts stopped.
The moment he swung his sword horizontally, Sharka slipped into his space in an instant, without giving him a chance to counter.
There shouldn’t have been an opening.
If there was one, it would have been a hundredth of a second—a mere gap.
(Impossible impossible impossible! What is this guy!)
He could see Sharka’s fist slowly approaching.
(I see, is this my life flashing before my eyes?)
Even when sparring with upper-ranked Stella, he had never felt such a difference in ability.
Leoriel’s skill was probably higher than Sharka’s.
But even Leoriel, in a state of Fighting Spirit, couldn’t match Sharka in terms of reflexes and physical performance.
So why did this happen?
Because Sharka had more Magical Power.
That was the rule of this world, a clear and most cruel conclusion.
(…No doubt, this guy is a Demonbane Warrior.)
But knowing that didn’t mean anything.
The fist unleashed by the cold, golden-eyed boy in front of him, devoid of all mercy, would crush everything and bring about an overwhelmingly certain death.
(…No, I refuse to die!)
Why should I, who is superior in skill, be killed so miserably?
I absolutely refuse to die a pathetic death like Corvus!
Damn it, my body won’t move.
Can’t avoid a direct hit?
…Then I have no choice but to deflect it.
Move! Move! Move!
(My neck! Moveeeee!)
Did Leoriel’s last-ditch resistance succeed…?
Sharka’s fist struck Leoriel’s temple, easily breaking through the defense of Fighting Spirit and shattering the left half of his skull.
The eye socket boiled from the momentary intense pressure, and his left eye popped out.
A certain amount of destruction progressed with a cracking sound, but stopped midway.
The impact passed straight into the air.
“Bleharaaaaaaaah!”
Leoriel spun around and around, digging into the ground before stopping.
“…Oops, he barely managed to deflect it. I thought I had crushed his head for sure, he’s pretty good.”
Deflected?
Where?
The left half of my face is crushed.
My head isn’t working properly.
Leoriel emerged from the ground.
His appearance was like a zombie whose face had collapsed.
“Head… hurts.”
“Sorry for leaving you half-alive, I’ll send you to the afterlife now.”
Rage.
All that remained in Leoriel was rage.
“…Gonna kill gonna kill gonna kill! Gonna kill youuuuuuu!”
The eerie pattern of four arms drawn on Leoriel’s lower abdomen began to glow rapidly.
Explosive Magical Power overflowed, and a pillar of light rose from Leoriel.