“Surround him!”
“Those tentacles have range, too!”
“Attack!”
The spear-wielding warrior was defeated, and the remaining three warriors surrounded Nero.
Three Rank 4 warriors would be enough to fight a Rank 5 monster. However, if their opponent was an intelligent Phantasmal Beast, and a high-ranking Rank 5 at that, a moment of carelessness could mean instant death.
“Uwoooooooooh!!”
The heavy warrior raised his shield and shouted, drawing Nero’s attention. The moment Nero reacted, the two warriors, one with a longsword and the other with a one-handed axe, lunged simultaneously.
“Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!”
“Guh!!”
Nero’s tentacles reacted instantly, clashing with the one-handed axe. The warrior wielding the axe, seared by the electric shock, let out a groan.
“—[Stone Shot]—”
Before Nero could follow up, the heavy warrior unleashed a spell. Nero leaped to avoid the fired Stone Shot, and the waiting longsword warrior brought down a full-force strike.
Gakiiiin!!
A sound like striking metal echoed, and both Nero and the longsword warrior simultaneously distanced themselves.
“Grrrruu.”
A slight gash had appeared on Nero’s low-growling tentacles.
Nero’s fur, possessing [Slashing and Piercing Resistance], couldn’t be harmed by ordinary weapons. His tentacles, his weapons, had the strength of whips made from metallic fibers and could easily snap an iron sword that clashed against them.
As Nero glared at the warrior who had damaged his tentacles, which he had reinforced with magic, the longsword warrior, who had only managed to inflict a minor wound with his full-force blow, spat out, “Monster.”
“Aim for its eyes or belly!”
“In that case… [Fire Enchant]—!”
Flames erupted from the one-handed axe warrior, who used fire magic on his own axe and the longsword. Flames blazed up from the enchanted weapons.
This magic was originally used against monsters with high regeneration or Undead-type monsters. While it didn’t significantly increase attack power, they figured it would be effective if their weapons were being deflected by [Slashing and Piercing Resistance].
Seeing this, the heavy warrior also discarded his low-power short spear, drew a steel mace—his spare weapon—from his back, and cast [Rock Skin] on himself.
“Gaaaaah!!”
“Uwoooooooooooooooooh!!”
As Nero roared menacingly, the one-handed axe warrior slashed at him. Nero’s tentacles deflected the axe from the side without taking the hit directly, but the faint smell of singed fur spread.
From the side, the heavy warrior, shield still raised, charged into Nero. A heavy gong sound of impact echoed. Nero’s claws cracked the shield, but the heavy warrior, undaunted, slammed his mace into Nero and attempted to grapple and restrain his movements.
“Now!!”
“Taaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!”
As if waiting for that, the longsword warrior leaped forward, thrusting a blow wreathed in flames at Nero from the front.
Among them, the longsword warrior boasted the greatest attack power, and both the one-handed axe warrior and the heavy warrior had been moving from the start to create an opening for him to attack.
However, in that instant—
“Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!”
A wide-range electric shock was unleashed from Nero’s two tentacles. Nero’s electricity used the magic within his body and was emitted from his physical form itself. While its power decreased when used as a discharge, a Kua’arl’s electricity wasn’t originally meant for direct attacks.
“Wh-!?”
The flames vanished from the sword, and the longsword warrior groaned in astonishment.
Kua’arls emit something like electromagnetic waves to interfere with magic. Even if a spell had already been cast, if the caster’s mind was responsible for sustaining the magical composition, it was possible to disrupt it.
But why hadn’t Nero used it from the beginning?
The reason was to make them underestimate Nero, a beast-type, as a mere monster… and.
“—[Iron Break]—!”
“Gah!?”
Jesha’s two-handed axe, aiming for that momentary opening when the magic was dispelled, slashed from behind. The heavy warrior, his back split open along with his armor, collapsed in a spray of blood.
Nero hadn’t let his guard down, even against lower-ranked opponents. He had learned from that girl—who, despite being Rank 3, had fought him without fear—about the brilliance of life humans display in extreme situations.
Nero hadn’t been careless from the start; just like the three warriors, he had used himself as a decoy to create an opening for an attack.
“—[Dancing Reaper]—!!”
“Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
The next moment, Camille’s Battle Art was unleashed, tearing apart the one-handed axe warrior who had frozen in stunned silence.
Camille and the others hadn’t known Nero’s plan either. They simply exploited the carelessness of the warriors who had diverted their attention from Camille’s group, deeming them less of a threat than the Phantasmal Beast.
“Gaaaaah!!”
Simultaneously, Nero also tore the longsword warrior apart with his claws, finishing him off.
Seeing Nero drenched in blood amidst the bloody mist, Camille and Jesha’s faces stiffened with tension. Nero snorted again and turned his gaze towards Serejyura-san, who was still fighting.
“”Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!””
The long-separated sisters clashed blades in the depths of the Dungeon.
Even with Aisha-san’s swordsmanship, which boasted Rank 5 in close combat, she couldn’t catch Serejyura-san, who only had Rank 3 in close combat skills. Serejyura-san toyed with Aisha-san using acrobatic martial arts combined with magic and her specialized “Grotesque Chains.”
“Damn you!!”
Aisha-san used her shield to block the chain, which connected multiple hidden weapons with metal rings, and then struck the chain with a sharp blow like lightning, severing it. However, the severed part of the chain scattered, and the hidden weapons attacked Aisha-san as if they had been released.
“What!?”
Aisha-san immediately leaped back, defended with her shield, and deflected them with her sword. But by then, the “Grotesque Chains,” replenished with hidden weapons and restored to their original length, were swung by Serejyura-san, who was airborne with wind magic. Aisha-san was sent flying, along with the shield she had instinctively raised to block.
These were the techniques and weapons of the “War Oni,” feared by countless enemies and allies on the battlefield.
She would charge into enemy lines alone, and to continue fighting alone, she would discard chipped weapons, seize enemy weapons, pick up weapons from corpses, and connect them to wield as one with her techniques, thereby felling a thousand strong foes.
“…I didn’t intend to use these anymore, you know.”
After washing her hands of assassination and finally being able to live a quiet life, she had never used them, not even showing them to her beloved disciple, Aria-san.
The reason Serejyura-san became interested in Aria-san’s Pendulum and helped with its creation was because she felt a sense of empathy for Aria-san, who had arrived at similar methods through extreme battles.
There was only one reason she had taken up these weapons of slaughter again: she needed overwhelming power to “scold her younger sister as an older sister,” the sister she had once let go of.
“Lies, lies, lies! Chigau, chigau, chigau!! There’s no way I’d lose! How could I, who became strong for Nee-san’s sake, possibly loooooose!!”
Aisha-san, cornered by someone she refused to acknowledge as her beloved “older sister,” unleashed her Physical Enhancement to its fullest and swung her Magic Steel one-handed sword high.
“Disappeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeear! [Vorpal Blade]—!!”
The Level 5 one-handed sword Battle Art, [Vorpal Blade]’s five-hit combo, assaulted Serejyura-san.
Normally, [Battle Arts] are techniques where timing is crucial, as they can deliver high power but also create large openings.
Delivering the finishing blow. Ensuring a definite hit. It shouldn’t be used outside such situations, but even so, Aisha-san’s [Vorpal Blade], unleashed without fear of self-destruction and ignoring defense, had a large opening but its power surpassed that of a normal [Vorpal Blade].
If Serejyura-san, who could use wind magic, had chosen to, she could have propelled herself away and potentially escaped its range alive. But Serejyura-san deliberately faced it head-on, swinging her Grotesque Chains.
The Thread Manipulation skill is not a combat technique but a general skill, and even for whip-like weapons, Battle Arts do not exist.
However, Serejyura-san possessed the “magical technology” to make it possible.
“—[Holy Flame]—”
The Level 5 fire magic [Holy Flame]—a sacred flame that burns away evil life force—is a compound magic with Light Magic. Contrary to its difficulty, its normal power is inferior to Level 4 magic.
This magic has the characteristic of being able to interfere with magical power, but by itself, it only has the effect of slightly diminishing an enemy’s cast spell.
However—
“—[Blaze]—”
The moment Serejyura chanted it, a blazing Holy Flame clung to her body.
The composition of this ‘original magic,’ which involved cladding oneself in existing sorcery, had also been conveyed to Aria, who similarly used both magic and close combat, but its mana consumption was significant, making it difficult for Aria, who lacked offensive magic, to use.
This was Serejyura’s trump card, as she couldn’t use high-level Battle Arts, and a single strike from her Grotesque Chains, clad in holy flames, canceled out the power of the Vorpal Blade unleashed by Aisha.
“Impossible…”
Her all-out Battle Art having been nullified, Aisha, still rigid from unleashing it, let out a dumbfounded voice.
The immobile Aisha could only receive an attack if one came. It was less than a second, but in a battle between experts, it would be a fatal opening… however.
“…Hk!”
Suddenly, Serejyura coughed up blood and fell to her knees.
Originally, her body, possessing four attributes, couldn’t handle excessive strain, but as a result of continuously fighting on battlefields as a War Oni, her insides were damaged more than she herself realized.
Even so, she had thought her body could hold out for about one battle, but the fight against the Rank 5 Aisha, where she had to exert herself beyond just going all out, had put a heavy strain on Serejyura’s body.
“Ha, haha… Just as I thought. There’s no way I’d lose to an imposter!!”
Aisha, whose mind had already deviated from sanity, was unable to even rationally comprehend the sight of her older sister spitting blood and kneeling, and raised her sword.
“Aisha…”
If it were Serejyura in her prime, Aisha wouldn’t have been able to win.
If Aisha’s mind had been sound, Serejyura might have been able to win without relying on chance.
In the original “Otome Game history,” there could have been a future where Serejyura and Aisha cooperated with the heroine, fighting together to make peace with the Evil Race.
There’s no point in talking about futures that couldn’t be. The current result is everything… but Serejyura, like Aria, possessed a “power” she wasn’t originally supposed to have.
“…Iron Rose…”
Particles of magical light burst forth from Serejyura, who was kneeling on the stone floor, and at the same time as her figure vanished, she slashed through Aisha’s body, along with the sword Aisha had reflexively raised.
“Wha…”
Still holding her broken one-handed sword, Aisha, dazed and bewildered, staggered backward.
Unlike Aria, its original user, Serejyura, who did not possess the ‘Pink Hair’ loved by spirits, consumed nearly all her mana in just a few seconds and fell to her knees again.
“Aisha…!”
“Sis…ter?”
At Serejyura’s voice, a sliver of rationality returned to Aisha’s eyes. However, the mental damage was greater than the physical, and Aisha, swaying as if dizzy…
“Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!”
Letting out a cry that sounded like a sudden burst of tears, Aisha raised her broken sword.
Whether she was still trying to fight, or if she regretted what she had done and impulsively tried to kill herself, it was impossible to tell.
But, just as that raised sword was about to be swung down somewhere—
THUD!!
“――――Hk!”
Aisha’s body, struck by Nero’s tackle, was swallowed by a deep hole that had opened in a side path of the dungeon… a complexly intertwined passage, and her body fell into the darkness.
“…Nero.”
Graa.
To Serejyura’s glaring gaze, Nero didn’t respond with “words,” but merely let out a single growl.
Had he simply eliminated Aria’s enemy, or had he tried to save Serejyura…?
“…”
Even injured, there was a chance Aisha was still alive. Serejyura sighed, drank down a potion taken from her Shadow Storage, and forced herself to stand.
“…In this state, I’ll be useless even if I go to that child’s side…”
—A query—
As Nero’s tentacles crackled with electricity, as if asking, “What will you do now?”, Serejyura glanced over her shoulder at Camille and the others, who were keeping their distance, wary of them.
“I’ll head for the dungeon’s innermost sanctum with those kids. I have a feeling I’ll be able to meet that child that way. …You go to that child’s side alone.”
Grrr…
Nero narrowed his eyes slightly, his gaze taking in Serejyura, Camille, and the others.
Nero and Serejyura were traveling companions, not comrades. But Nero bared his fangs, as if to say, “Leave it to me,” and vanished into the darkness with the speed of a gale.
Watching him go, Serejyura glanced for a moment at the hole Aisha had fallen into, sighed again, and softly muttered words she hadn’t said to Nero.
“I’m counting on you with the other ‘foolish girl’… Nero.”
It turned out somewhat similar to Elgrim, but I wonder how that will affect things from here on out.
Next time, the scene will finally return to Aria.
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