Chapter 39: The Holy Knight vs. Ainika, the One Who Loathes All Life (Part 3)
When I lost both arms, I had no choice but to inspire myself. There was no time to hesitate.
I immediately activated the Out Strider del Sole, and with my right hand gripping Gram, I dismantled Ainika, the One Who Loathes All Life, who wore a smug expression. I then used the stored energy from the Condenser to obliterate her. Before the enemy could resurrect, I quickly swallowed the painkiller crafted by Sena and gulped down a Potion. The bleeding had stopped, but I was still without my left arm.
“What the hell am I supposed to do…?”
Even after taking the painkiller, my left arm throbbed painfully, and I struggled to gather my scattered thoughts. Before long, Ainika had returned to life.
“What do you mean, ‘what am I supposed to do’? Holy Knight! You speak of strange things—”
The King of the Undead before me had a physique reminiscent of a cartoon character, bulging with muscles to the point of absurdity, and his overly elaborate way of speaking grated on my nerves.
“—You simply need to die!!”
With grand gestures, Ainika shouted, and at the same moment, she lunged at me with the speed of a bullet. Thanks to the accelerated thought process from Autobahn, I perceived everything in slow motion—I swayed to avoid her kick—deflected her follow-up attack with Gram—and yet, she continued to unleash countless dark tendrils toward me. One, two, three, four—I sliced through them—but as I lost my balance from having my left arm severed, the twenty-second tendril finally tore into my side, and the twenty-seventh latched onto my neck. It was then that I activated the Out Strider del Sole once more, completely dismantling the Arm of Darkness and repeatedly carving into Ainika’s form from an angle.
“Ugh, ugh…”
The wound on my side was deep. Moreover, Ainika had cursed me with something akin to a hex. It inflicted excruciating pain and delayed my healing. It was the type that required time to purify. I could say that my resistance to Dark Magic as a Holy Knight saved me from worse, but in the midst of battle, that was the least of my concerns.
I gulped down another Potion and tried to think. Despite knowing the frailty of humans, Ainika taunted me, mockingly suggesting I “grow back my arm”—and then, something clicked in my mind.
“Holy Knight, what are you laughing at? Have you lost your mind?”
A fully recovered Ainika questioned me.
“You said it—”
“What did I say?”
“You told me to grow back my arm!!”
With the technique I had honed to manipulate particles of light, I manifested a pseudo-left arm using Light Magic.
“Not bad.”
I flexed the luminous left arm, opening and closing my hand to test its sensation.
“Holy Knight, you speak grandly… but it’s just a fake arm, isn’t it?”
In response to Ainika’s mocking tone, I activated more Light Magic, showcasing my creation.
“Wha—”
“Finally, you’re surprised. That was the expression I wanted to see.”
In addition to the pseudo-left arm created by Light Magic, I manifested a third and fourth arm sprouting from my back, even if they looked a bit rough and were not supposed to exist.
“Now, this is where the real fight begins, right?”
I declared, kicking off the ground.