Mineha's spear was split clean in two, and the minotaur's axe swept sideways.
"Mineha?!"
Mineha!
"Mineha!"
"I'm fine. Stop yelling like that."
I looked toward the voice and there was Mineha. She had shrunk back down and was sitting on the floor. Reverting to her normal size in the nick of time had apparently saved her from being cut.
But her weapon… Mineha was staring at the spear that remained at its enlarged size.
"Uoooooh, take thaaaat!"
*[The minotaur roars]*
"…Heaven form… Pleiades… Maia Blade…!"
Axe's sword and Riv's crimson slash clashed with the minotaur subspecies. The minotaur deflected both their attacks with agility that belied its enormous frame.
Strong.
Without moving a step, the minotaur deftly manipulated its four arms — two to deal with the pair's attacks, the other two to counterattack.
"Uoh, gah!"
"Nn… what the…"
Axe and Riv pressed the attack, but were slowly being pushed back.
It wasn't just brute force. The minotaur subspecies had technique.
No — maybe it was a Relic.
"Wof. Never mind me. Go help them."
"…"
She was right. I had to help. But how? Honestly, I couldn't see myself getting between the two of them and the minotaur subspecies. I'd just get in their way.
"Uooooh, don't underestimate me!"
Axe pushed back and struck. Incredible!
"…Heaven form… Pleiades… Merope Blade…"
As the blade turned blue, Riv's movements changed. What had been single strikes now multiplied into two, three, four rapid-fire slashes. Riv's afterimages became faintly visible.
*[The minotaur roars]*
Unable to endure the onslaught, the minotaur's axe was destroyed. Its physical abilities had clearly improved, though.
"Not bad!"
"Nn… don't let your guard down… and anyway… time's up…"
The blade's blue light flickered, and Riv retreated. Then the blue light vanished.
"Nn… cool… down… boy."
"Y-yes."
"Leave it to you."
"…B-but…"
"Nn… Axe… trouble."
"Nnnnggghhh!"
Axe was being pushed back by the minotaur subspecies' great axe. He was losing the strength contest.
This was bad. I was about to charge in with Agaro's modified knife when —
"Wof. Your knives. Lend me one. There's one I've been curious about."
"O-of course."
Curious? Puzzled, I watched as Mineha grew large again, and I handed her the knife she asked for.
In the meantime, Riv had sent her blade flying to support Axe. Axe backed off and threw an impact stone. The minotaur subspecies flinched from the shock.
*[The minotaur roars]*
I see. So that's how you use it.
"Just as I thought," Mineha murmured.
I snapped to attention. The knife she'd asked for was that strange one — in a blue sheath, with no sword guard. The blade was jagged, like a series of small triangles strung together. Actually, it was the longest of all my knives — probably right at the length limit.
One of three knives that had belonged to the leader of the bandit gang Agaro had defeated. No — the last remaining knife.
"Mineha?"
"— You. Its name is 'Orionis.' Nice name, isn't it?"
Mineha flicked the knife, and the blade separated into triangles.
No way.
"Relic: Remote Operation."
The triangles didn't fall to the floor — they froze midair.
"…Mineha. That's —"
"It's an OOPArt. And oh, how nice — a Relic-type one, too."
When Mineha swung the handle, the countless triangles swirled into a vortex.
"…"
I'd wondered if it might be an OOPArt, and sure enough, it was. And it was the kind that generated Relics. Between this and Bid, was this becoming a trend? What kind of trend was that supposed to be.
"Axe! Get back!"
"!"
Axe quickly deflected and leaped back. The minotaur subspecies noticed, but too late.
"Vortex!!!"
The vortex of countless triangular blades assaulted the minotaur.
*[The minotaur roars]*
The minotaur subspecies was being slashed to ribbons. But it wasn't a finishing blow. And the vortex wouldn't last long.
In the meantime, I needed to think of a way to finish it.
Axe spoke.
"The minotaur's weak point is its neck."
"Nn… that's… common to all… living things."
"Well, sure, but it's the only soft spot on a minotaur's body."
"Then if we cut off its head —"
"Problem is, my sword technique can't cut through it. What about you, Riv?"
"…I have one… but… not now… my trump card… used it up."
"That thing from earlier? That helped plenty."
"My Spiral would work, but my spear's done for. And besides — we're almost out of time."
If I used Banish… but I'd need to aim for the neck?
"Na!"
Suddenly Dagaa shot out, transforming into a knife and settling into my hand.
"So you want me to use you?"
"Na!"
"What — you want me to hit you with Spiral?"
Mineha let out a surprised cry.
"Na!"
"Enchant… right. That's a thing. Wof. Catch!"
Mineha blasted Spiral into the Dagaa knife. Spiral was enchanted onto the Dagaa knife.
"Na!"
Yeah, yeah. Got it.
I put away Agaro's modified knife.
Wait — had I told Mineha about enchanting? And the way she figured it out so fast, it felt like she'd seen it used before. She probably had — it made sense. I could easily imagine she'd learned it from Dagaa and used it herself. I really needed to be more careful about that sort of thing.
But now everything was in place.
"Nn… what did you do?"
"Enchant. My mom told me about it once. But that was supposed to be an extremely rare OOPArt, and it only worked with attributes."
Axe eyed me suspiciously.
Mineha said, coolly:
"I heard about it from my master, too. Well, I think Dagaa can enchant anything as long as it's a Relic. More importantly — I'm at my limit. So leave the rest to you."
The vortex ended, and the minotaur subspecies — covered in cuts — roared.
*[The minotaur roars]*
Its horn turned bright red. It was furious.
"Nn… Axe…"
"Can't be helped."
Riv and Axe faced the minotaur.
"Both of you —"
"We'll be the bait. So go all out, Captain."
"…Leave it… to you… boy."
*[The minotaur roars]*
Three axes were swung wildly as Riv and Axe raised their swords.
I activated Stillness. My mind calmed. But something was different — in the vessel of my soul, a quiet flame burned.
"Seeeeeaaah — One Stroke, Demon Severance! Uoh, tough?!"
"…Heaven form… Pleiades… Taygete Blade… ah, no good."
*[The minotaur roars]*
The minotaur subspecies violently repelled them both.
Now. I hated to do this to them, but this was what I'd been waiting for — the instant Axe and Riv had been sent flying, leaving the minotaur exposed.
The axe swung down. The axe swung up. The axe deflected.
This definite opening. An absolute, fleeting instant — less than a few seconds. But that was enough. If there was even the slightest gap, that was enough to win.
"— Silent Move."
When my awareness returned, the minotaur subspecies' head had fallen. If you said it had been pierced and sent flying before hitting the ground, that would be about right.
As for me — unharmed, nothing happened.
Axe let out an exhausted breath.
"Well, we did it."
"Nn… nicely done."
"Thank you. Both of you."
"Naa~"
Dagaa went limp, losing its strength. Unable to hold its knife form, it clung to Riv.
"Nn… there, there…"
"What's wrong with it?"
"It always gets like that after using an enchant."
"Hey. Wof."
"Ah, Mineha."
"I understand now."
She said, looking straight at me.
"What do you mean?"
"Here, you can have this back. You used it quite well. 'Orionis.'"
With that, Mineha handed the knife back to me. It fit in its blue sheath — the triangular blades lined up in a row.
"…I didn't know this knife's name."
"Of course not. OOPArts only reveal their names to those who are worthy."
"Then this is your knife now, Mineha."
I returned the knife. Mineha took it and stared at me intently. What was that about?
"All right, then — I'll gratefully put it to use."
"And the spear. My fault —"
"Don't be silly. Don't say that. It's no one's fault."
Not a single fragment of the destroyed spear remained. She must have collected it all.
After that, Axe obtained the minotaur subspecies' red horn as a subjugation part. Then he opened the black door.
A black pillar. A red altar. A stone tablet. A pedestal atop the altar. A room that differed from the other two only in color.
"…Shall I read the inscription?"
"Sure, go ahead."
I glanced at Riv and Axe, and neither seemed interested.
I placed the Elixir's sacred egg.
The black pillar split in two, the top half rotating and descending — and the key was… hmm?
What was there wasn't a key. What was this?
"What is it?"
"Nn… a sphere. Something's inside."
"That's pretty big."
Indeed, there was a sphere atop the pillar. I'd thought it might be an egg, but it was too big for that.
Then the sphere vanished, and what was inside — the curled-up figure began to rise.
Was that a pure-white rabbit? It was a rabbit. No matter how you looked at it, from any angle, it was a rabbit. Slightly larger than a normal rabbit, but still a rabbit. Or possibly a rabbit monster.
It woke up.
"Cute."
"Nn… ridiculously cute."
"What, what?"
It opened its purple eyes with a snap.
"Pur…ple…?!"
In that moment, I was overjoyed. Truly overjoyed.
I was bewildered. What was this joy? Why was I so happy that this rabbit had awakened? What I felt in my heart was unmistakable delight.
My past-life memories — this situation… no, it couldn't be… could it? Was this… that situation? Was that why I was so happy?
Ah, thank you for this miracle appearing before my eyes — my fist clenched of its own accord.
The rabbit regarded us with its purple eyes and spoke. No — it laughed.
"Bwahahahaha!! Bwa-hahahaha!! Hear me. My name is Haierguehaabaaaa—!?"
I punched it.