[Kathia]
But it couldn't reach me.
Deep within the Great Ello Dungeon, I had earned a Title when I defeated the Earth Dragon: Dragon Slayer.
The Skill that came with that Title — Dragon Force — enhances my stats while active and has the effect of nullifying magic.
It was inferior to the magic-nullifying power of a true dragon, but it was more than enough to block lower-tier spells.
And right now, Yuri was mainly using low-level, fast-casting magic to try and keep me at a distance.
Yuri's stats were certainly respectable — high enough to qualify as a Saint — but then again, I was among the stronger Reincarnators myself.
With the advantage of Dragon Force, the odds were in my favor.
Yuri's choice wasn't wrong. As a magic-type facing me — someone who leaned toward magic but was also fully capable in close combat — letting me close the gap would mean certain defeat.
That was why she had abandoned the high-damage, long-casting-time spells in favor of rapid-fire shots to hold me in place.
But all that did was prolong the fight. It wasn't enough to overturn my advantage.
I neutralized the incoming thunder with Dragon Force and cut through almost entirely unscathed.
Without Dragon Force, dodging or blocking that thunder magic would have been a real nightmare.
Encountering the Earth Dragon in the dungeon had been a harrowing experience, but that battle was what had earned me this incredibly powerful Skill, so maybe it had been for the best.
I fired a return spell at Yuri, who was preparing her next shot.
I couldn't very well use fire — my specialty — inside a forest. One wrong move and I'd start a blaze.
Instead, I used light magic.
The beam pierced through Yuri's shoulder.
Like her thunder magic, it was a low-tier spell with modest power, but without Dragon Force's protection, Yuri had no way to block it.
Yuri grimaced in pain.
And there, in her expression, was shock.
Did you really think I couldn't win if you just kept your distance?
I'm a versatile type who leans toward magic, you know?
It's not like I spent all those years training with Shun since childhood for nothing.
Yuri should know that too.
Then again, the Yuri I knew had last been seen back during our school days.
It was a short period, but within that time, I had been forged through countless life-or-death ordeals.
Dragon Force was one such power gained through those trials, but more than anything, I had simply grown accustomed to fighting.
In the Great Ello Dungeon, death was always lurking close by — something no amount of training could replicate. The experience of pushing through that, over and over, was what separated the current me from the current Yuri.
"Why!? How can you keep going!?"
Yuri screamed as she launched another bolt of thunder.
I neutralized it with Dragon Force, and the damage I took was immediately healed.
"You betrayed Lord Yugo — so how dare you stand before me!?"
"I didn't betray anyone. I simply returned to how things were supposed to be."
"Stop spouting nonsense!"
I myself had been under Yugo's brainwashing. I knew all too well the depth of its influence. There was no talking someone out of it.
So I would silence her with force.
Another beam of light pierced Yuri's body.
Light moved at the speed of light — just as difficult to dodge as thunder. I drove it into Yuri's leg.
Struck in the leg, Yuri collapsed to the ground.
She could use healing magic, so the damage itself was negligible, but the moment she fell was an opening she could never reclaim.
I closed the distance in an instant and drove my beloved rapier through her body.
It might look like a fatal wound at first glance, but with my Skill — Holding Back — I could limit it to merely rendering her unconscious.
I administered just enough treatment to keep her from dying, then restrained the unconscious Yuri.
I had spent so much time chasing her that I'd drifted quite far from Shun and the others. I should get back immediately.
And when I did, I found Yugo crumpled on the ground, with Shun's sword pointed at his face.
Ah, just as I expected.
With a counterfeit power, there was simply no way to beat Shun.
Yugo's body was covered head to toe in wounds, while Shun hadn't received a single scratch.
What a total cheat.
Come to think of it, even when Shun fought the Earth Dragon in the Great Ello Dungeon, he came away without a scratch.
"Is it over?"
"Yeah."
Ugh, speaking in masculine speech patterns was getting tedious.
"Not yet — not over — not yet!"
"No. It's over. You can't beat me."
Yugo tried to lift his barely-functional body and collapsed weakly back to the ground.
I had to give him credit for his stubbornness, but he just wouldn't know when to quit.
"Shun, finish him off. You have that right."
Honestly, I wanted to deliver the killing blow myself.
This man had taken so many things from me.
Things that could never be returned.
I wanted to unleash all that rage of loss onto him.
But what Shun had lost exceeded even my own.
If anyone should deal the final blow, it was Shun.
"No. I won't take his life."
And yet, Shun said something unbelievable.
"What did you just say?"
Ah, my true voice had slipped out before I could stop it.
But that didn't matter right now.
"What do you mean? You're not seriously planning to let this man live, are you?"
"Y-Yeah."
"Don't be ridiculous!"
I had always thought him soft, but this was beyond anything I'd imagined!
"There is nothing to be gained from keeping this man alive — only harm! His very existence is a blight. He should be killed immediately."
"I'm sorry, Kathia. I understand how you feel, and I have no intention of forgiving Yugo. But still — I'm going to let him live. Live, and atone for his crimes until the day he dies."
Shun's eyes looked straight back into mine.
In them, I felt an unshakable resolve.
Nothing I said would change his mind.
There was nothing to be done.
Perhaps this would make Shun hate me.
But allowing Yugo to live was something that should never happen.
I began constructing a spell to kill Yugo — "That's way too soft, even for you."
A deafening roar.
Impact.
I instinctively shielded my face with my hands as my entire body was enveloped by something.
I realized it was Shun's body.
H-H-H-He hugged me!
As soon as the impact passed, Shun released me immediately.
Ah.
"Who are you?"
Shun stared ahead.
Standing there was a man who had crushed Yugo beneath his foot.
Yugo's head was gone — his body ground into the ground under the man's right foot.
A small crater had formed beneath him, evidence of the sheer force behind the blow.
Where had this man come from?
Based on the situation, it seemed he had flown in from somewhere?
No — that wasn't the issue right now.
What mattered was his identity.
Two horns protruded from his forehead.
A form resembling a human, but something that was decidedly not human.
Most likely an oni — a higher race among the ogre-class Monsters.
A fearsome race possessing intelligence equal to humans, wielding the power of Monsters.
But even that didn't matter anymore.
I stared at the man's face, my eyes widening in shock.
Surely Shun was wearing the same expression.
"It's been so long you've forgotten me?"
I — no, we — recognized that man's face.
His overall aura had changed, but those features were unmistakable.
"Kyoya."
Shun murmured the name.
It was none other than our friend from our previous lives — Sasajima Kyoya.