I grip [Wooden Flash] in both hands and charge straight ahead.
'
Sky-Piercing Style
'— a spear technique.
It specializes in thrusts and excels at quick strikes.
When Raada swings his sword, countless black spheres materialize.
That's bad. I don't think I can reflect those.
I use [Blue Saint] to slow things down and dodge.
Megadia had a similar Relic.
I think that was the origin of Black Devourer.
I dodge in slow motion, then use [One Step] to close the distance to zero in an instant.
Seeing me suddenly appear before him, Raada smiled bewitchingly.
The [Wooden Flash] I thrust was deflected. I pulled back.
"A barrier?"
"It's inferior to Vinu's."
If that's the case, I can break it with [Vibration].
When I shattered it with vibration, Raada released a shockwave.
I quickly reflected it with [Blue Saint's Gauntlet]. Raada was blown away, but didn't fall.
He landed smoothly. Nice core. Raada made a displeased face and spoke.
"……One thing after another, I swear…"
"That's my line."
She's strong. But not as strong as Alveld.
If I kept this up, I could win. Convinced, I readied Wood Flash.
Next I'd use the ultimate technique with Levmove. That would be the end of it.
"Haa… You're strong, you know. Doesn't look like I can win."
Raada sighed.
"Giving up? If you do now, I can put you down without any pain."
"That's very tempting, but I haven't gone all out yet."
What was this? She had a strange composure about her.
"You think that'll be enough to win?"
"Who knows. Well, it only lasts five minutes… and it costs seven days of safety, so I really didn't want to use it… but I have no choice. I don't want to die."
Raada's sword blazed with light and took the shape of a naked woman, while the vessel that had been Raada collapsed to the ground.
She gazed at me with pitch-black eyes, silvery-white hair cascading all the way down to her feet.
Her unnaturally perfect white features radiated an otherworldly beauty.
The nude Venus statue from my past life memories.
I felt as though it were moving.
"Human form…!"
She was stronger than before.
But whether that was enough to beat me—I didn't think so.
"True Divine Transformation Relic — Lilutu."
In that instant, the starry sky vanished. Everything plunged into darkness for a single heartbeat, then returned to normal.
"—!?"
In that split second, Raada's appearance had completely transformed.
Half of her silver-white hair had been dyed pitch black, and twisted, ominous long horns jutted from either side of her forehead.
Through gaps in her hair, long pointed ears like an elf's peeked out.
Her nails had grown longer, and great serpents coiled around her upper body, obscuring her form while threatening in various ways.
Her lower body was covered in beast-like black fur, and a black tail tapered to an arrowhead point swayed smoothly.
Her appearance was almost like—
"A demon..."
Her closed eyes opened. Deep black-purple stared straight at me.
"...!?"
A chill ran down my spine. What was this? I could feel an overwhelming pressure of presence bearing down on me.
While I stood there in confusion, Raada raised her arm and swung it lightly.
——Voooom——.
That alone cut through everything.
Cov—
—er—
—ing
ev—
—!
...
Az—
—ure
Saint's
Gau—
—ntlet
couldn't even deflect it and shattered to pieces.
"That form. Oh. A pseudo-divine transformation. And with [Generous] too?"
"Hah... hah... hah..."
That was close. That really was close.
If I hadn't activated [Generous] on instinct, I'd be dead for sure.
I shuddered. There had been times before when I'd steeled myself for death.
But never once had I faced a threat of instant death.
This was the first time. And all it was — the shockwave from a casually swung knife-hand.
That was all it took.
"But [Generous]... what an odd twist of fate."
—Vooooooom—.
As he spoke, he swung. I barely dodged it.
—Vooooooom—.
Radha continued to slash at me with ruthless hand strikes.
That alone was enough to put me in a desperate spot. I kept dodging with everything I had.
There was no opening for a counterattack, not even a sliver.
Then the shattered fragments of the Azure Saint's Gauntlet began gathering, wrapping around my arms and then my body.
I remembered that before, when I'd activated Generous, the gauntlet had transformed as well.
It became armor, with a particularly large blue magic crystal forged right in the center of the chest.
—Vooooooom—.
I deflected the shockwave from his hand strike with Knife Magic's Changing.
"Phantasmagoria."
I unleashed countless Banish spells all at once.
Radha didn't even bother dodging. Every single one hit, and he was completely unscathed.
"Is that all you've got?"
Radha sighed.
The gap in our power really was too vast. The one counter I had... existed, but I couldn't use it yet.
The time limits were different. He had five minutes; I had one.
Once the limit ran out, I was dead for certain.
Well, I'd probably be dead before that.
"Running around like a pestering little rat. Shedim."
Suddenly, wavering flames of dark purple erupted from behind me in a sweeping arc.
They formed a wall, sealing off my only path of retreat.
"I'm in trouble..."
Those flames — anything I tried felt pointless.
Danger Discernment was pitch black.
"You won't be able to escape like this."
"............!"
A shockwave from a hand-blade. The first hit completely destroys my gauntlet, but I can withstand it.
[Cosmic
of the
Arm]
— slim chances, but it might work.
With this, I can barely withstand two hits.
Before the third — right. Use my trump card and finish it all at once. That's the only way.
Suddenly, Raada wore a contemplative expression.
"A simple hand-blade might be blocked. [Kiskil-lila's Claw]."
―――Ooooooooooohhhhhhhhhh―――.
The hand-blade Raada wielded was stained a seething, eerie black, accompanied by an unsettling resonance.
A black hand-blade that seemed to boil and churn. Wicked, yet beautiful as a blade.
Ah, that's... ahahahahaha, it's over. No matter what I do, there's absolutely no way to block it.
[Cosmic
of the
Arm.
Even that won't work. Different dimensions entirely.
But that doesn't mean I'm just going to lie down and die. There has to be something. Something.
Ah, if only Dagaa were here, I wouldn't be—wait, what is that?
Field Quake: Generous-class Authority Relic. Shakes everything within its domain.
This is... this is it. I have to bet on this.
"Are you ready?"
"No. Not yet. Field Quake."
The ground began to shake, then erupted into violent tremors.
"Kyaa! W-what?! You can do that too?!"
Raada faltered. But then black bat wings and white bird wings sprouted from her back.
You've got to be kidding me. She has those too? If she gets airborne, this won't work.
The black and white wings were about to beat in unison.
But four thick octopus tentacles burst from the ground and seized Raada.
"Guuugh! You—you wretch! Great Sea Embrace Mother, damn yooooou!!"
She thrashed wildly, but the four thick white tentacles with red spots held her firmly.
Were they always that white and thick? Maybe the tentacles had transformed too, just like the gauntlets.
Whatever. Now. This is the only chance I'll get. I activate Reave Form.
A strange pain shot from my forehead across my entire face.
But it faded almost instantly, and suddenly my vision and thoughts became impossibly clear.
The sensation of my very existence rising an entire dimension in rank.
If I reached out, I could truly grasp every star in the night sky and beyond.
And all of it was nothing but child's play.
However, that one was different.
Never child's play.
Those who reach the true caliber. That is to say, Relics.
"Impossible! The true caliber...!?"
Laada groaned.
I drew the Elixir-Cursed Knife. Against a demon, it should be most effective.
The moment he saw the knife, Laada scoffed.
"You think something like that could wound me tonight?"
"—The
Cosmic
Arm
of
Law—"
The arm holding the knife became a cosmos, and that transformation flowed into the blade itself.
The Elixir-Cursed Knife took on the light of a star.
"Just a single star system."
"SHAAAAA—!!"
It lunged at me without warning — a massive serpent striking out of nowhere.
I caught it calmly with my knife. The snake's fangs bit deep into the blade.
A small crack spidered through it with a sharp snap, but I cut the snake apart.
Then my eyes went wide. There was an eye set right in the center of Laada's chest.
A deep white-purple pupil stared straight at me. I instinctively knew — that might be the weak point.
I used [One Step] to close the space-time distance to zero and swung down the Elixir-Cursed Knife.
"Don't underestimate me! [Clifi—"
"One-Stroke Demon Severance!!!"
As if I'd let that happen. At light speed, I slashed through the deep white-purple eye in her chest. More precisely, I swung down and drove the blade straight in.
The knife's edge pierced deep, deep into the eye, reaching all the way through to the other side.
"Gyaaaaaaaahhhhhh!"
A shriek that sounded like it would tear the night apart rang out into the darkness.
At the same time, the Elixir-Cursed Knife snapped with a sharp crack.
When the tentacles pulled away and vanished, Laada fell to the ground.
Steam poured from her entire body as her demonic form shifted back into a silver-haired beauty.
She coughed up blood.
"It's over."
I pointed the still-broken Elixir-Cursed Knife at her as a threat.
Laada spat blood and wore a smile so beautiful it was almost cruel.
"...You're right. Just one last thing... may I...?"
"What is it?"
"Haiyahn... trade guild... I was curious about it... who did that..."
"That rabbit."
"...Rabbit... hehehe... I never intended to kill her at all... I accompanied her as an assistant, and she was... for a human, fairly tolerable... but her head was in heat all year round, so... so you see... I put it in the rabbit............"
With a mischievous smile, Laada crumbled away in tatters.
What remained was a decayed sword. That too was dissipating into mist.
"............"
Part of me wondered if those really were okay as final words.
Behind me lay the Haiyahn body, sitting alone in the quiet nighttime meadow.
The Haiyahn body.
Glancing back at it, I returned to normal, and perhaps from the sheer relief, I sank to the ground.
It really had been a life-or-death battle. To think that all of that... I had to use everything just to barely win.
That victory was by the thinnest of margins.
If I had made even one mistake, I would have been the one erased from this world.
"...Hahhhh... I'm exhausted."
Grumbling, I looked up at the night sky, which was unbelievably, fantastically beautiful and full of twinkling lights.
Were the blue and purple lights a galaxy? A nebula?
Musing on such things, I brought the canteen's three-month vessel to my lips.
Faintly sweet with a hint of sourness. A refreshing homemade tea.
I congratulated myself on how my mixing skills had improved.
"Well then, time to take her with me."
My energy had recovered, so I got to my feet.
I couldn't just leave this here, obviously.
"Just before that... pardon me for a moment."
I searched the robe of Haiyan's body.
The Talisman's Everlasting Egg... she didn't have it after all.
Well, it's not like I'm collecting them. If anything, it's the series I'd most want to give up on.
Still, though... Haiyan's original body... in various ways as a woman... it's just... incredible.
No, no. The other person is that Haiyan. No, no.
I composed myself, then hoisted Haiyan's body over my shoulder like a sack of rice.
The impossibly soft, warm touch and the faintly sweet fragrance — I ignored all of it.
Now then, where exactly am I?
Is Heizen nearby?
I can see a light over there. Might as well go check it out.