I Will Not Allow Marriage (5)

“Hero! What has happened?!”

“Excuse us for a moment! We’re in a hurry!”

Forcing our way past the guards, we rushed toward the church.

I had a bad feeling.

I felt that if we were even one step late, she would be beyond saving.

That was why I didn’t hesitate.

I flung open the doors, shouting as I interrupted the two just before their kiss.

“Sorry to interrupt your fun, but could you stop for a moment?”

“Hero…”

“T-this is a solemn occasion!”

A man who looked like the king showed his anger openly.

Normally I would have apologized, but in my agitated state, I didn’t care.

I pointed straight at him.

“Hey, you! Give back our princess!”

“…You say some selfish things. We are getting married.”

“Are you sure about that? We already know, you know? Your little secret!”

“—!”

My voice echoed through the church.

As the reverberation faded, he began to laugh.

“Heh… fuahahahahahaha!”

“Kaiser?”

“What’s wrong?”

“Prince Kaiser…?”

A worried father and mother, and a confused Erika.

Ignoring them, Kaiser wore a fearless grin.

“As expected of the Hero. You noticed, didn’t you? My true identity—that I am a transmission vessel of the Demon King.”

“……”

Huh?

The Demon King…?

“The Demon King…?”

“Kaiser? What are you talking about?”

“Apologies, but you’re interrupting.”

Prince Kaiser lightly tapped his parents’ foreheads with his fingers, instantly knocking them unconscious.

For just a moment, I sensed magic.

It was clearly different in nature from human magic, enough to make anyone who felt it shudder.

“We were so close to collapsing the Hero’s party from the inside, yet things never go quite as planned.”

Hey, hey, hey—this has to be a joke, right?

This guy was the Demon King?

What did “transmission vessel” even mean?

I had assumed someone from the Demon King’s army was pulling the strings, or at most involved behind the scenes.

I was feeling smug about that assumption, only for something way beyond my expectations to show up!

“That’s amazing, Soji-kun! You knew he was the Demon King!”

“As expected of you, Hero-sama.”

“W-well, yeah.”

Cold sweat wouldn’t stop running down my back.

“It can’t be helped now. Let’s settle this by force.”

He snapped his fingers.

The white armor of the knights standing by transformed into black.

They immediately lunged at us.

“Are these people being controlled too?!”

“It appears so. Hero-sama, please take care of the Demon King and Lady Erika.”

“We’ll hold them off here!”

“I’m counting on you!”

Leaving the knights to the two of them, I stepped in front of the man who might have been Kaiser or might have been the Demon King.

“Erika! Hurry over here!”

“It’s useless.”

“—!”

“Erika!”

From the ring on her finger, a rope of black light extended, binding her and immobilizing her.

Visually, it looked as if she were being suspended by a rope.

The rope dug into her body, making her look like she was in pain.

“This ring can partially control the will of the one who wears it. It makes them mistake it for their own will and manipulates them. Once the ritual was complete, I should have been able to fully dominate her.”

“You used that power on Erika…”

“That was the plan, but since I’ve been exposed, I’ll just dominate her by force.”

“Damn…”

“A rather stubborn soul. But give me five minutes, and I can shatter her mind and leave it empty.”

Erika let out a pained voice.

She turned her gaze toward me and pleaded weakly.

“Soji… help me…”

“—Yeah!”

Before I knew it, I had drawn the cursed blade.

I slashed at Kaiser with full force, but he conjured a pitch-black sword from nowhere and blocked my strike.

“Is that sword the Holy Sword?”

“Give back our princess!”

“Can you do that, I wonder?”

We knocked our blades apart and put some distance between us.

I didn’t know exactly what he was in relation to the Demon King, but if I didn’t defeat him within five minutes, Erika was in serious trouble.

“Kojiro.”

“I’ll say this first. This man is strong… defeating him in five minutes will be impossible.”

Kojiro’s experience as a samurai was sounding the alarm.

In just a few seconds of confrontation, he had already seen through Kaiser’s strength.

I understood his reasoning, and it came through clearly.

Even so—

“I don’t care!”

Ignoring Kojiro’s warning, I pointed my blade at Kaiser.

I surprised even myself.

I had never felt my emotions surge this intensely before.

“She asked me to help her. I’m going to save her no matter what.”

“—Understood. Then—”

“—!”

A godspeed sword strike.

Kaiser reacted too slowly, and blood flowed from his cheek.

“…Oh?”

“I leave it to you to devise how to make the impossible possible.”

“Yeah!”

“Your movements have changed. Interesting.”

Kaiser was thrown off by Kojiro’s swordsmanship.

As he was forced on the defensive, Kojiro pressed the attack.

“True Ganryu—‘Tsubame Gaeshi’!”

An unavoidable slash, an attack fast enough to strike down even a swallow, came crashing in.

Kaiser had deftly handled Kojiro’s attacks until now, but he couldn’t evade Tsubame Gaeshi.

The first strike took his left arm, the second his chest, the third severed his neck.

Or so it should have.

“—!”

“So close. If it were anyone else, you would have won.”

He turned his body into mist and nullified the slashes?!

That was even possible?

Kojiro immediately followed up, but every strike was evaded as Kaiser dispersed into mist.

No longer needing to defend, Kaiser swung his sword in reckless attacks.

I knew instinctively.

I must not let that sword touch me.

Kaiser’s black sword erased whatever it touched, gouging it out of existence.

“This sword is darkness itself. Touch it, and you’ll be swallowed.”

“So it seems. But my blade should be able to receive it.”

Only the cursed blade remained unharmed.

I didn’t understand the principle, but our duel could continue.

However…

“At this rate, time will simply keep passing.”

“I know!”

Was there anything I could do?

You couldn’t cut mist.

A strategy… with the cards I had, was there any way to deal with this?

On top of that, his sword would swallow anything it touched.

“Swallowed… I see.”

“—! An excellent idea!”

In moments like this, it was convenient not needing words to communicate.

Having grasped my plan, Kojiro sheathed his blade and took an iaido stance.

“Here we go. Secret art—”

Come to think of it, the first one to use this technique wasn’t Kojiro, but me.

Even back then, I had been tracing Kojiro’s swordsmanship.

A perfected sword technique didn’t only cut what was visible to the eye.

“‘Void Rend.’”

“—You cut space itself?!”

A hole opened in the slashed space, creating a reaction that sucked in everything around it.

Mist had little mass.

In mist form, you couldn’t brace yourself.

“Now, Kojiro!”

“Leave it to me!”

Seeing through the instant Kaiser canceled his mist form, Kojiro stepped forward.

He took an iaido stance, but what he would cut next was not space.

“True Ganryu—‘Drooping Triple Slash’!”

A triple strike from iaido.

Experiencing swordsmanship so fast I couldn’t even see when the blade was drawn made my heart race.

It stirred a nostalgic, adolescent thrill within me.

Sword techniques really were cool!

“Guh… impossible… to think you would cut me…”

“Phew…”

Kojiro sheathed his blade, and at the same time, our consciousness switched.

My body felt heavy.

The backlash from possession hit me all at once.

Even so, I couldn’t collapse just yet.

“This is the end!”

With my last bit of strength, I drew my sword and cut the rope binding Erika.

Freed, Erika nearly collapsed.

I caught her.

“Soji…”

“Honestly, you’re such a reckless princess.”

“…You’re sweaty.”

“You…”

It was so like Erika that I felt relieved.

I was pretty far gone myself.

“I’m impressed. Even as a transmission vessel, you surpassed me.”

“—!”

His wounds were healing.

You had to be kidding me.

We had already used up the five minutes.

I was barely even standing…

“Relax. This body has already reached its limit. This is as far as it goes.”

“……”

“Hero. What is your name?”

“…Soji Miyamoto.”

“I will remember it. Someday, we shall cross swords again. I look forward to seeing how far one without the proper qualification can go.”

This man… he knew.

That I wasn’t a real Hero.

“Princess. I personally like you. I favor strong women, you see. Next time we meet, I will claim you properly.”

“…Being courted by the Demon King is an honor.”

“If you think so, you may come with me right now.”

“I refuse. Don’t be ridiculous. My destined partner is… not you.”

Seeing Erika reject him so clearly made me feel a little lighter.

That was Erika for you.

“Even better. That makes you all the more worth claiming.”

“You’re not taking our princess.”

“Then protect her if you can. Struggle as much as you like…”

Kaiser collapsed.

The pitch-black presence I had felt from him vanished, and the mind control over the knights fighting Arka and the others was released.

One by one, the knights fell.

“Haa… it’s over.”

“I wish you’d saved me a little sooner. It hurt, you know.”

“You really are…”

“…I’m joking. Thank you.”

This time, Erika supported me as my strength gave out.

Feeling at ease, I quietly drifted into sleep.