The Shikai Tribe And Ragiu Tribe

“――――!?!?”

What!?

――Balmung did not cut Ruru’s neck.

It was Freya, the spherical spirit-type Shadow that should have been bitten to death by Vanargand.

“Barom—retrieve Ruru!”

“Gyaau!”

Furthermore, by Barom’s teleportation magic, Ruru was transferred into Sobra’s arms.

Sobra rolled his eyes and cradled Ruru, who was convulsing and spraying blood from every orifice, and pulled out the needle stuck in the secret pressure point at the crown of her head.

“Agh… ah, ah… aa…”

Ruru then seemed to lose consciousness and went limp, motionless while leaning against Sobra.

“Hey—what is this? Re-summoning a Perished Shadow is against the rules, right?”

“That’s right――I lost this match.”

“…Huh?”

What does that mean?

There should have been a way to get Ruru out using Barom’s teleportation magic.

However, knowing he’d be disqualified for breaking the rules, he nonetheless summoned a Shadow between Ruru and me to ensure Ruru’s safety.

“Why go that far to protect Ruru? She’s in the habit of using secret arts that shave years off her life, you know.”

“That stings to hear—but even so, Ruru is a very important person to me. Just as your maid is to you.”

Is he talking about Rin?

Seems a lot of information about me has been passed around.

“Shadows, without exception, pledge their loyalty to me. But among living humans, this child is the only one who will protect me. Ruru is my comrade-in-arms and my emotional support. After I was struck by the Knights of the Stigmata and was near death, it was this child who nursed my body for years until I recovered.”

“……”

Sobra stroked Ruru’s cheek affectionately.

“So for that reason I lose the match. As promised, I’ll hand over the Akasha. I’ve already memorized the necessary information. Make good use of it.”

“Wait!”

However—by Barom’s teleportation magic, Sobra escaped the dungeon along with his throne.

Where the throne had been lay a grotesquely bound book—the Divine Brain Akasha.

“Anyway, did we win?”

‘Well done, Sid. That was close—I almost had to serve a man I don’t like.’

“Damn it… As if the Knights of the Stigmata weren’t already trying to take my life, now I’m being harassed by the ghost of the Shadow Necromancer from twenty years ago—and on top of that my revenge against Ruru remains unfulfilled.”

That said, obtaining one of the Five Great Demon Lords is significant.

I have no intention of collecting all the Five Great Demon Lords and ascending to a higher dimension.

But it’s certain this will be useful for the battles that will only grow fiercer from here on.

I reached out for the fallen Akasha.

“――Wait!”

Hardened blood enveloped the Akasha as if forming a cage.

That’s probably Ekarraat’s blood-manipulation skill.

“What the hell.”

“This is a trap.”

Ekarraat, emerging from the shadows, warned me.

“A trap?”

“The Akasha contains every piece of information from the creation of heaven and earth up to the present. If you touch it directly, it will flood your brain with that knowledge like a torrent—an ordinary person would be rendered a wreck in an instant.”

“That bastard, don’t toy with me…!”

That was close.

If not for Ekarraat’s restraint, I would have fallen perfectly into his scheme.

Thinking back, I remember the Akasha was floating in midair and Sobra had not touched it directly.

“You must turn the pages with mana and extract only the information you need; otherwise it’s something no human can handle.”

Ekarraat held her hand over the Akasha, spun threads of blood, and bound the Akasha.

She then tossed it into Vanargand’s mouth.

“This should keep you safe. If you ever summon the Akasha, make sure to do it with me by your side. If Sid is swallowed by the Akasha, I will cut off its brain to wake it up.”

That method is far too violent…

Well, it’s probably the most certain way, though.

“Anyway, we got the Akasha.”

Having acquired a new asset, Ekarraat and I returned to the interior of Vanargand where Rin was waiting.