The Rust Dust Of Holy Sand
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Countless Shadow eyes flickering like red flames glared at Kaine.
“So that’s it… you are… A【Shadow Necromancer】…an Extra Class whose lone strength rivals an army… So all our exchanges until now were just a farce… cough!”
“I wasn’t holding back—it’s just some damn stupid quirk of mine.”
“You… monster… but I’m already aware of your ability… it’s entirely no problem… I will slaughter every last Shikai Tribe… I will, with my own hands…!!”
Kaine slowly stood, but like me was battered and bruised.
Just standing was probably at the limits.
“I don’t know how deep your grudge against the Shikai Tribe runs, but this is where it ends.”
“Don’t underestimate me—Ranorus!!”
Why call me by my family name here of all times?
I felt a strange dissonance—but whatever that was vanished the moment Kaine acted.
――Slaash!
“What!? You… yourself…!?”
To my shock, Kaine manipulated his bandages to pull the saw-cleaver closer—and drove that blade into his own heart!
“Suicide!?”
“【That is a rusted blade that severs evil】【A bloodstained arm that executes demonic sin】【A serration of red-turbid maw born from darkness】――”
Dustlike particles swirled around Kaine, and the holy relic—《Decay Transfer (Rust-to-Rust)》—dully began to glow.
And that chant—this is not suicide!
It reminded me of the time we fought Vanargand.
Flo, who ended up fighting alongside us, took the relic chain from the corpse of 《The First Stigmata 》—Oswald Weidenreich—and unleashed its true power to bind Vanargand’s massive body.
“You lot! Kill him right now!”
《Decay Transfer (Rust-to-Rust)》 is also a holy relic.
It’s obvious that chanting the incantation triggers a deadly technique!
“Brrr-rrrr!”
“~~~~♪”
“――――”
“Hii-hi――――n!”
“Grrrrrrrr!”
“Giyya――――!”
“――【O Lord, put me to the test】【I offer a rotten fruit】【A moldy holy cake】【Immutable faith】――”
The Shadows leapt at Kaine.
But—the momentum of the duststorm centered on him increased to the point it blew aside even the charge of the Minotaur.
“――【Offer the rotten heart as the blade’s sacrifice】【Place unrotting prayers upon the scales】――”
“~~~~!!!!”
A Windine Shadow compressed and released a Water-element spell that intensified its hydraulic pressure.
But Kaine timed a jump and evaded.
Even while moving, the chant continued unbroken.
“No way… his whole body is wrecked and even his heart is injured…!?”
“【When prayers are answered】【May it become a holy storm that purges demonkind】――――【The Rust Dust of Holy Sand】”
As he landed――the incantation completed.
The tornado-like dust cloud centered on Kaine—its scale rapidly expanded!
“Bulgah!?”
“~~~~!?”
“――――!?”
“Hii-hi――――n!?”
“Gugya!?”
“Giyya!?”
A hurricane-like storm of rust assaulted us.
Shadows caught in it disintegrated in an instant, turning to dust.
Probably each grain of sand in the storm, like 《Decay Transfer (Rust-to-Rust)》, carried the power to rot whatever it touched.
And its output wasn’t comparable to 《Decay Transfer (Rust-to-Rust)》—it reduced even Shadows to dust instantly.
“…!?”
The storm of judgment that decayed all things bore down—and enveloped my entire body—
“Sid!!!!”
“What—Ekarraat!?!?”
――Just before that.
Ekarraat, emerging from the shadows, grabbed me and shielded me from the rust storm.
Terrifyingly, even Ekarraat’s body—the strongest monster and the final boss of an S-rank dungeon—was being battered by the sand and slowly vanishing.
Her crimson dress, her pale skin—crumbling and rotting away, her body disappearing bit by bit.
Even that Ekarraat could only barely withstand it for a few seconds—the destructive power was that great.
“I-I can’t have you die on me… I will be the shield… hurry… run…”
“You idiot—Vanargand!!”
“Waaon!”
Vanargand appeared at our feet, swallowed Ekarraat and me into its maw, and while exposed to the dust still dove back into another dimension.
By the skin of our teeth—we managed to escape from the dungeon.
＊＊＊
――Inside Vanargand.
“Sid… are you alive…?”
“That’s… my line… idiot.”
“I’m not joking… still spry…”
“Don’t lie—you’re a wreck, you know…”
An otherworldly space surrounded on all sides by darkness.
Ekarraat and I lay side by side on the floor, barely alive.
Ekarraat, who shielded me, was badly damaged—about seventy percent of her body had vanished.
Her glossy hair like golden threads was considerably shortened, her peerless beauty lost by about half, and the cross-sections were grotesque.
“Don’t be reckless… you’re not a Shadow, so once you disappear you can’t be revived…”
“If you say that… if Sid dies, I—animated by 【Necromance】—will die too… I’d rather be reckless than have you die…”
“But… thanks to that I’m saved… sorry.”
“Don’t worry—both I and Sid, if we rest like this, will recover in a few hours.”
I thought back over the fight with Kaine.
I admitted defeat to his honed body—driven to the point where I had no choice but to summon Shadows.
But he turned all those countless Shadows back on me, and even Ekarraat was left near death.
It wasn’t a matter of losing the bout but winning the match—it was a genuine, total defeat.
Just being alive like this was almost a miracle.
If Vanargand’s teleportation had been a few seconds slower, we would have been wiped out.
“Vanargand… are you alright?”
“Kyuun…”
“I made you do something reckless too…”
Vanargand’s head emerged from the darkness.
The noble giant wolf’s face was lacerated and looked terribly painful.
Vanargand’s manifestation on the surface shouldn’t have lasted even a second, yet…
“Can this… be healed?”
Vanargand, too, is animated not as a Shadow but by 【Necromance】.
Unlike Shadows, it won’t simply return to normal by spending MP.
“Vanargand doesn’t match our level, but it does possess regenerative ability. Once Sid recovers, if we cut away the damaged parts with a blade, it should eventually return to normal.”
“So they say… sorry, but hang on a little longer.”
“Woof.”
Ekarraat, Vanargand, and I lay down, utterly battered, and waited quietly for our wounds to heal.
It looked like it would still take quite some time.
“What about Kaine… what happened to him…?”
“Most likely that was a final measure activated at the cost of his own life. He probably isn’t of this world anymore.”
“Tch… a victory run-away, huh…”
He did stab that saw-cleaver into his heart, after all…
If it costs his life, I could understand such outrageous destructive power.
But with this, the Knights of the Stigmata has lost another member and now have four remaining.
Counting the remaining ranks by their numbers—《The Second Stigmata》《The Third Stigmata》《The Sixth Stigmata》《Ths Seventh Stigmata》.
Kaine’s rank was 《The Fourth Stigmata》.
There are two people even stronger—this is going to be a harsh fight.
I forced my aching body and lifted my right arm.
“Damn… I lost… It’s infuriating! I thought I had gotten a lot stronger, but there’s always someone above you… Then I’ll just become stronger still…!”
Feeding off the defeat, I steeled myself with renewed resolve, preparing for the even fiercer battle that surely awaited with the Holy Church.
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