The Former Prodigy Vs. The Self-Proclaimed Varnir-Like Thing: Conclusion

“Do not screw with meeeeee!”

For the third time, the monster spewed flames.

The result was the same.

Slash.

My dagger tore through the vortex of flame along with the air. The monster kept spewing fire――but it was useless. I swung my dagger right and left in succession, cutting down the flames one after another.

Just like that, I strode toward the monster in long steps.

The monster stopped breathing fire and trembled. Its voice sounded utterly disbelieving.

“Why!? Y-you are cutting through flames!? H-how can that be possible!? Why!?”

I found it strange to the point of bewilderment.

What was there to be surprised about?

“Is it really that difficult?”

It was my first time trying it, but I did it easily. I probably could have done it on the very first day I ever picked up a sword.

“You cannot do it? Really? Something this trivial? What do you even have to do to be unable to do it? You should be able to do it like breathing, should you not? You should be able to do it like walking, should you not? Do you not know how to breathe? Do you not know how to walk? Why? How? There is no way you cannot do it. The world is made to work that way. It is the same logic as one plus one equaling two. It is the same logic as an apple falling to the ground if you drop it. And yet you say you cannot do it. I cannot understand that. Something this easy? Something this childish? Something this simple? Something this worthless?”

I let out a sigh and continued.

“This much is normal, is it not?”

“Gwooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!”

The monster let out a scream so loud it echoed through the entire room.

“Doooooo not screwwwwwwww with meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!”

While charging, it drew back its fist―― and swung it down at me!

Its charging speed, its striking speed. Everything about it was overwhelming. I could even feel the raw force of destruction itself in it.

It seemed that to surpass this――

I would have no choice but to get serious too.

It was not as though I had been holding back until now. I simply had never been able to get serious. There had been no need for me to get serious――and I had not possessed any Seriousium required to do so.

But right now, in my chest, there was at least a little bit of Seriousium.

――Big brother, you absolutely must not die, okay?

Along with Arisa’s voice, a little of it was born inside me.

If it was only for one second, then even I could become serious.

Now then, my soul――burn!

I advanced while narrowly dodging the monster’s attack, and as we passed one another, I sent my dagger flashing out.

Flash.

Less than a second later, I was standing behind the monster. My dagger was in my right hand. In the same position as before I moved.

I could have stopped there in a pose with the blade swung through―― but there was no point.

I had unleashed a thousand attacks in order to land a thousand slashes. After swinging my sword that many times, there was no meaning in stopping for some dramatic finishing pose.

I flicked my dagger, shaking the crimson liquid staining the blade down onto the floor.

At the same moment――

“Bueeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh!”

The monster screamed.

Countless cuts opened across its body, spraying fresh blood everywhere. Groaning, the monster collapsed to the floor.

Clink. I returned my dagger to its sheath.

Looking at me, the monster――the self-proclaimed Varnir――spoke.

“Y-you monster……”

“Hm? Did you only just now notice what you look like? That is right, you are a monster.”

I was only doing ordinary things in an ordinary way, after all…

The moment it heard my words, the self-proclaimed Varnir irritably tried to rise, but failed and collapsed facedown onto the floor again.

The sound that leaked from its mouth was not a curse―― but laughter.

“Heh heh heh heh heh……”

“What is so funny?”

“That I can drag you down with me!”

Flames burst from the slashes carved into the self-proclaimed Varnir’s body. Not just flames――light began leaking out as well.

I understood at once, by instinct.

He was going to explode――

“Hahahahahahahahaha! You alone I will never forgive! Dieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!”

With that scream, the self-proclaimed Varnir burst apart.

When my consciousness rose back up from the darkness, I smelled a scorched stench in my nose.

Coughing, I pushed myself upright, and the rubble around me clattered and crumbled away.

The Black Dragon’s Fang mansion where we had been was magnificently blown apart. It seemed I had been lying on top of the rubble after being blasted away.

Why had I survived――

Simply because I had deployed a magic barrier. Thanks to that, I managed to avoid his take-you-with-me attack, but――

“This situation is fairly grim……”

The source of the scorched smell was obvious. One look around me showed that the forest was burning.

…Well, that was only to be expected.

The forest was burning bright red with the mansion at the center of it.

If I stayed here, even I would eventually be roasted alive, or overcome by the polluted air, and before long I would be unable to move.

Of course, my own life mattered too, but―― the forest was in terrible shape as well.

The Great Forest did not bear that name for nothing. An enormous amount of natural resources existed here. If this was left alone, the forest would be burned to ashes.

Was there any way to do something about it?

Not that there was none.

I stood up and looked toward the sky.

A perfectly clear blue sky spread overhead, without a single cloud.

――In short, all I needed was for it to rain.