Episode 41

“Alrighty then! Feluart, gather up~”

“Tch…… what the hell, don’t get in my way.”

Feluart, who had been fighting Van and Eris, had his battle interrupted and looked displeased.

With Feluart’s temporary withdrawal, Van and the others regrouped as well. Their wariness grew, sensing that they might try something.

“Be careful…… dirty tricks are Pariaach’s specialty.”

“Huh? But I already set it up, you know?”

“!?——We’ve been had.”

A white domain spread out centered on Pariaach. The roadway was covered by a bizarre space extending over a wide area.

It had completely surrounded Van and the others.

“I see now. So that’s how it is.”

“The deal was that it’s fine to kill anyone other than the ‘Guide’ and the ‘key.’ Ah! But the fake saintess is an exception!”

“You really are a coward……”

Van and the others checked their surroundings. Other than the scenery turning pale white, there were no visible effects.

They could not sense any status ailments like poison, either.

“Is this just to stall for time too? I’m going in, Eris, buff me!”

Van dashed toward Pariaach and Feluart. He wrapped his blade in flames and went for a slash.

Combined with Eris’s support magic, it would become an even greater force.

“Leave it to me! ——!? This is……!?”

Van’s red-glittering sword flash closed in to cut down the two of them, but Feluart stopped it.

He caught it with one hand, as if to say it was no threat at all.

“What!?”

“So this is all you’ve got without support, Van?”

Van took Feluart’s kick head-on and was blown away. For some reason, the defensive buff that had been continuously active disappeared.

His defensive buff that had been maintained continuously had vanished for some reason.

“Humans are deeply connected to mana. A bond you can’t sever, no matter what.

So then…… what happens to you humans if that disappears?”

With Pariaach’s single remark, they understood everything.

“What is this!? I can’t feel any mana……”

“No good. The magic bullets are gone from my magic gun too.”

Seeing the state Eris and the others were in, Pariaach laughed with a cackle.

“Ahaha! You humans really are fragile. If you don’t have mana, you can’t do anything.

……Well, there was one weirdo, though. ——What’s wrong? Where’d all that spirit from before go!”

The mana bullets Pariaach released attacked Eris and the others carelessly. With even their physical enhancement restricted,

all they could do was barely dodge.

“Kh!? What is this?”

“There we go, here I come! With your favorite——Magic Missile.”

“Everyone! Gather around me! Sanctuary!”

They gathered at Ciel’s words. The mana bullets Pariaach fired were completely blocked by the silver barrier.

The bullets fired by Pariaach were completely blocked by the silver barrier.

“Hey, why can that one use her power?”

“……Just as I thought, the inheritors of the ‘key’ really are special. It seems they’re harder for me to interfere with.”

While maintaining the barrier, Ciel healed with sacred arts.

She had completely mastered Double Cast.

“That again? Same as last time. You haven’t grown at all.”

“Don’t get cocky…… Glanz, what is this?”

“It is likely one of the ancient magics. I can tell that it prevents the target from kneading mana, but Miss Ciel is, and Mr. Van seems to be an exception as well.”

“This isn’t the time to be calmly analyzing it! Take this!”

Iron fists wrapped in flames and kicks. Faced with a continuous barrage of martial techniques, Ciel could do nothing but defend.

Then Pariaach joined in as well.

““Dragon Wave Flame Kick!””

A fierce flaming assault unleashed from a chain of blows. Through that powerful combination technique,

Ciel’s barrier was mercilessly kicked apart, and the blast struck the five of them. They took the flames head-on and suffered burns.

Cough…… This is bad. If we can’t use magic—”

“Don’t start whining! If magic won’t work, then fight with what else you’ve got!”

What Eris pulled out was a spherical object. She threw it at Pariaach and Feluart.

——It hit perfectly, but there was no visible change in them.

“Huh? What the hell’s that? Is that your last bit of resistance?”

“Not yet. I still have this!”

Gripping a dagger, Eris charged at Feluart. If she could not knead mana, then there was no enhancement from buffs either.

Even so, Eris desperately kept clinging on.

Feluart, let down by how little it amounted to, dealt with her as if she were a nuisance.

“I’ve had just about enough of this annoyance, you small fry!”

“Switch with me, Eris!”

Van cut in between the two. Like Ciel, he seemed to still be able to use mana, but perhaps because he was injured,

blood was running from his head. The flames dwelling in his sword were smaller than before. He crossed blades with Feluart again, but in the end lost the contest and was knocked away together with Eris.

“O fake saintess who has nothing going for her except sacred arts. Come on, do something about this!”

Ciel and the others were pinned down by powerful gravity. Unable to move, their bodies creaked.

They literally could do nothing at all.

“Looks like they’re at their limit too…… Is this game over?”

Sparks scattered through the dark night. Metallic sounds echoed around from the fierce exchange.

A blade shining like the sun and a strangely gleaming longsword collided, shaking the air. The Sword Saint Masfelt and his son Elzen were locked in a desperate contest.

“Elzen. What is that sword?”

“There is no need for you, who are about to die, to know.”

Both men released flying slashes. A crimson blade and a jet-black blade darker than darkness collided in midair and scattered apart.

The swordsmanship the two of them used was strikingly similar.

“Is that sword so important that you can afford to leave Van unattended?”

“What a trivial little scheme. Since you cannot win by the sword, are you trying to shake me with wordplay? How far you’ve fallen.”

“Fool. Who was it that taught you that sword? The sight of you clinging to the Freak style—does it speak of longing for the past?”

From sword strike to blade lock. The two glared at each other from point-blank range.

To Masfelt, Elzen’s eyes were stained black just like his sword. They were overflowing with killing intent that seemed to shoot down the light from within the darkness.

(Elzen. I did not teach you the sword so that you would look at the world with such eyes. Will my words no longer reach you?)

The young Elzen who had asked Masfelt to teach him the sword with shining eyes. His beloved son, who never threw away his blade no matter how harsh the training was.

A smile that thought of others and lit up those around him—that was truly the essence of the Freak style.

He had believed Elzen would inherit his sword. ——He had wanted to believe it.

“The dead cannot return to this world no matter what happens. You are not someone who fails to understand that……”

“And now you preach morality? To me, who rejected the Freak style?”

A dim darkness overflowed from the longsword Elzen held. The darkness tried to swallow Masfelt, but the Sword Saint’s blade instead swallowed the shadow.

“Heat-Rising Flame Blade.”

Flames burst from the sword stabbed into the earth, and a pillar of fire rose skyward.

The flaming slash that dyed the dark night red swallowed Elzen up and raged wildly. It was a feat only Masfelt could achieve, manifesting such supernatural power through swordsmanship rather than magic.

“With this, it is over……!? Guf!? Gofyu……”

Masfelt clutched his chest and dropped to one knee. Cracks ran all over his body, and blood burst forth.

He vomited large amounts of blood from his mouth as well, and crimson flowers bloomed around him.

(So…… this is as far as I go. But with this, Elzen—)

“——Did you think I was dead?”

“!?”

A slash came from behind. Before he could defend, one of Masfelt’s arms was cut off.

He desperately dodged the next strike bearing down on him, but the merciless blade slashed open Masfelt’s throat.

(My arm and…… my throat, huh. But why? I certainly caught him.)

Ignoring the blood gushing out, he desperately widened the distance. By now, even the sensation of pain had vanished.

He could no longer feel pain.

“The only reason you cannot draw out the strength of your prime is not your illness alone. Your death is already decided. Even if I do not strike you down myself.”

The places he had been cut were writhing with the same darkness as the longsword Elzen held.

As if trying to erase Masfelt’s very existence—his soul itself.

“I have severed causality. Masfelt. You will no longer exist in the new world. You will no longer disgrace yourself in pathetic ugliness.”

Within his fading consciousness, he struggled desperately to stay sane, but the heat left his body and strength would not come.

He should have left behind at least some useful information, yet what rose in Masfelt’s mind were memories of days long past.

(Elzen. Forgive this worthless parent who could not clear away the darkness in your heart.)

The days they had spent training together, aiming for the ultimate height of the sword. They were painful, harsh, and yet joyful.

The days in which he could feel his son’s growth were more special than anything.

(Van. I made you feel lonely, didn’t I. I will not ask you to forgive me for leaving you behind alone——but)

He had not wanted his grandson to walk the same path as his son.

That was why he had even tried, on purpose, to keep him away from the path of the sword. But those who shared the same blood thought alike.

(I want you to stop Elzen. My foolish son——your father, who seeks to destroy the world.)

A shadow approached the collapsed Masfelt. Carrying a longsword beyond the laws of this world, it walked slowly toward him.

Though Elzen’s eyes were looking at Masfelt, they also reflected something far away—something else entirely.

“So this is your end. Farewell——”

The longsword was raised high. A deathly trajectory traced by darkness stretched toward the ground.

Masfelt could do nothing but watch now. ——Nothing but accept the ending that was coming.

“!? Guh…… you are—”

“It’s a real nuisance when someone doesn’t die even after having their heart pierced.”

A sword pierced through Elzen’s chest. The person who had appeared out of nowhere kicked Elzen away.

What entered Masfelt’s field of vision was a black-haired young man reflecting the moonlight.

(This man is……)

A young man in noble clothes who looked to be around Van’s age. In one hand he held a simply made sword.

He wore no armor, making him utterly ill-suited for a battlefield.

(Those are strong eyes. And yet…… they also seem sorrowful.)

In the young man’s eyes as he looked at Masfelt floated resolve, strong will, and somewhere within them, a shade of sadness.

It was obvious he had not merely happened to pass by. He was desperately resisting, trying to change something.

That sight overlapped with Masfelt’s own former self.

“………………”

“Do not open your mouth. You will only waste the little life you have left.”

With his throat slashed open, he could not properly form words.

And yet for some reason, the desire to convey something—to entrust something—rose within him, despite it being their first meeting.

“I heard about you. So you are Zeke Lagias.”

“As I thought, you really won’t die.”

“……Boy.”

The sword Zeke held had certainly caught Elzen. Proof of that was the large amount of blood clinging to the blade.

And yet Elzen stood upright as if nothing had happened.

“What is the master of a trading company doing in a backwater place like this? Have you started a business in murder as well? No, I suppose that was true from the start……”

“So it was you who had been skulking around and sniffing about like a rat?”

“Ha, don’t make me laugh. ——I’ll crush you head-on. That’s about all you lot are worth, isn’t it?”

When Elzen swung his sword once, space split open and a void spread out.

He put away the strange longsword he carried there and drew forth a new sword. He took a stance with it, and it was obvious at a glance that it was a masterwork.

“You are young. Are you satisfied after landing a single surprise attack?”

“The sight of you putting on airs against a sick man is unbearable to look at. It’s laughable.”

Their mana repelled each other, and the air trembled.

Two people, each resisting in an attempt to change something, collided violently.