Shinmai Maou no Keiyakusha Vol 5 Chapter 4
In the Wind Blowing Through the Battlefield
Part 1
Here, is a place is filled with tranquillity.
Built on the hill behind Wildart City – this wide area that was directly cut from the hill, is the Demon Lord Wilbert’s Temple.
--Currently, Nonaka Yuki is visiting the resting place of this great Demon Lord’s soul.
Of course, she wasn’t alone – Yuki was accompanying for this journey.
The one beside her was also accompanying to this place, Kurumi.
And before Yuki’s eyes was yet another person. Before the large tombstone of Wilbert, was a young girl firmly raising her head – Mio.
「——————」
From when they arrived here, it already has been thirty minutes, yet Mio remained standing there silently all this time. However—
—No matter how long she wants to stay, let her.
This was Mio’s first time coming to her biological father’s grave to pay her tributes. Since Yuki completely understood Mio’s history and current situation, she knew clearly that Mio now must have many different complex emotions within her.
That’s why – even though she couldn’t get a reply, there must be a lot she wants to say to Wilbert. Kurumi by her side also understood that, and also waited with no complaints with Yuki. Not long after—
“……Thank you, I’m fine now.”
After Mio said that, she returned back to Yuki and Kurumi’s sides with her back facing Wilbert’s tombstone.
“…Are you feeling better?”
Yuki’s question made Mio give a slight bitter smile.
“I don’t know~. I have never ever seen him, and this is only his grave. Even if you tell me that the one in there is my biological father, I won’t feel anything… I’m fickle, right?”
“No, I feel that that’s normal.”
With her two hands behind her head, Kurumi said while looking at Wilbert’s tombstone:
“I guess it won’t be normal for a person to be crying a lot when seeing the tombstone of a father that person has never seen before, it’ll be as if it was purely acting.”
“……Umn, you’re right.”
Thank you – saying that, Mio’s bitter smile became deeper. She might be wanting to seem as if nothing happened – but her expression showed her loneliness.
“………” “ ? What’s wrong, Yuki?”
Yuki’s gaze caused Mio to ask, and her expression returned to one that Yuki and Kurumi were familiar with. Hence, Yuki replied: [Nothing].
…I guess its fine even if she’s trying to be brave.
To that aspect of Mio, Yuki frankly felt admiration. Ever since they were born, Yuki and the others had received a Hero’s education as if it was natural and they were clear about their mission; but where Mio had started from was completely different – she had lived a normal person’s life, and treated herself as a normal young girl.
But one day, both her parents were killed – and thus learned that she was not a human but the Demon Lord’s daughter. But yet this young girl called Naruse Mio, basically point fingers of blame or held any hate towards anyone; no matter how frustrated, pained, or lost she became – she continued going forward; even if she had come to the Demon Realm to face her origins, that point still didn’t change.
“Right… Since we have already come here, are you clearer on what you plan to do?”
“…No. I thought a lot about it, but nothing came out of it yet.”
Mio shook her head while saying that.
--The moment Mio resolved herself on her decision, a chain of irreversible events would definitely occur.
Hence – even after coming to the Demon Realm for three days, she still hadn’t decided. As it would affect only just Mio, implicating Basara and the others, it also involved the future of the Demon Realm as a whole, so being hesitant about it was naturally unavoidable. Also—
…The reason Mio is hesitant, is because of that man…
In Nonaka Yuki’s mind, the current leader of the Moderates Faction Ramusas surfaced. n.o.body knows just what he was planning; Klaus appeared every day to speak with Mio, and Ramusas persistently rejected meeting with Mio these three days.
Without being able to meet with both sides, a suitable decision of course can’t be made. In truth – before Mio had come to the Demon Realm, she had already made it clear to Yuki and the others that she had no intention at all of becoming the new Demon Lord. So going by the current situation, the only options would be complying with Ramusas’s request, to have the power handed over to the Moderates Faction, or to return to the Human Realm as they are now. And since Ramusas rejected meeting with Mio, the choice they should make was obvious.
…But still,
The reason Mio was so hesitant, was that she was worried that she might fall into some dangerous circ.u.mstances if she were to reject the Moderates Faction’s request. The reason she was still able to live despite the threat of the Current Demon Lord faction is all Maria’s credit – in other words a gift from the Moderates Faction. Despite having defeated Zolgear after so much trouble, the Current Demon Lord Faction is still very well and healthy, so receiving an attacking anytime would be normal.
Under these conditions, she would be helpless if she were to reject the Moderates Faction’s request. As the Heroes see Mio as a Demon, they would see the Current Demon Lord attacking her as an internal strife, thus only remaining on the sidelines.
…Then again,
If they were to become the enemies of the Moderates Faction, Maria would be faced with a dilemma. Even if Maria had said that she was prepared to leave the Moderates Faction if necessary and move together with Mio; still, after seeing Maria’s tears after learning of Sheera’s safety and being free from Zolgear’s coercion, she won’t be able to agree to Maria leaving behind her family’s feelings. Having once lost her family – Mio who was unable to escape her pain prior to meeting Basara, definitely does not hope for Maria to go through the same pain.Besides—
…Ever since before we came to the Demon Realm, Basara has always been very worried about Zest.
And now, there is no need to be so worried for her already. Because on the night they had come to the Demon Realm, Zest had made the Master-Servant Contract with Basara under Sheera’s proposal, so right now her position is similar to Mio and Yuki. If they were to speak of complaints to Basara making the Master-Servant Contract with the former enemy Zest, of course there would be some—
…However,
Before everyone came to the Demon Realm, Basara had said that if there was a need, they might return together with Zest; so after finding out about their Master-Servant Contract, the waves of complaints Yuki and the others had were small – except for the unsatisfied Kurumi.
…But,
Basara had accepted Mio who had lied to him, and had forgiven Maria who had once a.s.sisted Zolgear. Someone like that choosing to accept Zest, could be said was something to be expected. Mio and Maria’s positions were quite similar to Zest, so they were in no position to say anything.
As for Yuki – it was because Basara was someone who was so kind and wished to protect her who was important to him, that she became attracted to him. Right now, Zest probably was also enchanted by Basara, and thinking about the needs for the future, being able to have some like Zest who could fight so well put her mind at ease.
Since – she had learned of it afterwards, the reason Basara had made the Master-Servant Contract with Basara was that Basara had Ramusas had almost entered into an explosive situation with each other, which also caused his absence back then. With opposition from the leader of the Moderates Faction which limited Basara’s actions with forbidding entry to this Wilbert’s temple, he had to stay behind in the city together with Zest and Maria.
Speaking of which, no matter what their reason for going against each other was, Yuki and Kurumi how were Heroes had managed to get permission to enter this temple while Basara who was once a Hero was denied permission, so they really can’t understand on what basis they were making their decisions from. No matter what – even they themselves don’t have complete freedom with their actions, with Lucia and Klaus each sending a maidservant who were waiting outside monitoring them. But even then—
“That person called Ramusas… just what is he even thinking?”
Returning on the dark outdoor pa.s.sage, Kurumi said while walking in front of Yuki and Mio.
“If that old man called Klaus still wants to buy time now, it wouldn’t be difficult to understand…”
“……Unn.” “……..”
Mio nodded at Kurumi’s words, while Yuki expressed her agreement while remaining silent. It was because of Klaus’s side who was pushing for Mio to become the new Demon Lord, who was causing Mo to want to stay longer in the Demon Realm, deepening her feelings towards the Moderates Faction – as well as to Wilbert and Wildart’s civilians, and obtain victory from that; Ramusas who wanted to extract Wilbert’s power from Mio, probably wants to make a quick decisive end to the war.
…Just what is that man…?
From the viewpoint of the surrounding people, this situation disadvantageous to Ramusas, was all completely his own fault. So, could it be that he has got some ulterior motives that had not been seen by anyone else yet?
「————————」
As Yuki began to harbour some unexplainable uneasiness, while they were still within a pa.s.sageway,
The surface of the temple, began shaking together with the atmosphere.
“—Earthquake?”
“Run! –To outside!”
The three of them began running.
--This temple was completely carved out, just like its pa.s.sageways.
While the inside of the temple had a barrier to prevent the use of magic to prevent damage by vandals and the surrounding areas had something similar set up to prevent damage due to disasters, the tunnels and pa.s.sageways might have a different story to tell. If they were to be blocked from the exit by the rubble if the ceiling collapses, they won’t be able to escape in this place where they were unable to use magic – hence, the three of them ran through the pa.s.sages without even taking time to draw a breath,
Even if the trembles were to stop, they had no way to know if it would get stronger or weaker if it started again. So in order to try to preserve their lives in this kind of situation where anything could happen anytime, they had to leave this temple as soon as possible.
“—I see the exit!”
With Kurumi’s shout, rays of light from the outside came into their view – and immediately after, the three of them left the pa.s.sageways. Firstly, they had to confirm the current situation.
“—you two, are you fine!?”
Mio asked aloud. The question was not directed to Yuki and Kurumi, but the maidservants who had followed them. While the two of them who were waiting for them to return were fine—
『……………………』
They gave to reactions at all to Mio’s concern.
They only stood there, not moving at all while looking towards the inside of Wildart City from the top of the Hill. And in the next moment, they then saw what the maidservants were seeing after following their line of sight.
“That is-- ……”
The city wall was broken through, and enemies were storming into the city.
However, those maids wouldn’t be stupidly standing there if it was just simply an attack from the enemy. They would’ve at least entered the temple to inform them of the emergency situation and helped Mio to get to safety.
Then – just what could have caused them to forget even that? The answer, was in the scene Yuki and the other were currently seeing. Even though the distance between the hill and the urban areas of the city was as big as Wildart City itself, they could clearly see the figures of the [Enemy] invaders.
“…Just what is that—“
Beside Kurumi, Yuki muttered, at a loss. Something which was incredibly unbelievable, was currently happening before her eyes.
The figures of three giant colossus, invaded into Wildart.
Part 2
There was a person, who was currently watching the chaotic situation in Wildart.
Standing on one of the shoulders of the giant spirit[1], looking down at the people screaming and running away in a panic, was Gardo who had voluntarily headed the attack on Wildart City.
…I’m impressed.
Gardo silently praised Luca who had managed to complete the tuning on the spirits in such a short time. That young child had taken care of it all from restoring them to even setting Gardo as their master, to the point where they were ready for battle. Although there were even stronger spirits excavated in those remains, it was easier to lose control the more power they had, and since there was not enough time to forge new Master-Servant Contracts for this battle, this was currently enough.
“—d.a.m.ned Monster!”
In order to buy time for the civilians to escape, a group of people who looked like the guards for the city attempted a barrage of attacks. Many magic circles opened up on the ground – and countless lights flew towards Gardo and the spirits, but—
“……--Smash them.” 【【【——————】】】
Reacting towards the order Gardo sent out, the spirits immediately reacted. They raised their right fists, and sent it flying towards the soldiers on the ground while the attacks bounced off them – in the next moment, a deafening shock resounded out. The ground was sputtered like a giant blast had happened, and a small sandstorm appeared. Immediately after – the spirits pulled back their fists and after the dust settled, what was revealed were the craters from the impact as well as the unidentifiable remains of soldiers from before. The civilians who had witnessed that—
“ ! ! ! –Uuaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!!!!”
They severely panicked, and began desperately to try to escape.
When Gardo saw this—
“Wow… They really are amazing~”
A completely relaxed voice came from a nearby building where its roof has collapsed. When Gardo turned to look, a young high-cla.s.s demon was there. That demon, was sent to supervise them, by the Council who had order Leohart utilize the spirits to invade Wildart.
“That spirits degree of perfection seems really high. And so it would seem, that there would be a need for me to make a move at all, then.”
“Of course… Right from the start, I had never considered about borrowing your strength.”
“That’s really impolite of you. Speaking of which, Gardo-dono – I had sent through a Ultimatum[2] not long ago telling them to hand over Wilbert’s daughter, and the nearby forces should probably be receiving news soon and would only be dispatching troops with caution – but however, why did you just simply let those civilians go just now?”
“…What do you mean, Nebula?”
The supervisor whose name was called out, then faced Gardo who asked him with a shallow smile and said:
“The ultimatum was sent using broadcast magic, so the civilians of the city would now know about her being here. The number of people who disliked Ramusas’s methods isn’t small, and if everyone were to find out that he concealed the big news of the sole daughter of the great previous Demon Lord – right now, the city is being attacked because of that girl. Thus, the peoples’ discontent towards him, would definitely begin to turn into anger.”
That’s why – Nebula continued:
“Right now we should be working harder – and murder these civilians. If that happens, the Moderates Faction would automatically crumble apart from within. This is such a great opportunity, so how can you just let it pa.s.s so simply?”
“…………Listen closely, Nebula.”
“Yes, what are your orders, Gardo-dono?”
Nebula replied impertinently with a smile towards Gardo who shouted at him with a low voice.
“The orders the Council had given you, should be to supervise the status of the battle with the spirits, so stop spouting nonsense. If you dare to do unneeded things – beware of yourself turning into meat sc.r.a.ps.”
“……….……..I understand. You are the most outstanding one amongst the candidates chosen to take after Wilbert, so I am not stupid enough to take you on as my enemy. Unless the situation becomes grave, I will basically stick to my orders to supervise and remain watching by the side-lines and learn from watching you.”
“………”
Gardo showed no reaction to Nebula giggling while shrugging his shoulders, and only said:
“Before they hand over Wilbert’s daughter to us, we will be splitting to take three routes. Ignore those civilians, Leohart doesn’t like needless killing. However – if anyone dares to get in our way, annihilate them.”
【【【——————】】】
Receiving Gardo’s orders, light appeared in the spirits’ eyes.
Facing forward while standing on a spirits shoulder, Gardo said:
“Destroy your target, Wildart City – begin attack!”
Part 3
On the hill, Naruse Mio saw those giants begin moving together.
Despite splitting to take three routes, it was clearly obvious their target was Wildart City.
“s.h.i.t – this is bad!”
As Mio and the others realised the enemy’s plan and wanted to return to the city as soon as possible—
“—Mio-sama! You’re alright!”
Someone ran up the mountain out of breath – the maidservant Noel.
Stopping before Mio and after taking a deep breath in relief:
“…This is great. Does anyone of you have any injuries?”
“We’re fine. Noel, what is going on right now?”
Noel answered seriously towards Mio who was still somewhat unclear:
“The Current Demon Lord Faction came. While we don’t know where they got the information from… they said something like that you had inherited his majesty Wilbert’s power and as it might trigger a new wave of fighting, they want to use this attack to prevent any possible future conflicts from happening.”
In other words—
“If we want them to stop – we will have to hand you over to them.”
“What, that completely outrageous… so that means that the Moderates Faction having power is dangerous, yet them having power is not?”
Kurumi said indignantly.
“Since from a long time ago, they have been searching for Mio-sama, wishing to gain his majesty’s power. In order to increase their control over the Demon Realm, they might do things that seem completely outrageous – that was what Lucia-sama had said.”
Hearing Noel’s explanation—
“—we understand the situation, but just what are those giants?”
Yuki asked with a heavy expression. Although they can speculate on their enemy’s intentions, but speculations will remain as speculations, the answer will only be known by the enemy; so what they should be doing right now, was to deal with the danger before them.
“Although we have been unable to confirm that – Klaus-sama had said that that probably are the spirits from the ancient times.”
“In other words, also enemies… Alright, watch me kill them a hundred times and grill them black.”
Mio then asked again with a [ah]:
“What about Basara and the rest, are they in the city?”
“Because of the emergency situation, we had asked them to go into the city to help – Basara-dono and Zest together as a group, and with Maria and Sheera-sama together as another group, they went to confront the enemy.”
Since this was a period of time where the Current Demon Lord Faction and the Moderates Faction were at war, they could attack each other at any time. Hence, Mio and the others had already decided what action to take when something happened – if the civilians were to be involved in the battle, all of them are to help. Thus—
“Basara-dono had asked me to pa.s.s this message – Yuki-dono and Kurumi-dono, please obstruct the giants coming from the West side.”
“I got it – Kurumi”
“---No problems here.”
With that, the two of them moved without hesitation. When Yuki had started to ask Kurumi, Kurumi had already finished summoning flying magic – the two of them instantly flew through the air.
“W-Wait a moment – bring me along with you!”
However, Mio who had shouted towards the vanishing figures was blocked by Noel’s arms.
“You can’t. Mio-sama, you have to remain here, until the battle ends!”
“Let me go! …Why are you stopping me, is that Klaus-san’s order?!”
Being glared at by Mio, Noel met het glare while looking directing into her eyes and said:
“That’s right – however, Lucia-sama and Basara-dono also agreed with Klaus-sama.”
“No way… Why?”
Mio asked, dumbfounded.
“If Mio-sama were to appear now, you would be doing exactly what the enemy what you to do. The most effective way to make the Current Demon Lord Faction to take responsibility for this a.s.sault, is to let their reason for attacking become untenable[3]!”
“But… for that, isn’t the Current Demon Lord Faction originally in the wrong for attacking?”
“I understand what you are trying to say, feelings cannot be applied to things like this – that is the nature of politics, Mio-sama. Not letting the enemy bring out their trump card while dealing another blow to them, this is politics.”
“But… if I were to just remain hiding here, I—“
“I understand how you feel! However, as Mio-sama was in Wilbert’s temple, she did not hear the enemy’s broadcast using magic telling of their reason for attacking and their demand for to hand you over to them, causing people to panic and grab the soldiers helping to guide them into the castle to seek refuge to ask just what is going on.”
Thus—
“If you were to show yourself now, the civilians’ anger might very well gather onto you alone; even if we manage to successfully repel this attack, Ramusas-sama and Klaus-sama might lose the people’s trust it might even lead to a rebellion. If you are unable to restrain yourself here, we will stop you at full force!”
“I—“
Hearing Noel’s pained indictment, Mio couldn’t help but stand there at a loss – and at this moment, the ground-shaking effects of an attack reached them.
“---!”
An attack then landed on the ground in the city at that moment, causing Noel to suddenly collapse and huddle up on the ground, and after that—
“Oh my G.o.d…”
Mio could only whisper that out having just saw that. The spirit walking through the Central Avenue made large craters with every step it made, trampling over the soldiers attempting to obstruct it. And as for the soldiers flying in the sky, only less than half the original number still remained. Soldiers with their bodies burst open, as well as soldiers flying like fireworks[4] were flying through the air everywhere in Wildart city – and after a spirit attacked with a kicked, everything in path were flattened.
Part 4
In the path of the kick, a group were huddled up together.
They were the soldiers for the City. They had tried attacking from its sides, as well as trying to draw near it by approaching on a path parallel to it, but they were in the end caught up in the crossfire by another attack team. And right now—
“…Guu….aaA, uuh…. d.a.m.n-- ……!”
Amongst the remains of the houses. .h.i.t by the attack, someone was still breathing. That someone was Glen who was taught a lesson by Basara in that narrow alley behind the café.
Despite blood flowing out from various parts of his body like his head and his abdomen, Glen stood up and surveyed his surroundings.
In this neighbourhood, every single building have already become uninhabitable.
The other soldiers in the same team as him – other than Glen himself, no one managed to retain their lives.
“…One after another, just what the h.e.l.l…”
The time where Glen had come to Wildart City, was after Wilbert’s death – when the Moderates Faction was doing a large-scale recruitment. He had originally chosen to take refuge in the Current Demon Lord Faction whose power had begun to grow back then, but what had caused him to change his mind was that even if he managed to gain no prominent achievements in the Great War, we would definitely be able to gain a job in the government sector as part of the package to appease the public when they lose their troops after Wilbert’s death.
And sure enough, Glen was enlisted to be one of the city’s guards. However, as Glen had only chosen the Moderates Faction in order to get a free job, he held no feelings and relegations to his current job and to this city – at the very least, he used to think that way. However, with how dull life became with the days crawling by, he would begin to habitually visit certain shops to eat and drink, and enjoy his days with the like-minded. In the last resort Glen had taken by choosing the Moderates Faction, he had knowingly managed to gain some things of his.
And right now – as of now, everything before Glen’s eyes had disappeared. And the culprit, is the Current Demon Lord’s giant spirit.
“ ! -----”
Tightly gritting his teeth, Glen deployed the flying magic built into the back of his armour, locked both his eyes and began heading straight for the spirit who did the damage. On its shoulder, there appears to be the high-cla.s.s demon manipulator. After destroying so many buildings and killing so many soldiers, they still continued onwards as if not bothered by it at all. Hence—
“ ! …JUST WHAT THE h.e.l.l DO YOU EVEN THINK YOU ARE DOING!!!”
Glen screamed with his all, discharged attack magics towards the spirit. He shot electrical b.a.l.l.s from his right hand, and while it travelled in a straight line while discharging some of its energy to its surroundings, it burst explosively on the forehead of the spirit.
“Haa….aahhh… Now know just how powerful I am right…..---?”
That attack just now was one that he had put his all in. Originally it was just to vent some of his hate and anger, but yet as if to mock him, the spirit continued onwards as if that attack just now was nothing more than a gust of wind. When Glen froze up from losing his train of thought from that, the spirit sent its right fist flying backwards without even looking back, blowing away the roofs of the nearby still-standing buildings.
“------Ah.”
By the time he had noticed the move, a large piece of debris was already right before his eyes.
Without even a moment to blink, just as the debris was about to smash in Glen awaiting his death – a magic circle suddenly opened up before him as if to protect him, and the debris broke up into dust upon hitting the magic circle and fell onto the ground. With the sudden change in situation, Glen couldn’t process what had just happened—
“That isn’t someone you can fight against – hurry up and fall back, leave this place to us.”
A calm voice came from in front of him. When Glen looked up to take a look—
“…! Aren’t you…?”
It was a woman that he was familiar with. There’s no mistaking it, even if she isn’t wearing a maid’s uniform now, she is undoubtedly the one Glen remembered – Zest. However, her sight wasn’t on him right now, but instead on something else. That something else, was a youth running towards the spirit with a large demonic sword in his hand.
“That person—“
Glen had seen that youth before, and he would definitely never forget the look of that person who had bitterly humiliated him before.
But – within his anger, what Glen felt was surprise.
He had jumped away at the moment the attack landed. Jumping around amidst the flying debris of the buildings – the youth who landed on the arm of the spirit quickly ran up to its shoulder towards the high-cla.s.s demon, and swung his sword at him.
“…………”
In response, the high-cla.s.s demon raised his right hand and a wall appeared to defend against the attack, yet—
“OOOooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!”
With an energetic roar, the youth brought down his sword with great speed and cut the wall into two, and continued approaching the high-cla.s.s demon.
「——————」
With his defence cut down, the high-cla.s.s demon was forced to retreat, and jumped backwards off the spirits’ shoulder. The youth also jumped off the shoulder going after him in mid-air.
“Isn’t that…”
The youth wasn’t using flying magic at all. The flying debris from the destroyed buildings, had become a solid trail used by him to move.[5]
The cause of that was a magic from Zest who was in front of Glen.
“I will say it once more – hurry up and fall back.”
Zest left behind these words without even turning back to look at him, and flew towards the spirit – high-cla.s.s demon vs the youth, and Zest vs spirit, with that, the battles began.
In a place Glen can never reach.
Gardo saw that youth, walk on a footpath created from the debris.
…Is that Zest’s handiwork?
Underneath him, a female demon began fighting with the spirit whose shoulder he was riding on until just now. Gardo had known that under the Council’s Zolgear, there was a trusted aide known as Zest. Although he had known she specializes at earth magic, he had never witnessed her battle. Being able to avoid its attacks while fighting the spirit while supporting each other, indeed only these two were left. Reportedly, Gardo had heard that she had sought refuge in the Moderates Faction after her master Zolgear died – but seeing her battle now, it appears that the death of her master doesn’t seems to be affecting her. After Gardo ordered the spirit to eliminate Zest—
【——————】
The spirits recognised Zest as its enemy, and thus began the real battle against her.
…And next,
Gardo returned his attention back to the human youth sprinting towards him. Before he reduced the distanced between them too much, Gardo expanded numerous magic circles around him – and in the next moment, countless fireb.a.l.l.s were shot towards the youth.
「！————」
The youth immediately reacted, gripping his sword in reverse, he swept out the footpath Zest had created. The fireb.a.l.l.s then hit the debris indiscriminately, turning it into dust, and since the debris became an interference against the attack—
ZzzBoomboomboomboomboomboomboomboom!
Gardo’s fireb.a.l.l.s exploded upon hitting the debris – and thus causing a chain explosion. Immediately after that—
“…---Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaahh!!”
The youth broke through the screen of explosions and continued towards him. Facing his cleave while he was twisting his body, Gardo engaged it while sending demonic power into his right shoulder.
In the next moment, just as the youth’s demonic sword made contact with Gardo’s shoulder—
*Kake*————————————————！
With that sharp shock resounding from mid-air in Wildart City, the two of them confronted each other in mid-air.
“…Toujou Basara, right?”
Gardo’s words caused Basara’s expression to slightly tighten up.
“The report had said, Wilbert’s daughter was being protected by Jin·Toujou’s son.”
“………”
The youth gave no reply, but it was obviously acquiescence. [6]
From just now, he knew Basara is a speed type. Able to quickly ascertain the situation and then use the most streamlined method to evade or defend, and then retaliate with no lag at all—
…I see, his skill isn’t bad at all.
In Lars’s report, he had managed to fight with Zolgear for quite some time – but seeing his reaction speed, he would be able to put up a good fight against Zolgear even if they weren’t evenly matched. Since not much time had pa.s.sed since his fight with Zolgear, it just shows just how much he had grown in this short period. However—
“…You’re too careless.”
Gardo said while looking at Basara in his eyes:
“Even if you are planning to hide Wilbert’s daughter, by standing out here so stupidly, you’re directly telling me that she’s right here in this city.”
“Is that so? Does me appearing here, really mean that Mio is definitely here in this place? Your words have no concrete proof, and they’re nothing more than speculation. I had heard that your reason for attacking was because that Mio was hiding here—“
The youth finally opened his mouth, and said with a shallow smile:
“—But could it be that just because Jin·Toujou’s son is here, you guys had taken it as that Wilbert’s daughter is also here, and thus attacked? If such a ridiculous reason was let known, you’ll be the laughing stock of the big guns of the other forces.” Hearing Basara’s words, Gardo frankly replied:
“After I deal with you and your companions, and after I find her, you can have as much legitimacy of the reason of this attack as you want.”
“Similarly – if you and those spirits are defeated, forget Mio, when even your presence is questionable, your reason for attacking will also crumble.”
“--Do you really think you are able to do that?”
“That’ll be difficult to say…”
Basara’s expression suddenly became serious.
“If I have no other choice other than to defeat you here, I will do it – that is the reason I am here right now.”
Basara said while gazing firmly at Gardo, his voice completely void of complacency in being able to defeat Gardo and filled with the determination to win no matter what. Hence—
“—alright, I will fight against you for a while, Toujou Basara.”
Gardo said:
“However – if you really want to defeat me, shouldn’t you call your other companions over? Although Zest is present to fight the spirit, there are still two more of them, you know?” If you were slow, Wildart City might be flattened just like that you know?”
Basara replied with a short laugh:
“Thank you for your advice – but something like is obvious.”
At that time, Gardo heard a sound from somewhere far away.
Turning to look, the spirit entering the city from the east had received an attack to the side of its head and thus lost balance.
He saw someone else in battle with an spirit apart from Basara and Zest.
The shadows of two persons moved around the spirit quickly – and after seeing the owners of the shadows, Gardo’s eyes narrowed.
“That – that pair of succubus sisters?”
Part 5
In the path of the spirit at the east side, are Lucia and Maria.
“Although girls do like tall men, taking it a tad too far would instead have the opposite results, you know – you marionette♪”
To the grinning little sister who delivered a strong punch to the spirit’s cheek and caused it to sway—
“Refrain from idle chatting in battle, Maria—“
Lucia who had also donned her battle wear said. She was standing on top of a streetlight, and the giant spirit was right in front of her.
“Also, you shouldn’t be hitting its cheek, but instead here.”
What Lucia then sent out, was the whip in her right hand. In that moment with the light and boom, the attack originating from below the spirit swept across its lower jaw. Receiving another attack on the opposite side of its face compared to Maria’s attack, the spirit struggled to maintain its balance.
“It is easy to rock the opponent’s head in this place. But to someone like you who is a melee fighter, how could you not know such basic knowledge…”
Lucia said while sighing:
“Furthermore, this is a defensive battle. Even if our primary objective is to defeat the enemy, you have to think through your actions to try to reduce the damage to the surroundings. Even if other people can’t do it, how can we not even try to protect our own home?”
After realizing Lucia’s intentions are to stop the spirits from destroying the city—
“Ah! I’m sorry, Lucia-oneesama. Then I’ll just—“
Maria hurriedly apologised, and ran towards the spirit on the wall. However—
【………………】
The spirit saw through her plan, swung out its left arm to hit Maria.
「Hoom!」The air resounded as the giant arm picked up speed aiming at Maria.
…d.a.m.n!
Lucia subconsciously wanted to lash out her whip to a.s.sist Maria, as there was no footing at all in mid-air for her – and thus her familiar little sister can’t avoid that attack. But—
“—Oh!”
Maria leisurely twisted her body around, using inertia to hit her tail on the arm – and using it as a pivot, she pushed herself under the arm, and only air pa.s.sing by hit her, leaving her safe and sound.
「——————」
As Lucia was shocked at Maria quick reaction, having been forced under the arm away from her original target of its lower jaw, Maria still haven’t given up on her target and then grabbed onto the spirit’s left collarbone and forcefully did a vertical flip upwards, jumping up and—
“Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!”
Following up with a roar, she used her all to kick at its lower jaw from directly below, and then fell downwards—
“How was that, Onee-sama, was it good!?”
Tuning backwards to look, Lucia saw an expression she was very familiar with on Maria’s face. No matter what, seeing her little sister all grown up after separating from her for a little while—
…She had gotten, a lot stronger.
It was probably the many battles she had been through together with Basara and Mio. Even though she had realised that fact from the reports she received, actually witnessing Maria’s growth made her feel proud – as well as some melancholy. However—
“All that did was to change the direction it will fall, so it will still just destroy the buildings in the city!”
Lucia sighed at Maria searching for a reaction from her: [What a silly child]. After that she jumped from the lamp post and landed on the roof of a building, and then lashed out her whip once again. With another boom, the spirit who received another attack at the back of its head once again stood upright.
“Listen closely, Maria – against a gigantic enemy like this one, you have to knock it down while trying not to knock him over.”
“Uhh, wouldn’t that mean that we have to try to defeat it without defeating it, one-sama… [7] Is that really possible?”
“No, it isn’t. In the past when I was studying the books the humans read, there were many suitable methods for taking down an enemy like this described.”
If I remember it right—
“It something like after attacking its face on the right, attack its face on the left at the same time. In other words – if we attack it on both sides at the same time, there most likely shouldn’t be any problems. If there’s a right, there has to be a left; if there’s an up, there has to be a down; similarly, after attacking it from both sides, we just have to attack it on both side again.”
“I-I see. But I don’t think that it means what you think it means… [8] Speaking of which, coming up with a battle strategy like that just from that… as expected of onee-sama.”
“That’s of course. When I first read that line, I had first thought it meant that to get rid of a problem, you have to deal with it at its root. I had never expected for the Human’s literature to describe such an effective method for dealing with gigantic enemies.”
Lucia’s recollected, and then returned her sights towards the spirit—
“Although splitting up to attack would be fine, but since it is us two – match up with me well, Maria.”
“—Yes!”
Nodding, Maria gathered up her spirit and then began the attack on the spirit for real. Lucia’s whips, with Maria’s fist and kicks; the succubus sisters’ matched attacks explosively enveloped the spirit’s body. Within the heavy sounds of impact from Maria and sharp crackling sounds from Lucia’s whip, the contrasting sounds seemed to be part of a play, interacting with each other lively – progressively turning into a symphony – Lucia’s whip crackling being the riffs and Maria’s punches and kicks being the melody.
【————————】
Maria and Lucia’s combo gave no time at all for the spirit to defend itself, much less avoiding or returning attacks. But, seemingly as if having just too much fun, Maria who lept from the spirit’s shoulder to deliver a kick—
“Ahahahaha! – Another one!”
With the point of impact on its right cheek, an especially deep reverb resounded out. After eating such a great attack, the giant body of the spirit began falling over towards the left at a speed Lucia was unable to cancel it out with her whip. Hence—
“Mnn… This is bad.”
Lucia immediately moved without turning an eye at Maria’s performance, and shifted the target of her whip from the spirit to Maria. It’s not to attack, but after wrapping the whip tightly around Maria’s ankle after she had just sent out the spinning kick, in the next moment—
“Eh….HYYyyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa------!!”
Maria released a shrill scream. Lucia had then forcefully swung her right arm, swinging the whip which had wrapped around Maria’s ankle, making the one who had momentarily forgot about her responsibilities take responsibility by slamming her into the spirit’s left cheek.
With a sound effect where [Pam!] would be exaggerating, the spirit which had begun to fall regained its balance. Maria’s body, was currently stuck on the spirit’s cheek in a 「大」 shape.
“Uuuu…Lucia-oneesama, how could you do this to me…”
“You’re the one who went wild while co-operating with me, and I only returned the favour to you.”
It was just as Lucia was coldly staring while answering the complaining Maria, a new development occurred across the city.
【——————】
The spirit invading Wildart City from the west, went down on its knees after receiving an attack. And after that – a shadow descended at high speed towards the spirit.
“…They’ve made it.”
Lucia said while continuing to lash out her whip at the einher right before her eyes.
There’s no mistaking it – they are, that pair of sisters who have just rushed to the battlefield.
Nonaka Yuki, and Nonaka Kurumi, the pair of Hero sisters.
Part 6
The shockwave Nonaka Yuki had sent out from [Sakuya], had successfully stopped the giant spirit from continuing its advance.
But that was all that had done. The spirit would quickly stand up again and look towards them who were approaching from the air. This fact—
…Fuji’s protection really does not extend to here.
Caused Yuki to have a bitter expression. The spirit sword [Sakuya] was born from the rich energy at the mountain peak in the sacred forest, thus in the Human world, the closer it was to Mt. Fuji, it would be able to release more power closer to its original power – However, the attack Yuki had just sent out was far from standards.
Coming to this place that was in a different dimension from the Human Realm, had a really large effect on it. It was similar to the effect she had received within Zolgear’s specially constructed s.p.a.ce and barrier to hide himself – but comparing with that time, she was able to put out sufficient battle power back then.
…However,
Complaining wouldn’t change anything, and Yuki had no intention to do that. Back in the Human Realm, the Demons Maria and Mio who inherited Wilbert’s bloodline was also carrying the same burden.
--Since they were able to continue fighting to this day, it was now her turn to bring out her battle power. After all, the one who had decided to come to the Demon Realm was Yuki herself. It doesn’t matter if it was for Basara, for Mio – or for herself, she can’t become a burden to the rest. Thus—
“Kurumi – move as according to our original plan.”
“But one… the [Sakuya] right now—“
Despite Kurumi saying so worriedly while using flying magic while holding onto her, Yuki still gently shook her head.
“No need to worry, I still have things that I need to do – you too probably should focus on what you should do.”
“……”
“—Kurumi.”
After Yuki said that tiredly in a reprimanding tone, Kurumi took an action – expanding a magic circle.
“I’m starting, onee…” “Nn – please do.”
Yuki nodded, and Kurumi activated the wind magic and sent out a ma.s.s of air, and its target – was the air around Yuki. Thus in the next moment—
「——————」
Nonaka Yuki, together with the air around her, was catapulted at high speed downwards towards the spirit. In the moment she pa.s.sed by the giant spirit in the gust of wind, she swept [Sakuya] in a straight line downwards at its head, and a strong feedback was returned to her arm. Hence—
「——————！」
Yuki’s expression immediately turned grave. The feedback [Sakuya] returned was too strong, which meant that the blade was completely deflected and did not cut into its target. It had the power of Kurumi’s magic supporting it, and her current high speed had increased the force of the slash by a lot – but yet she was unable to slash into the spirit’s body.
Thus Yuki immediately jumped sideways away upon landing, and the ground she had landed on was covered by a large black shadow – [Booom!] and an explosive impact rang out. The spirit and stamped the ground with its left foot. Yuki who had forcefully managed to avoid the stamp—
“Kuu…!!”
Her posture suddenly collapsed. The spirit’s stamp which had broken the ground also let out a strong air shockwave – and had impacted onto Yuki who was in mid-air.
【——————】
The spirit’s attack with its left foot didn’t just end there. With a small movement, it also swept out its right foot using the left foot as a pivot. The instep flew towards her at a speed surpa.s.sing her expectations, almost immediately. Yuki immediately used [Sakuya] to draw out a pentacle[9], and with it becoming a wall right before the attack hit her, she managed to preserve her life, but—
“Aaaaaaaa -----!!”
She was blown away like an artillery sh.e.l.l along with a shrill scream, together with the wall.
…This bad, with this speed……!!
While amidst turbulence, Nonaka Yuki’s anxiety instantly rose. Despite being able to avoid being instantly pulverized by the spirit’s feet attack, if she were to hit a stone wall at this speed, not even half of Nonaka Yuki’s body would remain in a piece – an instant death.
…Please let it be on time!
Yuki desperately swung out [Sakuya], and expanded a magic circle behind her. Even if it wasn’t enough, it’s enough if this could be ended with just fractures or damage to her internal organs. However—
「！————？」
The impact from behind her had hit her much earlier than expected, causing Yuki’s subconsciousness to think that she was dead, but it then changed quickly. What Yuki had hit wasn’t a solid wall of a building--
“……Water?”
Despite being in water, Yuki spoke, confused. A ma.s.s of water containing oxygen which allowed a person to breathe within it had caught the flying Yuki as a cushion. The one who had used this magic to save her, was of course—
“Kurumi--…”
Yuki found Kurumi’s figure on the top of a building not too far away. At her little sister looking at her with worried eyes—
”————Sorry, I became a burden.”
Yuki apologised while biting her lip. The original plan – was to let Yuki who was unable to use [Sakuya]’s full power be the bait, and then for Kurumi who had received the black elementals from Lucia and had become able to use the Demon Realm’s spirits to use magic to eliminate the spirit.
Additionally, this was Yuki’s own suggestion, and she had begged Kurumi to agree to this battle plan; yet Yuki couldn’t even become the bait properly, forcing Kurumi to cut off her attack magic just to save her.
Kurumi was different from Mio who utilized the demonic power within her body, she is an elemental master who activated magic by borrowing a spirit’s power. It wasn’t easy to ask for the spirits in the Demon realm for help, and now she had to start over again.
「………………！」
Ignominious. Yuki felt indescribable frustration towards her helplessness, and left the water cushion Kurumi had put up. She once again looked towards the spirit that was a little distance away with water droplets dripping from her bangs, and putting strength into her grip onto [Sakuya] in her right hand – in the next moment, Nonaka Yuki dashed towards her target savagely.
“--Onee!”
Yuki took a glance at Kurumi who had cried out as if wailing.
Trust me – she told her with her eyes silently, I will become the bait properly this time. This wasn’t just her trying to act brave, Yuki knew that she had the power to do that.
--As [Sakuya] was unable to receive the blessings of Fuji here in the Demon Realm, it’s power had dropped considerably.
However – Yuki’s body wouldn’t become weak just because of that.
After reuniting with Basara, the power she had received from the Master-Servant Contract done with him; the power that she had acc.u.mulated all these while – will never betray Yuki.
Nothing will ever drop from the sky, and one will never reap without even sowing.
That’s why, Yuki had resolutely come here, believing in herself and this power. To which—
【——————】
The spirit violently swung out its right fist, but there was still a big distance from Yuki. Despite the spirit’s large size, its arm was still unable to reach her, but that movement still became a threat to Yuki. The fist had swept away all of the buildings in the path between it and Yuki – causing a wave of tsunami of large rocks. However—
「——————」
Facing the wave of mud and rocks, her reaction was fairly simple. However, it was an action Nonaka Yuki had done tens of thousands of times before.
She raised [Sakuya] up vertically, and swung it down along the same path – it was that simple.
From the neat handling of the blade, a gust of a blade of wind appeared and rushed ahead. When the blade of wind made contact with the wave of rocks and mud – and the wave split to the left and right with a [Fssh!], going past Yuki by her sides.
--It was a move that had not borrowed [Sakuya]’s power, but one that was from Yuki’s polished skill as a technique-focused swordsman mainly relying on tactics and skills, a return to a display of the powers of her body only. Right now – a straight path had opened up before Nonaka Yuki’s eyes.
Thus, she moved her body to attack. Pedalling the ground while keeping her body low, Yuki dashed forward with an explosive force, and shortened the distance between the two in the blink of an eye.
【………………】
Seeing this, the spirit twisted the arm it had swung and slammed the fist into the ground; Yuki skipped to the left, and before the spirit’s fist impacted the ground, she leapt upwards and twisted her body in mid-air. As the arm barely swept past Yuki, she slashed with [Sakuya] and cut through the wrist’s tendon. Although the fist which had lost its gripping strength impacted the ground and swept up debris, the destructive power had dropped a lot – going along with the upwards airflow, Yuki once again soared upwards and sideswiped with the blade, doing damage to the spirit’s elbow.
【——————】
The spirit released a scream from pain, but Yuki ignored that—
“—it’s not over yet.”
Leaving behind her comment in the empty air, she went past the side of the spirit to its back – and left behind two connecting slashes in the shape of ‘X’ while sprinting towards the other side of the body. That severed its Achilles tendon, and caused the giant spirit that lost the support of its legs to topple over backwards and land on its b.u.t.t with a giant rumble.
With its right hand damaged and its Achilles tendon severed, the spirit then followed its instincts and began to stand itself upright with its only undamaged left hand. Nonaka Yuki had antic.i.p.ated this, and thus at the spirit’s left hand – she swung [Sakuya] horizontally at the left wrist tendon, severing it in a single slash.
By the time Yuki had done that, she had bought more time than what was in the plan. And at the moment she successfully sealed its movements,
“—Onee, leave the rest to me.”
With a calm voice, Kurumi said while appearing before the sitting paralyzed spirit. With the black elementals she received from Lucia set in the main slot of her gauntlet as the elemental master – green of the Heroes and blue of the Moderate Faction was emitted from before her palm -- a three-dimensional overlapping type magic circle.
【………………】
As if the spirit’s instincts felt danger, it opened its mouth widely aiming to bite Kurumi to death as a last-ditch attack. At that moment—
“--Don’t even think about it.”
Yuki immediately swung out [Sakuya], smashing it into the jaw of the spirit from the side. By intentionally not slashing with the blade, it is to intentionally create bludgeoned damage. The attack with calculated timing, placing and force, managed to perfectly just dislocate its jaw joints.
【——————】
Eyes widened from shock, the spirit now unable to guard could only just watch with its mouth open—
“Dance -- ”
At the same time Kurumi announced that, large amounts of pitch black flames poured into the spirit’s open mouth – and burned the spirit’s head to nothingness from within.
Part 7
The East route with Maria and Lucia, and the West route with Yuki and Kurumi.
As they were battling with the spirit on each route respectively,
Basara and Zest at the central route were in a difficult battle.
The reason for that, was that while the situation at the other routes were two people working together to fight the spirit, Basara and Zest had to separate to fight against the spirit as well as the high-cla.s.s demon controlling the spirit.
--though the situation was difficult, thinking about it wouldn’t change anything.
According to Lucia who was paired with Maria, this place was too far away Wildart City from her master for him to rush here quickly; Yuki was unable to obtain protection from [Sakuya], and while Kurumi had received the black elementals from Lucia, she was still unaccustomed to using the spirits of the Demon Realm, so they shouldn’t even be allowed to deal with a strong opponent like this now. Additionally, the spirits possess surprising regenerative power. So it still wouldn’t take them long to heal completely even if they received an injury; taking into account the spirit’s gigantic size and the inability to truss them up, him hoping for a.s.sistance from them would be for nothing.
And thus – with the situation not allowing for Mio to be on the battlefield, Basara has become the most suitable person to deal with this strong enemy. After moving the place of their battle field a building like a theatre with complex internal terrain—
“Ooooooooooooooo!”
On the stone-paved floor, Basara began running towards the high-cla.s.s demon.
「——————」
The high-cla.s.s then had countless magic circles shoot out fireb.a.l.l.s, to greet Basara’s attack. As all of them are extremely hot and can combust, the distance he had to take when dodging had to be larger, which forced Basara to do larger side-steps to dodge the countless oncoming fireb.a.l.l.s.
As for those that can’t be dodged, those will be just simply cut apart with Brynhildr. However—
“Ku…!”
Clang! The sound along with the feedback transmitted through the hilt, caused Basara to frown. Heavy – those aren’t just simply fireb.a.l.l.s, it probably had some rocks or debris within them; with the option of cutting through it no longer available, being able to deflect them would already be a very good thing. If one were to use a sword to deflect something like this for too much, it would just exhaust their hand quickly. Apart from when using [Banishing Shift], Basara would normally hold Brynhildr in a single-hand grip, but he had now been forced to grip Brynhildr with two hands for practically the whole battle, faced with this high-cla.s.s demon. For large swords like Brynhildr, once the way of wielding them is changed, the wielder’s movements will too also change. In regards to Basara finely adjusting his actions at his current speed, it’s practically like suicide.
…Tch, it’ll be great if I could use [Banishing Shift].
Even if it’ll be unable to banish it whole, it’ll at least be able to eliminate the blaze of the fireb.a.l.l.s, or maybe even the rocks within it. But right now, despite Basara knowing that the situation is currently disadvantageous to him, he still does not use [Banishing Shift]. Of course, there was a reason behind it.
After defeating Zolgear, Takigawa had given Basara a piece of advice.
And that advice was that in the battles that would happen with the Current Demon Lord Faction hereafter, there is a need to avoid using that move. [Banishing Shift] is a move where once the target s.p.a.ce is slashed, it can eliminate and banish everything beyond the zeroth dimension, and is very unique even amongst the multifarious magics and special abilities in existence. From another angle, its potential as a threat is much higher even when compared to Wilbert’s power inherited by Mio. Just like in the past, Zolgear’s target was just Mio alone, he had also taken interest in [Banishing Shift] and had plotted to take it for himself.
Hence, if Basara were to just show that move carelessly, it might add to Mio’s dangers. But in the first place, it was Basara who had voluntarily went and attracted the attention of the enemy. However, as long as it was to protect Mio and everyone else, Toujou Basara will definitely unhesitatingly use that power, even if it meant that he would have to foul his hands, use underhanded tactics, and doing dishonourable actions, basically if it meant even he had to become sc.u.m.
…But the problem right now is that—
Just like Zolgear had made use of Maria with a hostage when fixated on Mio – once the enemy knows that Basara has got such a unique ability, they might make a move to those around him.
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