Chapter 27: Dire Straits
“Luna-chan. I’ll fight on the front lines, so please support me.”
“…Okay.”
I said that to Luna-chan. The situation was on the verge of exploding, while Neville-san calmly watched us.
“You may come at any time. I have no problem with it.”
It wasn’t sarcasm or mockery. He genuinely meant it.
When I was young and already tired of noble society, Neville-san had been very kind to me. I still remember those days clearly.
“Is it difficult?”
“Eh…?”
I had grown tired at a party and was resting alone on a balcony when Neville-san came over to me. That was my first meeting with him.
“Aristocratic society these days is gloomy. And as the eldest daughter of the Grace family, you must have many burdens to bear. Besides, you seem to have doubts about the nature of noble society. Even at your young age, you are clever enough to have noticed it.”
“T-that’s…”
He was right. At parties, people were constantly discussing who was the superior magician, and saying things like swordsmen were nothing more than barbarians who would be better off extinct. It was hardly a healthy environment.
People praised my talent without reservation, but I wasn’t happy about it at all.
“Your doubts are not misplaced. I also don’t think the way this society operates is healthy. In the first place, what people value changes with the times. I don’t particularly like the idea that magicians are the supreme beings.”
“…Even though you’re a noble, is it really okay for you to think that way?”
I looked up at him and asked. He answered with a very gentle smile.
“Of course. People are always free to have their own beliefs. Well, making them too public would probably cause problems, but there’s nothing wrong with keeping them to yourself. Human beings are, by nature, free. I’m sure the day will come when you, too, will be free.”
With that, he left. I remember thinking that there really were people like him in the world, and I felt as though I had been saved, if only a little, during my childhood.
And now──I was standing face-to-face with him. Fate truly was cruel.
I gripped a sword of ice in my right hand and faced him. I watched his movements carefully, making sure not to miss his every gesture.
“I will not make the first move. Please, feel free to come at me.”
He lightly extended a hand, beckoning me to approach. A trap? No, but I had no choice except to go ─!
I closed the distance in an instant and swung my ice sword at him!
“Hm. Combining magic and swordsmanship, is it? Not bad.”
“…Guh!”
He easily dodged my attack, but that wasn’t the end of it. I spread ice around his feet, slowing his movements. However, it melted away almost instantly.
“The Grace family’s ice magic is troublesome, but as expected, it is weak against heat. This is a fatal weakness.”
“I’m not done yet!”
Even so, I continued attacking. I felt as though I was moving much more freely than I had in the past. Until now, I had been bound by the weight of noble society, but I had decided that I would choose my own path from now on.
I couldn’t afford to stop here!
“Riana-chan! I’m going to debuff him!”
“Okay!”
Luna-chan cast a weakening spell on him. The effect definitely took hold, and there was no doubt that even if only for an instant, his movements would slow.
Taking advantage of that opening, I brought my ice sword down from above—but in that very instant, a sharp pain shot through my right leg.
“……Guuuuuuugh!”
A cry escaped me from the unbearable pain. Looking closely, part of the flesh on my right leg had been gouged away. The wound wasn’t deep, but the sharp gash looked gruesome.
I somehow stopped the bleeding with healing magic and staggered back to my feet. Because I had released so much magical power at once, my vision had become slightly blurred.
“Oh? You’re still standing? However, I believe you already understand the difference in our abilities.”
“Even so, what you are doing cannot be forgiven!”
“I see. Struggling despite your defeat being inevitable is rather irrational.”
I understood nothing about the properties of his magic. I still didn’t know how my right leg had been gouged out. Even so, I──!
When I tried somehow to move, Luna-chan suddenly appeared in front of me. She deployed defensive magic to protect me, but she couldn’t completely stop the momentum, and the two of us rolled backward together.
“Luna-chan…!?”
Perhaps she had hit her head, because blood was flowing from her head. I immediately activated healing magic and restored her.
“Ugh… ugh…”
“Are you okay!?”
“…Y-yeah. I’m sorry… This is all I can do.”
“That’s not true…! That’s not true at all…”
The two of us were powerless. We had wished to become like Ayame-san. But there was a reality that strong feelings alone could do nothing to overcome.
The difference in strength between the two of us and Neville-san was simply enormous. I had painfully realized that throughout the battle. And he had only shown us a fraction of his true abilities.
Step. Step.
The sound of footsteps echoed. It was no exaggeration to call it a death sentence.
“I do not enjoy needless killing, but I have decided to eliminate anyone who reaches the truth. Goodbye, you two.”
I tightly embraced Luna-chan’s body. As I wished that at least she might somehow survive, I braced myself for the coming attack…
But nothing happened.
I cautiously opened my eyes, and the person standing there was — Ayame-san.
“──Are you two all right?”
†
Luna and Riana still hadn’t returned. I finally found that suspicious enough, so I decided to go into town and look for them. If I remembered correctly, they had said they were heading to the Royal Library. I went there and decided to ask the receptionist whether the two of them had arrived.
I was told that they had seen the two of them, but that they had already left.
However, I could sense a strange magical presence lingering throughout the library.
“Is this it…?”
It was an old book. I opened it just in case, but I couldn’t understand it at all. Complex magical formulas were drawn inside, and they were completely incomprehensible to someone like me, who wasn’t a specialist. However, I could sense magical power extending from this grimoire like a line.
I followed it and eventually arrived at a document called a thesis. The same kind of magical formula was drawn there as well. But this feeling… Luna?
Could the trail I had followed have been deliberately left behind by Luna? I wasn’t particularly skilled at sensing magic, but somehow I could tell that it was her magical power.
Then, as soon as I left the Royal Library, a magic circle suddenly appeared on the ground──and I was transported to another space.
In front of me were Luna and Riana, lying on the ground, and a lone man standing there. I immediately understood the situation and rushed toward the two of them.
“──Are you two all right?”
“Ayame-san!”
“A-Ayame-san…”
I quickly checked the two of them. Riana seemed fine, but Luna appeared to have injured her head and had little energy left.
“Riana. Take Luna and move to the back. I’ll handle the rest.”
“I’m sorry. Please do.”
Then I faced our opponent.
“So you were the Serial Killer.”
“Indeed. Ayame-san. It has been a while. My name is Neville. I didn’t introduce myself last time.”
I certainly hadn’t expected that the man I had happened to save was actually the Serial Killer.
“You said that magicians and swordsmen are both human beings.”
“Yes.”
“But wasn’t that supposed to be a statement expressing concern for others?”
“That’s right. Other people are not important to me. Everything is for surpassing the magical limit and drawing closer to God. If I kill you here, the multiple magical formula will be complete. I cannot contain my excitement at seeing what kind of magic will be activated when someone as extraordinary as you is used as the medium.”
He smiled innocently, almost like a child. This man, Neville, was fundamentally different from every noble I had met until now. Until now, I had mostly encountered people who looked down on others, but this man’s entire purpose was self-contained.
I hold Amajiki once more.
“Now, let us have some fun, Ayame-san. To think I can fight to the death with you. I truly must be blessed by God.”
“Prepare yourself, I’ll cut down your sins.”
Chapter 28: White Armor
“Would you like to talk for a little while?”
“What?”
“No, I just thought this was something you in particular would understand, Ayame-san.”
“…”
I neither agreed nor disagreed. I simply kept one hand lightly resting on Amajiki. In truth, I couldn’t quite figure out what kind of person this man named Neville was.
From my experience throughout my life, there were things I could tell simply by facing someone, but I couldn’t see the bottom of him at all.
If he were simply looking down on me like the nobles I had fought until now, things would be straightforward. But this situation was far too unusual.
“Ayame-san, you want to master the sword. And I want to master magic. When you think about it, aren’t we ultimately the same?”
“The same? You and me?”
“Yes.”
He smiled, as though he were smiling at a friend.
But I denied it.
“No. Our goals may be the same, but our methods are different. I won’t use methods that oppress others.”
“I see. However, shouldn’t one be willing to do whatever it takes in order to reach mastery?”
“We humans exist through our connections with others. If you deny that, you’ll only become isolated, and you’ll close off the path toward mastery as well. People grow precisely because they interact with other people.”
“People interacting with people, huh. This is ultimately just a difference in environmental factors. In this society, where magic reigns supreme, everything is judged according to magic. Therefore, thinking of other people’s lives as nothing more than expendable resources is simply the natural conclusion.”
His way of thinking was completely incomprehensible to me. By now, I felt nothing but disgust toward Neville’s humanity.
“Natural? If people tolerate a society like that, humanity will only perish.”
“If there is destruction at the end of technological advancement, then so be it. The world is simply progressing because it is meant to progress. Other people are nothing more than materials to be used as fuel for magic.”
He was different from the nobles who looked down on swordsmen, but he was an even more bizarre form of evil. Otherwise, he would never have committed incidents like those of the Massacre Killer.
He would stop at nothing to accomplish his goal. He trampled over others indiscriminately and then advanced ahead of everyone else. He had no understanding of the value of life. He was nothing more than a monster who simply followed his own desires.
“Are you done with your speech?”
“Yes. From here on, let us speak through battle.”
“…”
I readied Amajiki and instantly closed the distance. In a fleeting exchange, the tip of my Amajiki had already reached Neville’s throat, but he smoothly leaned back and evaded it.
“I happen to have rather good eyes.”
He tapped beneath his eyes several times. His eyes were glowing gold. So this was what they called a Mystic Eye. However, the concentration of magical power gathered in those eyes was on an entirely different level from Eric’s.
“I can follow your movements, so please understand that.”
“Then –I’ll simply surpass them.”
I increased the speed of my sword strikes even further. I had thought there was no magician who could keep up with this, yet he continued dodging my attacks –but that didn’t mean he was completely without openings.
I used a feint and tried to knock away his right arm, but I couldn’t accomplish it.
“Oh. I see. I devoted quite a lot of resources to magical defense, but you can still cut through it?”
He was bleeding, but the wound was no more than a scratch. The attack had indeed only grazed him, but I had imbued my blade with enough ki to cut his arm off.
The fact that he could even defend against that meant I would have to reconsider how I distributed my strength.
Moreover, I still didn’t understand the properties of his magic. I now knew that he could use his Mystic Eyes to handle close-quarters combat sufficiently well, but that was all.
“Ayame-san. As expected, you are a talent who surpasses even the Sword Saint. In that case, perhaps I’ll show you a little more of my power.”
What appeared around us was –liquid.
Was that water? Judging by its transparency, it seemed to be water, but I couldn’t rule out the possibility that it contained some kind of poison. Still, there was nothing Amajiki couldn’t cut.
“Ah, this really is just ordinary water, so you don’t need to worry about poison. However, you should be wary of its penetrating power.”
In an instant, water shot toward me at an extraordinary speed. I somehow managed to block it with Amajiki, but the sheer force sent me flying backward.
“…What incredible magical power.”
I hadn’t been able to cut it completely. A spell like this; water compressed with such tremendous magical power and fired with abnormal pressure, practically a beam of water, and it was something I could barely neutralize.
“Hmm. Your sword can nullify supernatural abilities. However, when faced with magic above a certain density, the process of nullifying it takes time. Isn’t that right?”
“…”
I didn’t answer, but he was correct. This man understood Amajiki’s ability very well.
Amajiki’s ability to devour supernatural powers did indeed change depending on the quality of the ability. If a supernatural ability contained an enormous amount of power, even Amajiki would require time to devour it. Of course, that also meant I could absorb the magical power, so it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
But my opponent had clearly already figured that out as well.
“This is my original magic, Water Spear Line. All I do is compress water and fire it, but at times it can easily slice through even orichalcum. The Massacre Killer incidents also served as experiments for this technique. What do you think? Isn’t it enjoyable?”
“I see. But do you really think I can’t deal with it?”
I charged the blade of my sword with lightning. If he was primarily going to use water-based magic, then I would simply deal with it using lightning. I sent electricity from the blade through my own body, stimulating my nerves.
Then I closed in on Neville at more than twice my previous speed, but he created several spheres of water around himself. They merely floated there without attacking.
“Using electricity to increase the speed of neural transmission. Then controlling even muscle contractions and explosively enhancing physical performance. It is an extremely logical ability. There is, for the most part, no clear counter to it. I also think lightning magic is exceptionally powerful. However, water’s weakness to electricity is not absolute.”
I slashed through the water spheres that had formed around Neville like a protective barrier and tried to send electricity through them –but I couldn’t.
“Ultra-pure water.”
“Correct. Lightning cannot pass through it.”
“…”
Ultra-pure water is water without impurities, which prevents electricity from passing through it. Normally, lightning travels through the impurities in water.
It seemed he had prepared his countermeasures thoroughly.
Then I increased my speed even further and attacked Neville. He skillfully used the water spheres as barriers to neutralize my attacks, while simultaneously firing beams of water at me.
So this was what had caused those sharp wounds, I realized inwardly.
There was no doubt that being hit by an attack compressed to this incredible degree would leave a person helpless.
“Actually, I can use it like this, too.”
The water scattered around us instantly froze. Ice spread across my feet, immobilizing me for just an instant.
Then the magic called Water Spear Line attacked me from every direction.
“Hahaha! Surely even you can’t defend against this!”
He laughed loudly. I tried to cut down the Water Spear Lines to defend myself, but the most I could do was deflect their trajectories. Several wounds, carved into my body like lines, remained. Blood dripped from them, gradually spreading across my body.
“Ayame-san. The difference in our abilities is obvious. If you give up here, I will kill you without causing you any pain.”
His words sounded as though he were offering me mercy, but I was not someone who would give up over something like this.
“My life –has been a continuous series of hardships.”
I began speaking quietly, recounting the path I had walked throughout my life.
“I have never fought with the thought that I absolutely cannot win, or that someone else is stronger than me. And no matter what kind of technique it is, nothing can ever be completely perfect.”
“No. My magic is perfect. And I will step into the realm of the gods.”
“God… huh.”
Come to think of it, wasn’t it a god who reincarnated me into this world? Hadn’t that god said that I had surpassed the realm of humanity? Hearing him mention God now brought those memories back to me.
“Humans are imperfect. That is precisely why we can become stronger. And I’ll show you that I can cut down your magic as well. With my sword, I’ll cut down your perfect magic.”
“Enough of your bravado. There is no way for you to overcome me. Now, goodbye.”
The Water Spear Line was fired again, but I dodged it.
“—What!? That’s not the speed a human should be able to react to –!”
“For some reason, ever since I came to this world, I’ve been reluctant to show my true strength.”
I slowly began walking forward.
That’s right. Not once since coming to this world had I ever fought at full strength. Because I had thought that if I did, my opponent would die in an instant.
I had defeated both Eric and Greer while deliberately holding back, but it seemed that Neville was someone I could afford to fight seriously against.
“Amajiki –White Armor.”
I unleashed Amajiki’s secret ultimate technique. Not only the sword, but my entire body began to turn pure white.
“ –Now, let us begin.”