Winter on Steel
Winter fell upon the steel. Talos blazed fiercely, with not even a moment to extinguish the flames.
──I kept pondering it. Maybe I could use [Recycle]. But in the end, I was glad I'd stuck to my guns. If I'd been pushed further into a corner, I was even prepared to use [Skill Deletion] to activate [Asrai's Fading Star]. It was just that, deep down, I felt my resolve wasn't quite there yet... or perhaps some strange faith lingered. Even without [True Word · Mantra] activating, an inexplicable certainty had gripped me. From the moment I arrived in this city, that nagging unease had persisted. And with it, a faint presence I could sense at the same time.
The hair-raising pull of some unknown force──and the instinct that it was peering right at me. From landing in the museum right after the attack, to the miraculous movements, to preparing for the Sixth Hero's existence. The last one could be chalked up to "just in case," but I felt an undeniable thread of strong fate weaving through it all. They say coincidences piling up become inevitability.
The [Invisible Touch] gripping the cursed sword's hilt began to rise into the sky. It had to stay within 2 meters, but it could practically fly on its own now, and with specs on par with mine, it could easily carry someone like me. Plus, anchoring the blade to a wall kept it from falling. To anyone else, it would look absurd: mounting a cursed sword and soaring through the heavens. And honestly, it felt just as bizarre in reality.
As I flew toward the sky, Riko, mounted on her broom far in the distance, approached and joined me.
"Did you see the darkness of the skyscraper? That thing just now... I've never felt mana like that before."
Trembling slightly at the pitch-black void like deepest night, she drew close, checked my runes again, and cast a blessing. I'd warned her it might cost her life, but the skyscraper──carved into a perfect circle──seemed to call to me like an illusion. Slowly ascending from below, I spotted her on the balcony: green ponytail, purple dress, puffing a cigarette leisurely. Kesera Sera Sera, introduced as Larirure's friend, was waiting.
"Greetings, Hero."
"You're the Maou?"
We spoke at the same time and fell silent. She inhaled deeply on her cigarette, then flicked it away, as if to say both yes and no. I had no idea what her [skill] was. I'd only felt an unsettling chill from those pitch-black flames of darkness. Riko watched warily too. Striking first was risky; without knowing her abilities, it could backfire. Especially against someone suspected to be the Maou.
Looking up at me perched on the cursed sword, Rasera asked,
"Isn't it fucking bullshit? Dragging you here on a whim, making you risk your life on a whim──isn't it total fucking bullshit?"
Not even from this world, summoned from another with no ties, no knowing if you'd ever return──and yet forced to fight for your life. The four heroes pulled it off and achieved greatness, but even they ended with one dying pointlessly, unnamed in history, remembered only as the heroes' tragic footnote.
"If there's someone out there who wants to destroy the world,"
I descended slowly to match her pace as she backpedaled, hand slipping from her pocket into a stance. Gripping the Bopal Weapon's hilt, I aimed the blade at her.
"Then conversely, there might be someone worth protecting."
"You'll just suffer and die forgotten, a laughingstock?"
"Who said I need recognition? How I spend my life──that's my call."
"Ha... You think you can win?"
Black mana gathered in her hand; at the same instant, my hair turned snow-white and stood on end. Severing her breath would take a split second──I had to choose carefully. Downgrading [Inventory]'s level for [Asrai's Fading Star] to bind her and decapitate──I crouched, calculating.
"Does that even matter?"
Weighing win or lose was necessary, sure. But some lines you couldn't retreat from, no matter what. Before her aiming finger could spit flame, I thrust out my hand. The motion triggered it──Rasera spread her palm as if expecting it, air swirling into a rotating orb at its center.
I won't use it. But a feint──no skill used. As if she'd anticipated that, she hurled the air orb. It exploded with a BOOM, shockwaves ripping everywhere. Magic? Technique? Her white robe fluttered as a submachine gun at her waist auto-aimed and sprayed at me.
I propped the cursed sword and sidestepped to gain distance. Tiny orbs suddenly popped up where I'd stood, beeping warnings before chain-exploding. I was already gone. Handing a crossbow to [Invisible Touch], spirit sword in grip, I charged her back.
Her fluttering white robe birthed sharp tentacles──four scorpion-tail mechanical arms stabbing in perfect sync. Predicting even my evasion path, I hit her exposed back with [Friend☆ship]. Despite not meeting eyes, our hands clasped somehow. "Wait, it works without eye contact?!" Rasera's eyes rolled. I'd already shaken free, slamming a fist into her chest──only for a hexagonal shield to block, shock rebounding up my arm and flinging me back.
Skidding across the floor, the four tentacles' joints opened, muzzles flashing. "Page 1! Fireball!" "Chain Laser!" Fireballs from the magic circle shattered against the tentacles' lasers. A eerie zzzzing as red lines sliced every trajectory. Dodging converging beams with acrobatics, mines hidden in debris launched at me. "Lightning Rune!" Riko's support came late to the blistering pace. Thunder CRASHED, lightning pulverizing the mines. Runes drawn midair crushed Rasera with gravity; floating stones merged into a giant fist──blocked by barrier, flashing light.
Bombs summoned from thin air. Simultaneous blasts. "Kyaa!" Her defensive rune shattered in one hit; startled, she tumbled from her broom. Dozens of missiles rocketed from her robe's depths. Smoke-trailing, eye-guided missiles curved toward distant me. Reaching for the book for another [Fireball], Rasera pointed. "Predictable!" Space coordinates locked──a tentacle pierced from my flank, skewering the memorize spellbook. The four tentacles retracted into space, blades hidden, as she aimed at me. "Demon God's Dark Annihilation Hell Orb!"
BOOM──![Deadly Queen] detonated from our handshake, veering the black flames into the sky. I'd broken a sweat witnessing the Maou skill up close. I could perceive and dodge it, but one mistimed beat without prep, and it'd erase me instantly. At the same time, a chill: she was too easy. Space-vanish tentacles, summoned bombs ignoring distance, auto-tracking SMG──all threats, but for Maou power? Too frail. The [Evil God] I'd barely beaten by miracle felt tougher. She'd even failed to track my [Small Polymorph] form, exposing her back.
A trick? But she used Maou power. No way she was this weak. Someone with Maou strength, this manageable? First... those unidentified gauntlets were the real danger. Grasping space turned air to bombs. Touch-to-bomb conversion? Or skill? Unknown technician arsenal──Riko sealed two tentacles with runes; our eyes met. Gravity slowed Rasera. Behind her, Riko drew a rune. "Lightning Rune!" Light outpaced sound──but the spell coiled her waist, chaining lightning at me.
Raising the spirit sword to block──thunder ROARED, flinging it away. "Thermit Tesla!" Sleeves ripped, lightning clung to arms. Then, a boxing stance. Supersonic jab──lightning pierced my shoulder. But her form faltered. Magic circles summoned everywhere for footing, I ricocheted like a rubber ball in high-speed afterimages, threatening her.
"Filthy fast bastard...!"
While her eyes locked on me, Riko──runes ineffective──erected rune walls, bombarding with spells. Amid natural-disaster chaos, Rasera ignored barriers with runes, still poised, gathering power silently. That handshake would've charred me black with high voltage. That punch rivaled the lightning──faster than [Demon God's Dark Annihilation Hell Orb], even. Who'd imagine a [Technician] boxing?
Freeing her four scorpion tentacles by shattering runes, she wrapped them protectively, spraying aimless [Chain Lasers] to pressure me. She had counters for me. I had none for her. Spirit sword recovered via [Picking Needle in Desert] the instant it hit floor. Luck swapped via [Black Cat Rune] during handshake──did she counter [Outer God Fear]?
The thought I could bisect her anytime began eroding my judgment. "Coordinate lock, range set. Chain deploy!" Rasera chanted like an incantation──lasering tentacles vanished into space. They reemerged, drawing lines into a rectangular frame. Blade-tips at corners sprayed lasers top-to-bottom. A seamless laser ceiling formed a prison without gaps. Joint lasers scythed the floor into a converging face toward center.
"No more tricks? Die then!"
Trapped in the red cube, walls merged with ceiling, contracting. Riko space-jumped via runes to escape──but couldn't aid me. Her spot vanished instantly, red walls devouring space, erasing in light. Four walls fused with ceiling in blinding flash──tentacles retracted, Rasera looked skyward. Smirking at the spotless void.
Time Rewound to ten seconds prior, I judged and charged. Lightning arms, tentacle lasers, bombs...! Rewound memory held no arm intel──why lightning from arms unknown, but dangerous. Teleport-like swing──she thundered back with spirit sword. But whoosh──empty air. No blade on hilt. Extended rewound hilt speared her throat. Simultaneous skill cast. One second's freeze was enough.
[Outer God Fear]──! Constellation dread hit direct; she paled, rigid under pressure. But tentacles stabbed independent of will. Lightning faded from sleeves, mechanisms auto-aimed finger at me, voice-recorded chant: "Demon God's Dark Annihilation Hell Orb!" Black flames gathered in palm. In slowed world like frozen time──two tentacles severed by blade.
From behind, [Invisible Touch] gripped Bopal Weapon──kicked via footing──thrusting at her throat. Same-death play? Rasera's eyes widened in horror. Regrettably, my spare life left no hesitation. At her deadliest moment, mutual kill to end it sure. Eyes void of death's fear met hers──terror widened, face twisted──
Our strikes crossed simultaneously.