A Possibility?
Possibility?
He had been certain he had killed him. He had aimed for the neck without a single margin of error. If his senses were to be trusted at all, the boy had failed to react — even those insolent eyes of his hadn't been able to keep up, and just like that, he had handed over his arm.
So he had not doubted. No — he could not have doubted. That earlier strike had carried barely sixty percent of his strength; this time, he had swung the sword with every intention of killing beyond any doubt.
I know... I fully intend to..!!
It made no difference to him that the madness howled without end inside his skull. Not once had he ever believed this power was safe. It had been enough, simply, to hold a strength he could use here and now.
And thanks to that — here he stood, intending, for the first and last time in his life, to force the man to his knees and take his head. Demon or not, he wanted at least this man's head for a trophy. Even if he lost his reason entirely and became a Majin who carved his way through civilians, it would be proof enough that he had beaten this one.
"Uwoooooooo!!!"
Yes — that was how it should have gone. The neck of a boy not yet fully grown, one who had already lost his right arm besides, should have been the easiest thing in the world to take with the power he now wielded.
"...Huh?"
"What the hell is this now?!!"
If only his blade had not stopped just short of the boy's neck, that was exactly how it would have gone. Even now — whether from the faintest graze of the steel, he couldn't say — a thin line of blood was trickling down the boy's nape.
But he could not end the life. Could not take the head. The boy was still, against all reason, alive. The most tenaciously alive of anyone he had ever seen.
Why...? Why is he still kicking?! I've become this thing — this monster — and even in that state, you're still alive.
The fact displeased him beyond bearing, and with his teeth clenched he poured out every last ounce of strength. The target: the boy's throat. His total and utter death.
"Graaaaaaagh!!!"
"...?"
But against his every hope, his blade did not so much as tremble. As if the boy's neck were harder than his sword.
"Daaamn iiiit..!!"
Gritting his teeth and straining was not enough; he dragged up every stray current of energy adrift inside his own body as well, and still he could drive the blade in only a sliver.
Why? Why can't I kill you? Why can't I beat you?
The instant that sickening thought flashed through his mind, a human arm slipped out from the boy's neck — from the very spot where he had been clawing, desperate to force his sword inside.
"Don't... pick on Kkamangi."
A frail, willow-thin arm slid free, and out of the boy's body sprang a young girl — a child who, at even the most generous estimate, had not lived fifteen years. Nothing about her was remarkable save that her hair and eyes were as black as the boy's own. And that girl had stopped his sword. One hair's breadth further, and the boy's neck would have been his — more than his!
...Ugh.
Sh... shut uuuup..!!
The voice of madness, now dancing to his rage, tolled through his heart and moved his body however it pleased — all for the sole purpose of slaughtering every single thing before his eyes.
"Diiiiie! Every last one of you — diiiie!!!"
A body devoured by madness lent him many times his ordinary strength, and a reason steeped in euphoria and pleasure craved nothing but instinct. Ah... a dream brimming over with malice. A sweet dream I never, ever want to wake from.
"Grrrrooooaaar!!"
"Kkamangi... I'll protect you..!"
What in the world was this situation? One moment I had been absolutely certain I was dead — so why was I still breathing? And who, in all the heavens, was that girl who had burst out of my neck? A girl who looked not a day over fifteen had sprung from my body and thrown herself into battle without warning. And skillfully — with astonishing skill, at that. As though this were simply how things were meant to be.
"What are these things... ugh..?!"
"Kkamangi!!"
Her slender arm turned jet-black, and from her palm came a deluge of dark light — a deep, dense black radiance stretching out in one unbroken line. It was light far too eerie, and far too beautiful, to be pouring out of a girl who stood barely five feet tall.
"Where did this little brat even crawl out from..!"
"...Eek! Stay back!!"
"You die too!!"
Black light and violet blade each began a new dance of their own. The purple sword still warped and skewed this way and that, and as if refusing to be outdone, every delicate flick of the girl's wrist sent volleys of black arrows erupting from all directions. One sword — Elen's — against her dozens of arrows: no one could have sworn which side would win, but in this moment at least, sheer quantity held a clear edge over quality.
"Grrrgh..!"
"Eek..!"
Black arrowheads buried themselves, one after another, in Elen's violet flesh — each with a hideous, searing hiss.
Plop. Plop.
The slabs of meat where the arrows had lodged melted clean away and dropped, and the floor where they landed began melting as well — but his sword did not stop. These were wounds that would have had an ordinary man screaming on the spot. Even a knight hardened against pain, or any creature of comparable mettle, should have — no, at the very least he should have faltered for a single breath. That would have been normal. Unless he was a pathetic wretch dragged around by the weight of his own blade, he had to have stopped. He should have.
"You think... this is enough."
"Eeeyaaah..!"
"Kheheheh... Nothing like this will ever kill me — not in a hundred lifetimes!!"
If anything, his swordwork only accelerated another notch, without a whisper of hesitation to be found.
Eeeeeeee—
What jolted me back from that utterly surreal scene was the ringing in my ears, a degree worse than before — and with something thick and wet seeping from my ear canal, my eardrums, too, appeared properly ruptured. No wonder sound had been strangely cutting in and out for a while now.
I strained with everything I had to raise my body, but no strength would come. My legs simply shook, pitiful to watch. My head spun in circles, the blood already lost from my body was nothing to scoff at, and my mana still refused to obey me.
...No. If I stay like this, I am definitely going to die—
"Big brotherr..!"
"...Aria?"
Aria came sprinting toward me like some enormous hound catching sight of its master — the only difference being that nothing in her expression welcomed me at all.
"Big brother, your body... you're— mmph!"
"Shh..."
With the one arm I had left, I hurriedly muffled her mouth, then slid my gaze toward the two figures still locked in battle.
...It seems he didn't hear. Good.
"Brother... your arm... there's so much blood... nngh..."
"Don't carry on so, Aria. I'm still alive, after all."
Not that I could say for how long. In my current state, I was quite capable of dying on the spot — no, even setting that aside, at this rate of blood loss it was bound to happen soon enough regardless.
"That's not what matters right now!!"
"Aria. Tear my clothes and bind the wound."
"Brother!!"
"Quickly. We have to stop the bleeding — even a little."
"No — why are you..!!"
"...Ha. Aria. Fall back. Right now, while you still can."
As things stood, with the Mana Restraint locked around that arm, Aria counted for nothing in this fight — she was no more than an ordinary civilian. Which was exactly why I had prayed she would never be dragged into this battle, and why I had entrusted her to Charlotte in the first place. With every plea that she be protected with everything the girl had. Because now, a single stray shard of flying stone could be enough to kill her.
"I'm not hearing any objections, Aria. Quickly—"
"Kindly shut up and get yourself treated, sir."
"Huh?"
Before I knew it, the Saintess had drawn up right beside me, and her Holy Power had begun flowing into my body — those warm, golden currents of light.
"Lady Saintess, if you stay here, you'll—"
"Do you even hear what you're saying?"
...
"Someone has already interfered in this fight, haven't they?"
...
"I don't know who that little one is, but once things have come to this, we have no reason to stay out of it, you see?"
...
"Because this fight is no longer yours alone."
"...But at least Aria—"
"Brother, I'm fine now too."
Aria's arm, which until moments ago had been binding my wound, turned toward me — her wrist, still slender as ever, and the single bracelet fastened around it. A bracelet that radiated a distinctly unpleasant sensation swayed gently in my direction.
"Has something gone wrong with the Mana Restraint?"
"They say its effect has weakened."
"...Who did?"
"I threw a little weight around."
"...Lady Charlotte?"
"Well, I have used those things quite a bit in my time, you know."
...
"I know the spellcraft well enough."
...
"So — how long can you hold out? I did manage to get a request for reinforcements in, for what it's worth."
...
"Or, you know, you could always just run—"
Hahaha...
The sheer absurdity of it drew the laugh right out of me. It wasn't as if it would have mattered much if I had simply run — for anyone feeling fear, that would have been the perfectly natural choice.
...Or is that only how I see it?
"Brother?"
"Are you hurting anywhere else? Or is the pain coming back again..?"
"...No. Not particularly."
Turning my eyes toward the black radiance still blazing, I thought: like this — there is still a possibility. She had sent for reinforcements, so soldiers would arrive before long. And until then, what needed doing was obvious, wasn't it?
"...I do hope every last one of us makes it out alive."
"Pardon? What did you.."
"Nothing. Let's focus."
All we had to do was hold. Survive, however we could — think of nothing else, and make that the one and only priority. Yes. So long as nothing else chose to appear upon this field, we still had a possibility.
"...Hm?"
"What now? What is it this time, you old coot?"
"...Silence. Shut your mouth for once... you hag."
"...Hm. Something is off."
"Off? What in the world is off about anything?"
"I sprinkled a poison once, a long time ago. You remember."
"...Ah — the one you dusted over the Sacrifice's mother?"
"That's the one. And in the course of it, there was a man I made a little use of..."
"...?"
"Why is the power I planted inside that man only now stirring to life?"
"...I haven't the faintest idea what you're muttering about."
"Hm."
"Hey — what? Where are you going, old man?"
"Live long enough... and instinct grows sharp. I believe I shall go and see for myself."
"What? Go where?"
"To where that body is, obviously. Where else?"