Chiron vs. Jahar (2)
'What the hell is this.'
Jahar had already been slashed dozens of times. Yet not once had he seen Chiron's sword strikes coming. If transferring his soul had been even a fraction slower, Jahar would have died several times over.
'What the actual hell!'
That was why Jahar couldn't comprehend it. Chiron should have been weaker than him. The gap in mana and sheer presence was incomparable. And yet reality was different. Jahar couldn't keep up with Chiron. Whenever he tried to attack, Chiron vanished, only to reappear at his side and sever his throat.
It wasn't just speed. It felt like he was slipping through space itself.
'His strikes are getting faster. Before it gets any worse—'
In the end, Jahar decided to use the Authority he'd been holding back.
Spirit Lock
Chains of the soul that inflicted absolute agony wrapped around Chiron. No matter how monstrous a human he was, breaking through this to close the distance should have been impossible...
Snap.
"Wh-what are you doing?"
But Chiron was trying to snap the chains binding him through sheer force. Cold sweat beaded on Jahar's brow.
"Foolish. Those chains bind the soul directly. Not even a demigod could shatter them with brute strength!"
Snap, snap!
But the ominous sounds of the chains breaking didn't stop.
"Impossible."
Jahar staggered back. To break free of a soul-binding once it took hold required profound understanding of souls and an Aura that precisely countered it. Nothing like that existed here. Chiron wasn't using Aura or his sword. Only his own body. With stupidly overwhelming strength, he was ripping out the chains embedded in his soul.
Right now.
Crunch!
"H-have you ever seen such a mad human! Get lost! Let go right now!"
Jahar unleashed a barrage of magic at the charging Chiron.
Phantom Spirit
An illusion that drove victims to submission, leading to death.
Spirit Sight
A technique that blinded the soul's eyes, obscuring vision.
亡魂結晶 (Lost Soul Crystal)
An Authority that scattered soul crystals around, detonating them.
Each one required solving complex mechanics and evasion. Chiron ignored them all. Bare-handed, he endured everything, charging solely toward Jahar.
"There's a limit to how tough you can be!"
The moment Jahar screamed.
'Seria, I—'
Chiron's sword tip touched Jahar's soul. After slashing him countless times, he'd pinpointed the soul hidden within his body.
'—will send you off today.'
Chiron unleashed his Extreme Art, devised solely to kill Jahar.
Chiron's wife, Seria, was blind.
Born the daughter of a respectable noble house, she was sold off in marriage to a young knight due to the disgrace of her blindness—seen as abandoned by the goddess.
"For your service in this matter, I offer you my daughter."
"...No need—"
The Windsor Knights fundamentally didn't accept bribes. Not out of purity, but because they were treated so well they didn't need them. Chiron naturally intended to refuse, but something in Seria's resolute gaze changed his mind.
"I-I'm confident I can do well."
"...?"
"M-my upkeep won't cost much. I'm a high value-for-money woman!"
Not words befitting a count's daughter. But Chiron read the desperation beneath her absurdity. The wish to escape this life. The resolve to live better.
Chiron always went out of his way to help those with such determination.
"...I won't make a good husband. I won't be home often."
The Windsor Knights were wandering knights, after all. Even a good match wasn't permitted. Long deployments were common, and above all—
Death could come at any moment.
If he could save one pitiful woman with such a trivial position, it wasn't bad.
"You're the best husband to me."
But Seria smiled happily. Chiron had never seen a prettier smile. Not even Sisilia's could compare.
"You're always so quiet, Chiron. You have such a beautiful wife like me, yet you do nothing."
"Talking isn't my specialty."
"Tch, I'm blind, you know. The only way I know how great my husband is... is from your words."
"...I'll practice."
Seria was bright. Though she saw nothing, she seemed happier than Chiron, who saw everything.
"You're late again! If you don't hug me, I'll get mad!"
It was only natural that Chiron came to truly love such a Seria. She was the most beautiful, lovable person in his life.
"Am I doing well?"
"...It's embarrassing."
"Ahaha! I doubt it~"
Chiron began looking forward to days at the estate. He considered marrying her the best choice of his life.
One day, Seria greeted him at the door with an even brighter expression than usual.
"Chiron, when this deployment ends, I'll have good news for you."
Innocent Seria probably didn't know. A knight of Chiron's caliber could tell pregnancy from a person's gait alone. And the maids wouldn't hide the lady of the house's pregnancy from the master.
Chiron pretended not to know, not wanting to spoil Seria's surprise gift. Instead, he made a promise.
"When I return, I'll tell you stories. All the ones you wanted to hear."
"Wow! Really? I won't sleep a wink waiting!"
"...Sleep."
Seria looked so joyful. Who could be that happy over mere stories? Just seeing her made Chiron happy. He wanted to tell her a very long story. Long enough for her to sleep in.
"V-Vice Captain! Invasion! Four Heavenly King Jahar has crossed the border. Target is Roendel—"
"Handle cleanup. I'm going to Roendel."
How nice it would be if he could fold space to run. If one step could take him to her side—
Then at least, they could have died together.
"I had no qualification as a knight... nor as your husband."
Seria had died at the front door. Her pose blocked her own mouth. Her molars were worn down. She'd endured horrific agony without screaming. Worried it might reach Chiron, no doubt.
Chiron couldn't forgive himself, couldn't forgive Jahar, couldn't forgive the goddess.
"Sir Chiron."
"What brings you here, Sir Erterion."
"...You've attained enlightenment."
On a summer day when the winds died down, Erterion wiped sweat—or was it cold sweat?—from his brow and spoke.
"A realm unreachable by mere human flesh."
Chiron had comprehended space. Bereft of any goddess's Aura, he'd seized space from her domain.
"Is this too the goddess's blessing?"
"...No."
Ridiculous. She ignored him when he desperately prayed, only granting blessings after he'd lost everything.
"It's a miracle you achieved yourself, Sir Chiron."
With space comprehended, Chiron could cut anything. Like severing and rejoining a point, his sword existed everywhere. He could go anywhere.
But what use was it? Even if he saved the world, he couldn't save the one person he had to protect.
Now, Seria was nowhere.
After that, Chiron lived in despair. Life held no feeling. He merely felled demons like a machine. Revenge wasn't even a driving force. It wouldn't bring Seria back.
He was a corpse, alive without desire or longing. Forty years passed that way.
"Your age suggests potential. Who are you?"
"...Just provide room and board. No need for pay."
His life changed ten years ago. When he met the tiny girl who didn't even reach his waist.
"Y-you're a monster with that sword. Born with impossible talent."
"'Cause I'm cute."
"How do you even do that? That tree you felled had stood there five hundred years."
"Sorry, tree."
"...Be more sorry."
"...Really six years old? Fifty-three chess wins in a row. Old nobles crying like little girls."
"Don't ask a lady's age indoors."
"That's rude. Definitely six."
"..."
Inconceivably innocent, inconceivably gifted. Yet inconceivably naive in some ways. That was Sisilia—and she resembled Seria.
"What is this?"
"Hand-knitted scarf!"
"...Impressive skill. Why suddenly?"
"Birthday gift."
"...!"
"Great value, right?"
Perhaps the goddess pitied Seria and let her daughter be born. Sisilia resembled her so much. In never losing hope. In her pretty smile. Even her absurd personality, like living in another world.
Though unlike Seria, her upkeep was expensive.
"Think of what you spend in a month. Haha!"
In less than a year, Sisilia brought smiles to Chiron's face. But guilt lingered.
Letting Seria go like that—what right do you have to smile?
Sisilia wasn't Seria's daughter. Projecting a dead child onto her insulted both.
But Sisilia gave no time for melancholy.
"Never agreed to keep Rudolph at the estate. Especially not this small. What is it?"
"Sisilia?"
"Mary."
"...Christmas event Rudolph Sisilia. No idea what it means."
"Insane. Remove that red nose now."
The last ten years were dreamlike for Chiron. Happy days.
"Human. You fought well."
So, no regrets.
"Cough."
Blood gushed from Chiron's mouth. Jahar's hand pierced his abdomen. The sword carrying his Extreme Art corroded and shattered.
With that blow, a knight who only swung swords lost his blade.
"In my long life, no human was stronger than you."
Jahar's Abyss, one of three Authorities usable once a century. It turned his hand into a black flower blooming from the abyss, corroding all it touched.
Those with souls touched by it rotted alive, will and life force withering over time. His strongest Authority. The penalty—vulnerability until the target died—was irrelevant. No one around, and Chiron was doomed with the flower planted.
'But Maui can't be subjugated. That's enough for today.'
He'd overexerted. Feeling his dream slip away, Jahar gritted his teeth.
'Next chance in centuries.'
But he had to use it. He'd sensed that Chiron's distorted sword would erase him eternally if it connected.
"Every night, I wondered. If I die, might I meet her?"
"Since it's the end, I'll tell you. It's not impossible."
Jahar smirked crookedly.
"Not before I hear it."
He couldn't forgive this wretch who stole his dream. So he'd crush Chiron's sole wish.
But Chiron ignored him.
"Not anymore."
"What?"
"I have a place to return to. My daughter still lives. I must see how she grows."
Chiron raised his arm, darkening with the black flower. He seized Jahar's throat.
This moment. When Jahar couldn't withdraw his hand.
The inescapable instant.
Because this technique could be used only once.
"So when I return to Seria, I can tell her a long story."
Jahar instinctively sensed doom. He dispersed his soul to his main body in advance. Trying to escape Chiron just in case.
Then, pressure crushed Chiron's abdomen. He couldn't pull free.
"Let—let go, human!"
Jahar thrashed, but the grip on his throat only tightened.
"Guh—gack."
Chiron lifted Jahar one-handed by the throat. His blazing eyes fixed ahead.
"I had a daughter just like you. I—"
Chiron slammed Jahar down, still gripped. Pouring all his power into his Extreme Art.
"—must tell her!"
Krunch!
A hell of inescapable gravity unfolds. Jahar crumbles endlessly in Chiron's grasp under heaven-crushing pressure, reforming only to shatter again.
The surrounding earth collapsed under Jahar's suppression. An eternal gravitational prison unfolded.
Like the sky collapsing, immense pressure crushed Jahar. He shattered and reformed countless times in Chiron's hand.
Chiron had pinpointed the soul but methodically destroyed only the flesh.
Jahar couldn't even scream in agony, but Chiron felt it. The soul's wail.
Not yet. Still far from Seria's suffering.
Jahar must hurt more. Writhe in infinite torment.
For that alone, Chiron had lived to this moment.
'Watch, Seria.'
The black flower forcibly crushed will, stealing life when survival instinct faded.
But.
'This demon who tormented you—screaming in pain. His soul's desperate cries.'
Chiron's will did not waver.