First Battle (3)
Clang!!
A sharp metallic ring split the air as Erinn’s Holy Sword and a pair of dark-blue scythes slammed together and shoved hard against each other.
“…What a pain. So annoying~♡”
That was Erinn’s honest take on the twin dolls. One-on-one, face-to-face, she would have held a clear edge—yet their perfect coordination plugged every gap in their individual skill.
Worse, that same coordination refined their attacks into something far more lethal. If she hadn’t mastered the Hegemon Sword Art, those scythes would already have carved her clean in two.
The owners of the scythes—the Murder Dolls Rei and Leni—giggled as if being forced back was the best joke they’d heard all day.
“Kyaha! Oppa, she’s pretty strong—this is fun!”
“Yeah. Guess the Hero title isn’t just for show.”
Erinn’s brow twitched. She had Ser-Aria’s support, yet even though every arrow struck true the dolls barely flinched. Ordinary shafts did nothing; their physical resistance was absurdly high.
Even mana-laced shots were instantly batted aside by those oversized scythes. Awkward stance or not, the blades moved on their own and swatted the arrows out of the air.
“Tch, blocked again!!”
Ser-Aria couldn’t land a single meaningful hit. And every time she failed, the pressure on Erinn only grew heavier.
Divine Archer Ser-Aria activates [Delayed Detonation]
BOOM!!
Even now it was the same. Fed up with the constant blocks, Ser-Aria loosed a mana arrow designed to explode on contact—yet that bizarre scythe still swallowed the blast whole.
“That scythe is just wrong!”
Erinn couldn’t blame her for the frustration. She answered in a soothing tone.
“You’re doing great. Just keep shooting nice and calm~.”
The Murder Dolls swatted Ser-Aria’s arrows aside and immediately rejoined their combo. Even when the archer’s fierce covering fire peeled one of them off, they simply tanked everything and latched back onto the twin Erinn was pressing.
CLANG!!!
Relentless. That was the only word for it.
They could have gone after Ser-Aria—the one constantly harassing them—yet they fixated solely on Erinn. They didn’t even need both of them; one each would have been enough. Their single-minded obsession made Erinn’s nerves tighten despite her confidence. She was still human. Humans make mistakes. And a mistake here would be fatal. So she kept swinging with tension coiled tight in her shoulders.
Whoosh!
The Holy Sword cut empty air. The two irritating twins snickered and swapped places.
“Your sword’s gotten heavier~?”
Leni’s jab drew a nod from Rei.
“Getting antsy, huh?”
Erinn didn’t bother answering, but they weren’t wrong. Even she—who usually kept her cool—couldn’t help feeling the pressure now.
The twins in front of her were headache enough, but the black-armored figure that had gone after Allen… that one was genuinely dangerous. Fast and lethal enough that even Erinn had lost track of its movement for half a beat. That was how Letisia had been overpowered and dragged off in a single exchange.
Letisia’s safety, Allen’s safety, Clara’s safety—all of it hung in the balance. She needed to finish these twins and get over there, yet nothing was going her way. Anxiety kept climbing, especially since the noise from the direction Letisia had been slammed into had gone quiet.
…I might have to accept some damage to the capital.
Erinn glanced at the soldiers holding the walls. Under Freya’s support they were still hanging on. She felt genuinely sorry for them, but if she wanted these twins dead she couldn’t afford to worry about collateral.
The walls would fall and the monsters outside would pour in, but…
…No choice.
To Erinn, protecting the people whose faces and names she actually knew mattered more than faceless strangers.
“Hah.”
She exhaled lightly and gripped the Holy Sword with both hands. Vast mana began flooding into the blade.
“Oh~?”
“She’s doing something!”
The twins spun their scythes with delighted grins and crossed the blades.
“Then how about we do something too?”
“Sounds good, Oppa!”
Murder Dolls Rei & Leni activate [Death Scythe]
An ominous aura wrapped the dark-blue blades. Ser-Aria’s eyes went wide; she shouted toward Erinn.
“Erinn!”
“It’s fine.”
“No—you can’t meet that head-on!”
The warning left Erinn puzzled for a heartbeat—then she understood.
“…!”
What clung to the twins’ scythes wasn’t mana. It was an ominous power that erased both mana and divine force—Ominous, the power that originated from the Demon King himself.
No one else could artificially replicate it. Only the Demon King’s most trusted confidants and the Legion Commanders who formed the backbone of his army were known to wield it.
So why did a pair of dolls have it? The reason every one of Ser-Aria’s arrows had been nullified suddenly clicked, and Erinn let out a hollow laugh.
“Even if you’re going to mess with dolls, there are limits….”
Rei and Leni grinned at her muttered disbelief.
“This power was bestowed by the Magic Legion Commander himself!”
“We’ll show you exactly what it can do!”
Realizing it changed nothing; they were already too close. The twins shot forward, wrapped in that Demon-King-born force.
“Erinn!”
Ser-Aria was about to help when Erinn flicked a glance her way, gave a tiny nod, then faced forward again. Ser-Aria read the intent in that look and froze.
“…Huh?”
It made no sense at first, but this was Erinn’s own decision—there had to be a reason. Moving immediately wasn’t easy, yet Ser-Aria obeyed. She didn’t draw the bowstring. She simply stepped aside.
Erinn leaned her body forward toward the twin great-scythes already filling her vision, preparing to swing.
At a glance it looked like suicide. Both hands held the sword drawn back while her torso charged ahead first—straight into two massive scythes wreathed in power that erased mana and divine force alike.
Even the twins thought the Hero had lost her mind. It looked like nothing more than a suicidal gamble.
They simply didn’t know her. For anyone else it would have been suicide. Erinn was different.
She was the sole successor of the Hegemon Sword Art.
If the force on those scythes erased mana, then she simply had to cut them down without using any.
Physical resistance or not—it no longer mattered.
The scythes would reach her neck and abdomen in roughly two seconds—barely a blink.
In that tiny window Erinn’s already-forward body angled her arms, preparing a vertical rising cut.
Every muscle in her body roared under the Hero’s Blessing and her vast mana. Her entire frame existed for one purpose: the swing. Tremendous power flooded both arms in an instant.
And the moment the scythes kissed her throat—
“One Flash.”
The sword moved.
I was still running hard with Letisia in my arms, trying to keep up with Clara, when a message suddenly popped into view.
Hero Erinn activates [Transcendental Sword Art: One Flash]
“Huh?”
Erinn’s skill message. If it was showing up, she had to be pretty close. That meant Freya should be nearby too.
I looked down at Letisia, whose color was getting worse by the second.
“Letisia, hang on a little longer. Freya’s right up ahead!”
“…Yes.”
“…Allen, wait.”
Clara, who’d been leading, suddenly dropped from a rooftop and grabbed my arm.
“…Dodge.”
“What?—Whoa!?”
Before I could protest she yanked me into an alley. I was about to demand what the hell she was doing when—
KRAKOOOOOOM──────────!!
A deafening roar swallowed the street we’d just left. The entire alleyway collapsed at once—buildings and all. Everything crumbled into formless rubble so thoroughly I first worried whether anyone had been inside.
“What the…?”
“…Erinn’s sword.”
“Sword?”
That was done with a sword? I stared at the devastation in pure disbelief.
Honestly it was shocking, but not impossible to accept. Back in Estire Kingdom she’d once cleaved a path through a monster horde with a single stroke. The brat was ridiculously strong.
But this time… I don’t see any trace of mana…
Something felt off, yet this wasn’t the moment to ask. I turned to Clara.
“Did you find Freya?”
“…She’s by the gate. But we shouldn’t go there right now.”
“What? Why?”
“…The wall’s down. Monsters are pouring in.”
“The wall’s down!?”
…Things must have been worse than I thought. That was probably why Erinn had been forced to use a skill that strong.
“Then we need to get over there and help. Once Letisia’s healed she can jump right in.”
“…No. The monsters didn’t break the wall….”
“Huh?”
Clara looked at me with a slightly awkward expression.
“…Erinn did it.”
“…What?”
I glanced again at the flattened buildings and street. With that kind of destructive power, bringing down a wall wasn’t exactly impossible.
“Then the soldiers holding the gate….”
“…They’re in chaos right now. We could get swept up in it, so I figured we should stay put.”
…I got it.
Because the Hero had collapsed the wall, Behend Kingdom’s army was taking heavier losses, and the soldiers were panicking. Some of them, with their lives suddenly on the line, might even resent the Hero’s decision. Of course Erinn hadn’t done it for fun, but still….
I looked at the girl in my arms. Compared to how chatty she’d been when she first woke up, Letisia had gone very quiet. Her complexion was poor; losing that much blood clearly hadn’t left her in good shape.
“…We still have to go.”
Clara studied Letisia, then gave a small nod.
“…Should I sneak Freya over here?”
“No. That would leave the soldiers’ line exposed. We should go to them.”
“…Will it be okay?”
“It’ll be fine.”
We’d just have to be ready for some verbal abuse.
…Wait, no.
Why would we take the heat? We weren’t even official reinforcements—we’d only come to deposit money and somehow ended up in this mess.
And Clara, with her paper-thin self-esteem, might not handle strangers’ insults well. She might not be able to just let it slide.
Sure enough, worry was already showing on her face. I tried to reassure her.
“If anyone starts mouthing off, I’ll punch them for you. Don’t worry.”
“…Okay.”
“Let’s move.”
“…This way.”
I followed Clara out of the alley. In the distance I could see Freya holding the gate, fighting the monsters pouring through the collapsed wall.
“Clara, go help Freya!”
“…Got it.”
Clara shot forward like an arrow and cut down a Bloody Hound that had been stalking Freya from behind in a single stroke.
Damn, she’s fast…—no time to admire it.
I squeezed out every last drop of strength and somehow caught up to the two of them.
“Clara? Allen? How are you both….”
“…Freya, I brought Letisia.”
“Is she all right? The monster that went that way….”
“We took care of it! More importantly, Letisia needs healing right now!”
I showed her the girl in my arms. Freya’s eyes widened.
“Letisia!”
“Her color’s terrible. She needs treatment first.”
“But there are so many monsters here…!”
“We’ll handle that somehow! Once Letisia’s back to normal she can clear the whole lot.”
No one handled crowds of enemies better than a spirit mage like Letisia. Getting her back on her feet was the key to fixing this mess.
“…Understood.”
Freya took Letisia from me and immediately began channeling divine power.
Saintess Freya Ernest activates [Divine Healing]
Holy light wrapped Letisia’s body. Color slowly returned to her cheeks. A little more time and she’d be able to stand again.
I looked at Clara.
“Clara, let’s hold them off.”
“…Wouldn’t it be better if you stayed back, Allen?”
…Yeah, there wasn’t much I could do right now.
“I’ll throw rocks or something.”
“…No.”
I’d offered my best effort and she still shook her head. Was she looking down on rock-throwing? Fair enough, I guess….
“…I don’t think we even need to step in.”
“…Huh?”
Clara pointed. I followed her finger—and immediately understood why she said it was unnecessary.
“Ah.”
So there had been a reason she’d leveled the buildings and the wall after all.
“What’s this~?”
She gave a light, giggling laugh and raised the brilliantly shining Holy Sword.
“Still alive, huh, scrub~♡”