Echoes of the Past
“We are the Demon Commander Raiven! Hero, sully our final battle no further!”
At that cry—resolute to the point of sorrow—Hero Rowell could find no words to continue.
“…Understood, Demon Commander Raiven.”
Rowell raised the holy sword Grandias toward the clones. The pity that had lingered in his eyes was gone, replaced by a heavy resolve.
Seeing that expression, a heavy, bittersweet, yet satisfied smile appeared on each of the clones’ faces.
-Yes. That is enough, Hero!
Some of the clones charged at Rowell all at once. Medrup raised a hand and cast a barrier around himself, Anak, Aegina, and Bagloros. It required no preparation, no incantation—not even a grand gesture—yet its strength far surpassed the layered barriers Anak had equipped.
But the barrier proved unnecessary. None of the clones spared a glance for anyone but the Hero. Even though the figures before them could have set the surroundings ablaze and annihilated the Demon Army single-handedly, their focus remained solely on Rowell.
The first to reach him were the clones of simpler forms: a lion’s body fused with a scorpion, a lizard whose entire frame was like hardened blades, a bear with spider-like tentacles and wings, a massive two-headed wolf, and a giant bat with a spider’s body. Though their shapes were relatively basic, their speed and power were nothing to underestimate.
Claws, fangs, and razor-sharp pincers tore through the air with deafening roars. Once, Rowell had struggled against Raiven in each of these forms. The blade-bodied lizard had shrugged off both his sword and most attack spells, while the two-headed wolf and the great lion had overwhelmed him with sheer strength and speed.
For a moment, the memories flashing through Rowell’s mind and the scene before him made it feel as though he had returned to those days—as if Raiven had risen again to challenge him once more.
Yet no matter how similar it seemed, it could never be the same. Rowell evaded the attacks with fluid movements, deflecting several strikes with his blade before slipping inside their guard and striking lightly.
His sword cleanly severed the right arm of the sturdy lizard. The clone made no sound—no scream, no groan. The instant its arm was lost, it opened its jaws and unleashed a bolt of lightning. Rowell stood directly in front of the lizard clone, and the attack was lightning itself. Under normal circumstances, there would have been no dodging it, but the bolt pierced only an afterimage.
Rowell was already behind the clone. Its back was completely exposed; it was too late to swing its tail or call for aid from the others. Though the situation should have spelled certain death, the clone smiled.
Before Rowell could swing his sword, the spines along its back flared with light and released a surge of lightning far stronger than before. Rowell stepped back into the storm, but again the bolts struck only afterimages.
When Rowell reappeared, the beast-form clones had surrounded him. The situation was not unfavorable for them. Even with one arm lost, they had blocked the Hero’s attack and escaped a lethal blow. Yet the lizard clone’s face remained rigid.
“…What are you plotting?”
The voice grated like metal on metal—identical to Raiven’s in that form.
“Why didn’t you finish it?”
One might have thought he had retreated from the unexpected counterattack, but that was not the case.
“You already knew about the lightning, yet you still took my back. Was that not because you were confident?”
In their past duel, Rowell had once seized the rear of this very form. Though he had not wielded Grandias then, the enchanted magic sword had been wreathed in fierce sword qi, and Rowell had been certain of victory. But a sudden, violent discharge of lightning had nullified his attack, and the fight had dragged on for a long time afterward.
Rowell could not have forgotten that lightning, nor would he fall to it now. If he had wished, he could have pierced straight through the lightning and driven his blade into the clone’s heart without any defense. Yet he had chosen to retreat and face it again from the front.
It was an action that made no sense unless it had been deliberate.
“Are you still pitying us?!”
The clone lunged forward with its remaining hand, reaching Rowell in an instant. Its claws shot toward his heart before the other clones could even move.
Clang!
A clear metallic ring echoed as the claws struck Grandias and stopped dead.
“What are you doing?! If you won’t fight properly…!”
Its mouth opened, fury twisting its features as it prepared to unleash another bolt of lightning. But at that moment, Rowell’s hand flashed, and an explosion of flame and smoke engulfed the clone’s face. The spell itself was weak and dealt no real damage, yet it was enough to interrupt the lightning and halt its movement for a crucial instant.
While the clone stood dazed, Rowell smiled and spoke.
“Don’t say such uncool things. Indulging in old memories is fine, isn’t it? Or have you forgotten?”
In that instant, a strange emotion flickered through the clone’s eyes—and through the eyes of the other clones as well—before smiles spread across their faces.
“I see. So that’s what it was! Of course!”
Still smiling, the clone withdrew. It gathered its strength, and the severed right arm regenerated.
“Yes. Now it’s just like back then. Don’t you think?”
Rowell’s reason for choosing this path was simple: he was recreating the scenes from their past battles.
“…So that really was your intention.”
“Yes. It seems so.”
Anak and Aegina nodded as they watched Rowell. They had already realized he would not go all out from the start, and that he had no intention of ending the fight quickly. But when he targeted the lizard clone first and immediately moved to its back after severing its arm, only they could guess his true intent.
It was because they had adventured together from the beginning, and because they had witnessed those very scenes with their own eyes.
This lizard form had been the second Raiven they encountered. It was also the first battle in which Rowell had fought Raiven on equal footing—the moment his once-weak and unstable sword qi had finally stabilized.
Back then, ordinary magic swords could not cut through that blade-like body. Even with faint sword qi, it had only been enough to keep the blade from breaking.
Though Anak and Aegina had provided support, Aegina could not face the blade-bodied Raiven directly, and Anak’s magic and summons had been unable to inflict significant damage.
Yet Rowell had fought desperately, and in the heat of that fierce battle, he had instinctively learned how to strengthen and stabilize his sword qi.
That was how he had managed to sever Raiven’s right arm. Of course, Raiven had immediately regenerated the lost limb, and it had taken much longer before Rowell could take his back.
In fact, the moment the clone’s face had been covered in flames matched the past exactly. Anak had used an attack spell to divert Raiven’s attention as he prepared to unleash lightning, and by sheer luck it had struck the face. At the time, however, it had not been enough to stop the lightning from firing.
“Yes! You truly are magnificent, Hero!”
After dozens of sharp, fierce exchanges, the lizard clone suddenly pulled back, laughter rumbling from its throat like grinding metal.
At some point, the clones that had been waiting in the rear—as well as the other beast-form clones that had charged alongside it—had stopped interfering. They simply watched in silence.
Every blade and spine on the clone’s body stood on end, faint lightning crackling across its form. Seeing this, Rowell adjusted his grip on Grandias. Not only the blade but his entire body became wreathed in pale white energy.
This, too, was a scene from the past. Raiven had poured every ounce of power from that form into one final attack, and Rowell had not avoided the decisive clash.
A barrier to deflect the collision and the lightning. And in the instant that barrier shattered and both the lightning and the opponent’s speed slowed, Rowell would strike with sword qi compressed into multiple layers.
Now, instead of the once-weak and unstable barrier, it was Rowell’s own aura that protected him. The sword qi he had once desperately compressed was now merely ordinary, yet his intent remained the same.
“……”
“……”
For a moment, the clone and Rowell simply stared at each other. Then they both lunged forward. The instant they collided, the clone’s lightning clashed with Rowell’s white aura. Several of the clone’s spines shattered, scattering lightning in all directions.
The clone raised its razor-sharp claws, reaching for both Rowell’s sword and his heart, but Grandias blocked the path. Before it could swing again, Rowell vanished from sight, and the holy sword swept across its body.
When the brief clash ended, Rowell and the clone passed each other and quickly moved apart. They came to a stop and slowly turned to face one another.
Unlike the unscathed Rowell, the clone’s appearance was pitiful. Its spines and blades were all broken, and its once-hard, scale-covered skin was torn in countless places. A long sword wound ran across its chest, black blood streaming from the gash.
“…So this is how the original fought.”
The clone’s body began to collapse. Just like the first clone that had conveyed their existence to the Hero and his companions, its life and very structure lost their form and crumbled away.
“……”
The clone could say no more. Its form had never been suited for speech, and in these final moments it was difficult to voice everything it wished to say. Yet it felt neither sorrow nor regret. The Hero met its gaze directly, and it knew he already understood every word it wanted to convey.
Just as it was looking into his eyes and seeing his heart, he was looking into its own.