38 - This is Ridiculous (1)
People are always standing at a crossroads of choice. And I had made mine. I decided to leave it to the protagonist. After all, my first thought had been to get out of the family. It was arrogant. Reckless, and complacent. The arrogance that came from knowing the future. The complacency that the protagonist would solve everything. Because of my choice, someone had been hurt. It might have become an indelible trauma. My arrogance had driven a nail into someone’s heart that could never be pulled out again.
This was a burden. A burden I could never erase. Therefore, this was not a promise to Elisha. This was a promise I was making to myself.
'No matter what happens, I will take responsibility and take Elisha with me.'
I drew mana up from my core. Power immediately began to surge through my body.
“Huu…”
What mattered right now was depleting Shady’s shadows. The black magic she used ultimately couldn’t exert its power without them. Since her total mana reserves weren’t that large, consuming her shadows came first.
Even if I prevented her from using black magic by burning through her shadows, however, her exceptional senses would still be incredibly annoying to deal with from an opponent’s perspective. She had carried out countless missions for Requiem and crossed death’s threshold dozens of times. Her sharpened senses and trained physical abilities had cut down many rookies.
I was weaker than the protagonist of this world and my stats were inferior. Defeating Shady alone was practically impossible. But I couldn’t give up. I had goals. To survive safely and return home. And… for everyone to live happily with smiles on their faces.
I hoped Elin would regain her confidence. I hoped Lucy would set down her heavy burdens and live a life for herself. I wanted to see Celia smile. And Elisha… I didn’t want her to be sad. I wanted to protect her smile—the one that shone more brilliantly than anyone else’s.
I had to repay Elisha for her smile and her trust. Even after I said such cruel things to her, avoided her, and treated her curtly, she had still given me a truly beautiful smile. So I couldn’t give up no matter what.
I settled into a stance and thrust my arm forward. Shady immediately took her own stance and charged at me.
I steadied my breathing. And, as always, I simply shouted.
“Ignition.”
The blue flames roared to life.
....
“Your control of flames isn’t bad at all, is it?”
Whoosh. Her punches flew at me without pause.
Whoosh.
“....”
Whoosh. Even while throwing them, she kept talking in that carefree tone.
“Still. There’s nothing you can actually do. I’ll admit your flames are strong. The power is clearly on another level compared to anything I’ve seen before. But do you really think you can take me down with just that?”
“...Shut up.”
Whoosh. In truth, Shady was right. Thanks to my trait, my flames possessed different power even when using the same spell. But that alone couldn’t catch her. I was chipping away at her shadows little by little, yet at this rate there was no path to victory.
If I used Mana Amplification I could burn through a large amount of her shadows at once, but that method placed a heavy burden on my body. It was safe to call Mana Amplification a last resort. A few uses and the strain would knock me unconscious.
It was a good trait, but I couldn’t wield it properly yet. My body needed to be strong enough to endure it, and at the point where the first chapter had only just ended, there was no way my growth was sufficient. I would probably need to reach at least the middle stages before I could use it freely. So for now I had to conserve it as much as possible.
But was this the right call? With skills still available that could restore both stamina and mana, was holding back my magic really the correct choice?
“.....”
For the moment I would save my mana and wait for an opening. Even while organizing my thoughts, the attacks never stopped.
I dodged the fist flying straight at my skull. The follow-up strike from her shadow clone was barely blocked by my flames. But shadows were not invincible. Just as intense light erases shadows, the ones that touched my flames were steadily wearing away.
“Your flames are seriously weird. The shadows just disappear when they touch them?”
“But nothing changes. This place is basically my domain,” Shady said.
She was right. The only light here was the moonlight hanging in the sky. The entire area was covered in shadows. Since she grew stronger in places filled with them, I was indeed at a disadvantage.
Still, I had to wait. I had to wait for the moment when I could turn the fight around.
“By the way, can’t you use any other magic? You’ve been spamming the same one this whole time. This is too boring. You’re only defending—did I expect too much from you~?”
Even while unleashing a barrage of attacks, Shady’s mouth never stopped. She had always talked a lot in the original story, but having absorbed too many shadows and gone into a ‘darkened’ state seemed to have made her even chattier.
One of her strikes grazed my cheek. Blood trickled from the cut. Yet the assault continued. I was using magic, but holding my ground against a martial-artist like her was genuinely difficult.
Still, no matter how strong the opponent, a gap would always appear. I ducked under the punch she threw at my left arm, letting it flow past me. There it was—an opening.
While receiving her attacks I had watched, analyzed, and observed. And I had found it. Her weakness.
Whenever she lunged at the arms, her motions grew large. I would use that exact habit for a counter.
I pulled out the weapon I had been saving until now.
“Summon.”
“What..?!”
Sensing something off, she hurriedly moved into a defensive posture, but it was too late. The flames I had stored during my spar with Lucy—the ferocious ones that had devoured her fire and tried to swallow her as well—I summoned them here again. On top of that, I added the blue flames created through Mana Amplification.
“You won’t be able to dodge this.”
“..!!!”
—!!!!!
A tremendous roar followed, and the area was instantly swallowed by dust. Caught in the explosion, my body was hurled into the air. I crashed to the ground and rolled violently before slamming into a wall.
Even though I wrapped myself in mana, it still hurts this much…
But with this much power, Shady couldn’t have come out unscathed. Even if she had blocked it, the attack couldn’t have been stopped without consuming a massive amount of shadows.
“....Elisha. Is Elisha all right?”
It had been an explosion of terrifying force. The collision of flame against flame had produced both a massive blast and deafening roar. There had been some distance between us, but I couldn’t be sure.
Staggering, I forced myself to my feet. The dust made it impossible to see Shady. I scanned the surroundings with the intention of checking on Elisha first.
My gaze eventually locked onto one spot.
There sat Elisha. Even amid the dust cloud created by the explosion, I couldn’t tear my eyes away from her—she shone like a star in the night sky. She must have fainted while enduring the pain; she was trembling and breathing in short, ragged gasps.
I gently brushed her disheveled bangs aside.
“Thank goodness. You didn’t get caught in the blast.”
She had collapsed, but her life didn’t seem to be in danger. Still, looking at her body, her condition was far from good. The bleeding from her shoulder and thigh had stopped, but the wounds were severe. If I didn’t heal them quickly, scars would remain on her fair skin.
I retrieved a potion from my Inventory and began pouring it over her injuries. New flesh sprouted as the wounds started to close. Yet Elisha’s trembling refused to stop. I took off the uniform I was wearing and draped it over her.
But the situation was not over. The dust from the explosion gradually settled, and at the center of the blast, a figure wearing something began to appear. Under the moonlight her form became clearer. Black shadows covered her body, resembling a full-body suit. Yet patches of bare skin showed through, and she was breathing heavily.
That was the state that appeared when her stamina fell below fifty percent. A simple but powerful technique that wrapped shadows around her body to reinforce her physical abilities. The fact that the shadows hadn’t covered her completely meant she had consumed a great deal of them. Which also meant her mana reserves had to be nearly exhausted.
“Huk… huk… What… what the hell is this…”
“Finally regained your senses, have you?”
I dragged my exhausted body toward Shady.
“How does it feel to be devoured by your own shadow?”
“Haa… ha… W-what are you…?”
Was this girl seriously trying to pick a fight with me right now? The shadows around her had thinned considerably, so the status ailment should have been lifted. Some elaborate strategy? No, that didn’t seem likely. Then there was only one possible answer.
“You don’t remember?”
“Are you… that guy from before…? Damn it, ever since then my memories… my head feels like it’s going to split open…”
Wow. After I had finally cornered her. No memories? Was it like this in the original story too?
In the game, Shady was imprisoned immediately after being defeated by the protagonist, so the next chance to meet her was only after the assassin event ended. No matter how long I had played, there were still things I didn’t know.
“Ha, this is ridiculous.”
“What…? What the—Kyaaak..!”
I quickly closed the distance on her staggering form, hooked her leg, and tripped her. She collapsed without resistance. I planted my foot on her shoulder, pressed down hard, and asked.
“You don’t even remember what you did?”
“Kuh…!!”
“Ha, what am I supposed to do about this?”
“Kuh…! I don’t know what it is, but since a witness has seen me… I have no idea what kind of treatment I’ll receive, so j-just kill me…!”
It was hard to believe this was the same person I had been fighting moments ago. Who the hell are you?