Finale
With Mikhail’s mad laughter, blades gleaming with an eerie light began to rain down upon the two of them.
“Damn it! Why’s he so fast all of a sudden?!”
Milia snarled in irritation as she battered aside the storm of strikes. Compared to moments before, Mikhail’s attacks had grown far swifter, and the doubled number of blades was no mere decoration—his assault had turned viciously sharp. The one small mercy was that his original body had never been that of a pure martial artist; his patterns remained simple, almost monotonous.
And so the three of them traded blows in a furious exchange.
“Hyaaaaah!!”
How long the clash lasted, none could say. Once she had read the pattern, Milia roared and poured mana into her halberd, swinging it in a great arc.
[What…?!]
“Guh!!”
With a ringing clang, Mikhail’s blades were knocked aside. A low groan escaped him as his body staggered. Milia herself could not fully absorb the force; she skidded backward with a grunt of her own and shouted toward Schwarz.
“Now!”
“Yes, My Lady!”
Schwarz nodded at her cry and lunged into the opening left by Mikhail’s broken stance.
[Petty tricks…!!]
Purple light flared in Mikhail’s eyes as he thrust out his bladed legs toward the charging boy.
Slower than that attack back then!
Schwarz remembered Amelia’s blinding flurry at the martial tournament—blades that had seemed to multiply without end. Beside that, Mikhail’s strikes were nothing special.
I can handle this!
He never slowed, weaving between the blades. Those he could parry he struck aside; those he could not, he slipped past, closing the distance without pause. Even so, a few edges he failed to dodge grazed him, leaving cuts large and small across his body. Still he pressed on. The instant he stopped, the swarm of blades still hunting him would skewer him through.
[You insect!!]
“Hyaaaaah!!”
Seeing Schwarz right in front of him, Mikhail let out a near-scream and raised a leg tipped with a flashing blade. At the same moment Schwarz roared and drew up his mana. A low thrum rose as the golden sigils etched into his gauntlets began to glow faintly; an instant later, dark-blue flames erupted from the metal.
The bladed leg scraped past Schwarz’s cheek, scattering droplets of blood—yet Schwarz’s flame-wreathed fist was already driving straight for Mikhail’s face. Instinct screamed danger; Mikhail hastily crossed his legs to block. In that same heartbeat the dark-blue fire coiled around the gauntlet detonated, engulfing him.
[Gyaaaaah!!]
Mikhail’s face vanished in the blaze as he howled in agony. Even so he lashed out with a leg and sent Schwarz flying.
“My Lady!”
“Got it!!”
Schwarz cried out as he was driven back; Milia tightened her grip on the halberd and charged Mikhail at once.
[Get… away from me!!]
Through the still-burning dark-blue flames, purple eyes blazed as Mikhail thrust his blades toward her. But Schwarz was never one to stand idle.
“I won’t let you!”
He shouted and hurled himself at Mikhail.
[What…?!]
Fixated on the girl rushing him, Mikhail had never expected the boy’s move. His startled cry was cut short as Schwarz’s tackle slammed into him, throwing his aim wide. The blades that should have pierced Milia merely grazed her instead.
[Haaaaaaaaah—!!]
In the fleeting opening Schwarz had created, Milia leapt high and drove her halberd straight down into the left side of Mikhail’s chest—where the purple aura pulsed strongest. Straight into his heart.
[Ghk…?!]
A single choked sound, and Mikhail froze. The next instant—
[Gyaaaaaaah—!!]
A scream tore from him as purple energy exploded from the wound beneath Milia’s blade.
“Kyaa?!”
“My Lady!!”
The blast hurled Milia away, her halberd torn from her grasp. Schwarz lunged and caught her before she could hit the ground.
“Are you all right?”
“Y-yeah!! But what on earth…?”
He set her down carefully. She nodded, then turned to stare at Mikhail, who still poured out that violet radiance.
[Gyaaaaaaah—!!]
Mikhail writhed, howling as the purple energy bled from him. Cracks spider-webbed across his body as though his very life force were draining away.
[This… this can’t be!!]
As if he already knew what was coming, he cried out in torment.
[You think… you think it ends like this?!]
Staggering, he clamped a hand over the ruptured chest and forced himself upright. At the same time his many legs fused together, reshaping into a single massive horn.
“What is he—?”
“Don’t tell me…!!”
Milia tilted her head in confusion, but Schwarz understood at once. His breath caught.
“My Lady! Run!”
“Huh? What?”
Schwarz seized her and sprinted for the far end of the passage.
[Kraaaaaah—!!]
With a roar that no longer sounded human, Mikhail launched himself straight at the ceiling. A thunderous crash followed; the roof collapsed, and black river water came roaring down into the underground tunnel.
“Urgh…”
“S-someone help…”
Specters guild members lay sprawled in pathetic heaps, groaning and begging for aid.
“What in the world…?”
Rebecca stared at the scene, utterly dumbfounded. If everything had gone according to plan, she and the Black Fox operatives should have been trading blows with Specters fighters in the back alleys by now. Yet no matter how long they waited, the enemy never appeared. Frustrated by the unexpected turn, Rebecca had sent scouts to check on Specters’ movements—and the report that came back made her doubt her own ears.
Specters’ main force had already been completely subdued.
Half-disbelieving, she had hurried over, only to find exactly what the scouts had claimed: the entire main body of Specters, stripped of any fighting strength.
“Don’t tell me those two…”
“Looks that way.”
Devin spoke in a tight voice; Rebecca nodded in agreement. The Count’s daughter known as the Valentine family’s mad warrior, and her personal servant. Hearing rumors of their power was one thing; witnessing it firsthand sent a chill racing down her spine. At the same time, she could not hide a quiet pride that her gamble had paid off.
“So where are they now?”
“They should still be nearby. I’ll check—”
A faint smile touched Rebecca’s lips as she asked. Devin answered and began scanning the surroundings—then—
—Rumble…
“Did you feel that?”
“Yes. I felt it.”
The tremor underfoot made Rebecca frown; Devin nodded. The shaking grew stronger by the second. Something was very wrong.
“Wait—it’s getting worse!”
“It seems so, but—”
And then—
—BOOM!!
A deafening crash shook the entire building.
“Boss!”
“Outside—now!!”
The structure swayed as if it might collapse at any moment. Dodging falling debris, Rebecca and Devin scrambled into the open air—and froze.
“What… is that?”
“…!!”
Both of them swallowed hard at the sight before them. A grotesque creature neither had ever seen: half human, half insect, covered in jagged spines, four pairs of legs sprouting from its back to support its bulk. Dark fluid that glittered purple leaked endlessly from a wound near its heart.
“B-Boss… run…”
The abomination’s purple eyes blazed with murderous light as it tore into the throat of a man who, only moments earlier, had still been alive.
[Blood… I need more blood…!!]
Muttering, the creature turned its head toward them. Madness burned in those violet eyes. Its split lower jaw dripped crimson between rows of razor teeth—a nightmare given flesh.
[Give me your blood—!!]
It flung the man’s corpse aside like trash and charged with a howl.
“Boss! Get back!!”
Devin drew his sword and stepped in front of Rebecca. Bladed legs lashed toward him from every direction. He was just bracing to meet them when a voice thundered through the air, thick with mana.
[Both of you—down!!]
They hit the ground without even thinking whose voice it was.
—Fwoooosh!!
A torrent of dark-blue flame roared over their heads and slammed into the monster. The creature shrieked as the searing fire engulfed it, staggering and thrashing.
“A second later and we’d have been in real trouble.”
“Indeed. Are you both unharmed?”
At the familiar voices the two looked up—and saw a silver-haired girl and a black-haired boy with amber eyes standing before them.