Blades clash, playing a tune of swordsmanship between life and death.
“Raaaaah!”
“Sushi! Tempura! Sukiyaki!”
Sparks scatter like a meteor shower.
Zeft and Udanosuke clash fiercely, and seeing no opportunity to intervene, Cain aims to defend the rear two while targeting a smashing smite with a large shield from the flanking position.
Albina prepares for healing, ready to attack with holy magic if her hands are free.
Claire distributes various strengthening buff magics to allies while also aiming to strike whenever possible.
The possessions of the four are all equipped with the highest blessings as gear against undead, crafted not by just any temple, but by specialized craftsmen in the Holy Kingdom of Diletta.
All for the sake of Chenxi. To defeat the “Rose Princess of Hellrage” and her minions.
The enemy’s movements slow, and the corruption by malevolence is countered.
However, even so, the Ghoul Samurai are fighting on par with the four top-tier adventurers.
“[Qi Edge]!”
In the midst of battle. Udanosuke strokes the peak of his katana where the blade shines.
Then, that blade emits a glow.
“An enchantment skill of bestowal magic…?”
“It seems like it’s meant to pierce with holy energy. Be careful.”
Holy energy and malevolent energy cancel each other out.
However, for the undead powered by malevolence, this canceling itself becomes damage.
By enchanting weapons with magic, the pressure to dispel holy energy simply increases, allowing for a more advantageous fight.
“≪Lightning≫!”
But without missing that opening, lightning bursts forth from Claire’s wand towards the sky.
It’s aimed towards Udanosuke engaged with Zeft… but.
“Gunmaken!”
Udanosuke responds immediately.
Currently, he’s wielding the katana with one hand. With his free hand, he sharply throws something like a talisman towards the sky.
The lightning strikes directly, seemingly drawn to that talisman, exploding overhead before reaching Udanosuke.
Furthermore, Udanosuke unleashes throwing blades in the shape of stars.
“Rin!”
“Kuh!”
“Pyo!”
“Kyaa!”
The sharply flying blades, rotating, aim for the rear guard.
The one aimed at Claire is knocked away by Cain’s shield, but the other almost pierces Albina’s chest, and she blocks it with her arm.
“Protect! Heal!”
Cain steps forward. Thrusting out his shield, he approaches.
At the same time, Zeft also attacks.
Attacks from the front and back.
Udanosuke… heads towards Cain.
In that instant of attacking towards the large shield, Zeft’s sword approaches from behind Udanosuke.
Udanosuke’s grass sandal-like footwear treads the ground.
He abruptly stops, turns, half of his body, with an accuracy as if he had eyes on his back… as an undead, he possesses not only vision but also magical perception… dodges Zeft’s sword. His long hair, tied into one, is cut in half at the midpoint.
Udanosuke’s foot steps on Zeft’s sword swung down.
But without turning his back to Zeft, he pulls the katana closer, holding it at eye level as if peering into the gap.
“Douchou… Atsuryoku!!”
Udanosuke thrusts against Cain’s shield.
A hole in the shield pierced by the cursed sword of the “Rose Princess of Hellrage”.
It wasn’t significantly large as it only penetrated the tip of the sword, but still.
Against the significantly large cursed sword of the “Rose Princess of Hellrage”, a thin, sharp, yet long katana.
Its blade, like a thread through a needle’s eye, passes through the hole in the shield, pierces through the thick breastplate, skewering Cain.
“What…!”
“Cain!”
Blood spills from Cain’s mouth.
However, despite that, Cain doesn’t falter. He pushes back Udanosuke, exerting all his strength to pull the katana out from his chest.
Muscles swell, and Cain’s body, swollen under the armor, appears even larger.
Just when it seemed so, at that moment.
“[Qi Blade Release]!”
A heavy sound, as if something burst, and Cain’s body trembles.
Cain vomits out pieces of flesh mixed with blood like a volcano erupting. The power imbued on the katana released within his body, tearing apart his entrails.
“What…!?”
His body sways. The shield slips from his grip.
The Ghoul Samurai kicks away the large shield, draws out the katana, and with one swing, clears away the blood stains.
And then, with the returning blade, attempts to cut down Zeft from behind…
“Nooo!?”
At that moment, Cain explodes, scattering in all directions like a shining light, surprising Udanosuke with a look of being taken aback.
Cain’s body turns into whitish sand, and the equipment he wore flies around.
This is the other secret technique honed in the Holy Kingdom of Diletta. A special bodily sanctification ritual.
At the moment of death, the body becomes a bomb of holy energy, vanquishing evil. With this, there’s no possibility of the corpse being seized by the minions of the evil god. However, it also eliminates any hope of resurrection through magic.
Udanosuke’s pale skin, bathed in sacred ashes, burns like a scald.
The katana that killed Cain, tainted with holy energy, burned his hand. It’s almost as if he’s holding a holy seal.
“You! How dare you even take Cain!”
“Guh…”
With anger almost making his head go blank, Zeft attacks.
It was natural to apply this sanctification when fighting powerful undead. However, he didn’t want to use it. He didn’t intend to lose someone else to save Chenxi.
To Udanosuke, who can barely move, the holy blade is swung down…
“WOOWOOWOOWOO!! AAAAAAA!!”
At that moment.
An undead, half of his body mechanized, jumps towards Zeft, wielding claws about four times larger than his original hands.
“This one!?”
Zeft, about to be seized by the massive claws, deflects the palm with his sword and backs away.
This undead was supposed to have been fighting another special combatant just moments ago, but it seems he had already defeated his opponent somewhere in between.
Driven by mechanized joints at absurd angles, the undead attacks while emitting steam.
Even for a regular undead, attacks from such impossible positions are unthinkable. Moreover, the movements are clearly different from what was observed just moments ago. Zeft is fully occupied with just defending.
“This one, suddenly stronger…!?”
“Hahaha! Manual control is indeed stronger. There’s room for improvement in the control program. Or maybe attaching someone else’s head or soul would have been better? Evil, right?”
A carefree laughter echoes.
A strange woman wearing a black pointed hat, barely dressed differently from underwear, flaunts her voluptuous figure. She carries a brass machine with numerous levers protruding from it, hanging it from her neck and operating it.
“I am deeply grateful for your assistance…”
“Even with that condition, you can’t fight properly, can you? Step back. These guys are just good enough to stab the failed experiments.”
“What…!”
Determination, resolve, courage, justice, and the mocking presence of Chenxi and the death of Cain, Zeft feels it all.
But the blade doesn’t reach. The mechanized undead in front of him is stronger than Zeft, and the injured Udanosuke is retreating.
“Over there… it’s too late, isn’t it?”
The seductress, or rather the witch, glanced somewhere with a slightly bitter murmur.
“Get out of the way!”
“≪Illumination≫!”
“≪Lightning≫!”
The attacks of the three focus on the mechanized undead.
The explosion of scattered holy energy slows down its movements, followed by a lightning strike directly hitting it.
As the light dances around, Zeft aims for a decisive blow to bisect its chest.
At the last moment, thin brass chains burst from several joints of the undead.
Zeft’s body staggers with a thud.
Even though he cuts halfway through the lifeless body, the sword is stopped.
Thin chains entangle and entwine around the sword and Zeft’s body.
Having struck with the sanctified sword, holy energy should be corrupting the undead’s body.
However, the undead emits even more steam and reaches out to grab Zeft with its clawed giant hand, as if embracing him.
—This undead, it’s certainly undead, but… is it powered by pure magic like a golem!?
Just as two people touching can sense each other’s heartbeat, Zeft feels the power surrounding the undead before him.
It’s escalating rapidly. The power plant burns at maximum firepower, driving all available energy.
Seeing Zeft immobilized, the witch controlling it smiles smugly.
“Self-destruction is romantic. You understand that, don’t you? If a human self-destructed, even a machine doll robot would have to show its true colors, right?”
“What…!”
“It’s a good thing I installed a self-destruct device just in case. All except the victims, step away!”
The undead emits a blinding light.
For an instant. Zeft feels a storm-like wind, and everything fades away.
＊ ＊ ＊
Four gauntlets resembling dragon heads clash with a heavy sound.
“Oooooh!”
“Haaaaah!”
The devastating one-hit-kills fists clash, evading the scythe-like kick with a backflip.
Crawling on the ground, dancing in the air as if weightless, clashing, and then striking with fists.
The battle between the undead with the appearance of a fallen celestial maiden and the disciplined Sekichin reached its fiercest peak.
They avoided bringing it to “finishing moves” or “throws”, keeping a slight distance for exchanges.
Not only because there was a risk of being poisoned if they didn’t maintain distance.
—You’ve gotten stronger, Chenxi…! Your moves are like nothing I’ve ever seen before! Did you train even after leaving the temple!? Are these techniques honed through adventures!?
Sekichin focused entirely on each attack and defense.
Each strike, each moment, savored and not wasted.
To have the best fight.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to defeat her, wouldn’t be able to save face in front of her, and above all, it would be a waste.
—My techniques are no longer what I learned at that temple! As a member of the Blue Army, I have attacked many countries! I have clashed with many strong opponents and reached the realm of my own style!
They once learned the same techniques.
They once sought to master the same path.
The competition was simply a matter of the superiority of the same techniques.
It’s different now.
Everything since leaving that temple is embedded in each other’s techniques.
—Are you watching, Chenxi!? This is my power! The power I acquired to dedicate to you!
As if time were stretched out infinitely or conversely ending in an instant.
The battlefield, the enemy and allied forces, and the people to protect all disappeared, as if there were only two people left in the world.
Finally, the battle reaches its conclusion.
A kick from Sekichin, evading Chenxi’s two-punch combo, barely shook her.
That was, albeit small, the biggest opening in their fight.
Sekichin closed the distance to the point of intimacy.
Chenxi countered. Sekichin was faster.
He could land a fatal blow. If she allowed for a counterattack.
“Nu…!”
Sekichin’s fist caught Chenxi’s chest.
Chenxi’s fist pierced Sekichin’s abdomen.
The deadly poison secreted from her hand flowed into Sekichin through the contraptions of her modified gauntlet. Among the techniques used by the “Rose Princess of Hellrage” and her minions, this was considered one of the most dangerous due to the priority given by all forces to counteracting the “charm” effect. Due to this, the defense against “poison” was incomplete.
His abdomen burned like fire. But Sekichin didn’t stop.
“…Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!”
The gauntlet shaped like a dragon’s head sent Chenxi flying like an arrow.
Thrown off balance, Chenxi tumbled on the ground, no longer able to stand up.
Injected with holy energy from the sanctified gauntlets and physically destroyed by the impact, she was immobilized.
However, in terms of being immobilized, Sekichin was in a similar state.
Affected by the potent poison, Sekichin staggered forward, dragging his own body.
“…Haa… haa…”
“…You’ve become… stronger. …The way you… subjected your senior disciple to… a match like bullying… and… cried…”
“…Haha… it’s… mutual.”
The two of them, as if mocking fate or laughing it off, smiled slightly.
Sekichin felt the approach of something evil.
The tide of battle seemed to have already turned. If that was the case, the other side would have some leeway.
“≪Freikugeln≫!”
The silver-haired girl with a red blade, like a falling star, rushes through the battlefield.
As she swings her magic sword, seven magic bullets burst out, aiming for Sekichin.
Flowing magic power into the gauntlets, Sekichin swings them.
Four of the magic bullets are deflected and explode, while the rest hammer into Sekichin.
To avoid canceling out the buffs she received from Claire, she doesn’t use her talismans.
He strengthens his resistance by channeling life magic through his breathing technique, but even so, she barely manages to avoid instant death.
With half of her body crushed and her side blown away, Sekichin presses his fist against Chenxi.
—Take this, Rose Princess of Hellrage. I’ll… have it back from you.
“[One Inch Punch] …!!”
The shockwave of power released from Sekichin destroys Chenxi, while the crimson magic sword cleaves Sekichin in two, almost simultaneously.
