CHAPTER 8

An Explosive Final Attack

Charred bits of Greater Demon rain down from the skies. The discarded corpse of Chaos Machina also turns to dark ash and crumbles away. After the Hero majestically descends from above, I rush over to him.

“Seiya…!”

As he looks back with his trademark apathy, I leap in his direction and throw my arms around him.

“…What, are you trying to strangle me?”

“Of course not! I’m just so happy! I mean, I thought this world was done for!”

I yell in excitement, then bury my face in his chest. The steel armor gets in the way, but I can still feel Seiya’s warmth.

Sniff! Sniff! Oh no, he smells so nice! Oh man! That’s the stuff! Sniff! Sniff!

“Quit it. Get off me. You’re going to give me whatever strange illness you have.”

“No! I am not going to stop!”

I’m not going to lose no matter how many rude things he says. In fact, I’ll even give him all the illnesses I have! I hold him tightly in my arms with that thought… I don’t have any illnesses, of course.

After enjoying the moment, I loosen my arms and look up at him with a pout.

“But, Seiya…! I’m still a little angry with you! You knew the ability Fake Out, but you didn’t tell me. How long have you been hiding that from me?”

Seiya lets out a sigh as he speaks.

“If my attributes were completely visible to an ally such as you, then that would mean that the enemy could see them, too. The first time I met you and went into the Summoning Chamber, I thought to myself, I need to do something about this, and started training. Not long after, I learned the ability Fake Out.”

As I thought—he was already hiding his real attributes after his first training session.

I force a pitiful expression and gaze at Seiya.

“I get that you don’t want the enemy to know your true power, but, like, you could have at least told me. You even blocked me from seeing and left a message telling me not to peek. It kind of hurt my feelings. I mean, we’re partners, you know?”

He makes a somewhat sorrowful expression.

“Even if you kept your mouth shut, if there was a monster that could cut your brain open and read your memories, then they’d know my stats. I was just being extra-careful.”

“That’s so scaaary! You better protect me so that never happens!”

I tightly squeeze Seiya in my arms once more.

“A goddess wouldn’t die from that. There’s no need for me to protect you.”

“Nooo! Protect meee!”

“Get off me unless you want to be chopped into pieces.”

I don’t let go even then. The moment Seiya instantly killed the Greater Demon is burned into my mind. He was so cool then, just like a real Hero. Just thinking about it makes my heart race.

Wearing a cheerful smile, I look up at his chiseled profile.

Tee-hee. He can’t even bring himself to talk. Is he embarrassed? He may try to act cool, but he’s still young, after all!

But that’s when I realize it. Seiya’s lifting up his chin as if to tell me to look behind me.

“Huh…?”

I turn around to find dozens of villagers surrounding us—staring at us in silence.

“Hyaaah!”

Taken aback, I immediately step away from Seiya. Then the villagers begin talking as if they were waiting for this moment.

“Hero! Thank you, thank you for saving our village!”

“Thank you so much for slaying that scary demon!”

Men and women of all ages shower us with cheers and applause. I can even hear some women start to whisper:

“What a handsome man…”

“He’s so tall and charming…”

The female villagers seem to be captivated by Seiya’s good looks. There’s even someone who gives us a freebie from her shop.

“Hello! My name’s Jaimie, and I make a living selling fruit. Please take these! I hope you’ll enjoy them!”

Lips curled upward, I accept the orange-colored fruit from the young, simple man with dark-brown hair. Before long, a slightly plump man pushes through the crowd, grinning ear to ear.

“Allow me to introduce myself! I am Graham, the mayor of this town! I would like to invite you to my estate for a welcome party.”

“A welcome party! What do you think, Seiya? Should we go?”

I flash him a smile, but he shakes his head.

“No. There’s still work to be done.”

Wow! What a disciplined Hero Seiya is! I bet he already wants to go to the next town so he can save the world! I’m really starting to fall for him!

But in true Seiya fashion, he quickly betrays this notion. He unsheathes his sword and begins using it like a broom to sweep the Greater Demon’s ashes into one place.

“What…what are you doing?”

“Just in case.”

Seiya aims his left hand at the ashes, then says…

“Hellfire!”

A torrent of flames gushes out of his hand, surprising not only me but the villagers as well. I even hear some scream, “Whoa! That’s hot!” They must have gotten caught up in the scorching back draft. Everyone immediately steps away from Seiya.

As if taking that as a signal, he puts even more power into his flames.

“Hellfire… Hellfire… Hellfire… Fire, fire, fire, fire, fire, fire, fire, fire.”

A gigantic pillar of flame stands in the center of the town as he continues to chant. But having already reached my limit, I yell:

“What do you think this is, some kind of festival?! Enough already!”

But Seiya doesn’t stop. He meticulously continues burning the ash.

“She’s one of the four generals of the Demon Lord. She might be able to regenerate if there’s even a single cell left! I must reduce her to nothingness!”

“S-Seiya, that’s enough! Besides…look around you. You’re scaring the villagers. She might be a general of the Demon Lord, but there’s no way she’s coming back from that!”

“…That should do it.”

Seiya’s magical onslaught finally comes to an end.

Phew, it’s over…

…or so I thought. Seiya aims both arms at the powder that remains.

“Time to end this… Final attack: Maximum Inferno!”

An almighty burst of flame, even more powerful than Hellfire, shoots out of his hands and strikes the fine powder like a snake strikes its prey, culminating in a catastrophic explosion. The devastating flames scorch the land, creating trails of fire ten meters around the ash.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”

Momentarily forgetting that I’m a goddess, I lose my filter again. I mean, who uses their final attack on a pile of ash?! Is he insane?! There has to be something wrong with his brain!

…For a second, I thought he was cool. I was so excited, I hugged him. I seriously almost saw myself falling for him. But I forgot… This guy totally has a screw loose.

The high-level explosion magic turns the town of Edona into a burning hellscape.

“P-please stop! The fire’s spreading to my shop!”

“It’s hot! So hot! Somebody help me!”

“H-hey, look over there! Jaimie’s fruit shop is on fire!”

I see that the young man who gave us some fruit is now rolling on the ground on fire, so I violently shake Seiya’s shoulders.

“STOP, STOP!! JAIMIE’S ON FIRE!!”

But he doesn’t stop. I let go of Seiya the Rampaging Ifrit and rush over to Jaimie. I’m able to put out the fire on his clothes with several smacks. Then I cast healing magic on his back to treat the burns.

…A short while later, after I finish healing Jaimie, I turn around and see that Seiya is still burning the ash as if his life depended on it.

“SEIYA, STOPPP!!! How much longer are you going to keep that up?!”

Completely ignoring my yelling, Seiya eyes the small pile of ash like a hawk with its prey in sight.

“It’s not enough! I can’t relax until it’s completely gone!”

Eventually, even the mayor begins shouting pleas at Seiya.

“Please… Please just go! Leave this town…! I beg of youuuuuu!!”