CHAPTER 54

Charge

A chaotic, reddish-black aura seeps from Seiya’s body. His hair is tinged vermilion as fangs peek from the corners of his mouth. After entering Berserk Mode, Seiya leaps high into the air toward the skull-shaped cloud and raises his sword. The blade is wrapped in a white, filmlike aura.

Then, Seiya hurls his sword at the Death Emperor like it’s a javelin. The increased power of his berserker form sends the sword in a straight line at blinding speed until it penetrates the skull in the distance—or so I thought. Just as the sword connects, the skull vanishes into thin air before immediately returning to its original form.

I-it didn’t work!!

“Oh? I was not expecting you to be able to damage my astral body, even if only a little.”

Death Emperor Sirrusht’s voice echoes in admiration. After taking a closer look, I realize the skull isn’t completely back to normal. A tiny piece is missing.

Ghost Buster is effective against Sirrusht! B-but that attack was nowhere near enough to kill him… Hmm?

Clink. Seiya stomps on the ground with one leg, causing a great number of sheaths to jut out of the earth. My eyes pop open at the sight. There are over twenty swords!

“Seiya, are all of those…?!”

“Yes, I used Ghost Buster to infuse every one of them with my spiritual energy.”

Seiya grabs a blade in each hand, raises them into the air, then launches them at Sirrusht before grabbing two more and doing it again. The Death Emperor disperses and regroups over and over as Seiya continuously attacks. Eventually, a voice echoes from the sky.

“I was not expecting you to come prepared with such a weapon, either. The demon was right. You are shrewd. At this rate, I’ll be reduced to little more than a target.”

The dark clouds in the sky gather in one spot, slowly transforming into a jet-black vortex, and eventually, something crawls from the center of it. The first thing I see is an arm wrapped in bloody bandages, gradually followed by the rest of its bound body. What ends up emerging is a monster reminiscent of a mummy.

Sirrusht changed his form?! He must have switched from an astral body to a physical one because he couldn’t take Seiya’s attacks anymore!

“He’s coming down to the surface!” Jonde yells.

The Death Emperor’s physical form emits a black aura as he slowly descends to the ground in front of us. Seiya fixes the Death Emperor with a menacing glare. He must be using Scan. I decide to check, too, but no matter how much I squint, all I can see is static. While most monsters in Ixphoria don’t hide their status menus, Sirrusht seems to be using Fake Out like Seiya.

Seiya was able to drive Sirrusht into a corner using Ghost Buster, but it’s still unsettling that I can’t see his stats! I feel like there’s something different about him compared to the other enemies we’ve faced. Maybe Seiya feels the same, which is why he’s just watching the Death Emperor in silence…but the moment Sirrusht’s feet touch the ground, a cacophonous explosion shatters the eerie calm. The shock wave is so powerful that my entire body trembles.

“Slithering Mine.”

Seiya mutters behind me as I watch in mute amazement.

“W-was that explosion your doing, Seiya?!”

“It was an earth serpent that explodes on contact. I created it by combining fire and earth magic with Valkyrie’s Techniques of Destruction.”

So Sirrusht landed on an earth serpent hidden in the ground! Seiya must have prepared for the battle while we were in town! Anyway, I’m just impressed he was able to pinpoint exactly where the Death Emperor would land! He’s so good at preparing for any scenario!

“Stand back and stay still. Slithering Mines explode on contact, and there are countless mines buried out here. It doesn’t matter who steps on them. They will explode.”

“Eek…!”

No wonder he was able to pull it off! He considered tons of different possibilities and made plans under the assumption that at least one of his traps would work!

“K-Kiri! It’s dangerous here! Let’s go over there! …Kiri?!”

“Huh…? Oh… O-okay!”

I wrap my arms around Kiriko, who is still in shock over Kurio’s disappearance, and take her far away from where I’m guessing the mines are buried. Nearby, Jonde narrows his eyes while looking ahead.

“I wonder how much damage that explosion did to the Death Emperor.”

The smoke clears. I was hoping that Sirrusht would be lying on the ground, but the mummy stands tall as if nothing had happened. Jonde and I clench our teeth as the Death Emperor boasts.

“Surely, you didn’t believe you could kill me with such a petty trick, did you?”

“Of course not.”

While we may be disheartened by the fact that the Death Emperor doesn’t seem to have taken any damage, Seiya is already charging forward with a killer sword. As he swings the blade, my eyes naturally light up.

H-his sword is wreathed in flames… He turned into a Fire Spellblade?! Of course! Fire magic would be way more effective against an undead monster compared to earth magic!

“Phoenix Drive.”

Right in front of Sirrusht, Seiya unleashes a skill—something that should be impossible while he’s in Berserk Mode. Seiya’s fiery blade dances in the air as he draws geometric patterns resembling magic circles. Before I even realize it, Sirrusht’s bandaged body has countless red lines running through it. Rotten, zombified flesh peeks out from the torn bandages. I brace for the explosion that follows Phoenix Drive, but the Death Emperor’s exposed flesh gets patched by new bandages, and the red lines carved into his body disappear as well.

Automatic undead regeneration?!

Furthermore, a black aura erupts from the Death Emperor’s body. When I notice, I cry out to Seiya:

“Seiya! Watch out! I just sensed Chain Destruction!”

Sirrusht’s lifeless eye lights up between his bandages.

“Even the slightest touch will ensnare your soul forever. Deadly Bandages.”

Coils of gauze unravel from Sirrusht’s arm and speed toward Seiya. They slither through the air like snakes, but Seiya burns each to ash before they can reach him. Bright-red flames engulf Seiya’s body.

“Self-Immolation. By the way, I thought of this move when I was hiding in the oven the other day.”

S-seriously?! And here I was, thinking he was just acting like a stalker!

“I’ll continue defending against the Death Emperor’s attacks while reducing everything to ash with an attack power that exceeds his regeneration speed,” Seiya says as two earth serpents each bring him a sword.

He takes one in each hand.

“Mode: Double Phoenix Drive.”

He instantly appears right in front of Sirrusht with his lightning-fast berserker speed, and the superfast fiery trails of his swords become geometric patterns in the air! Countless crimson lines are carved all over Sirrusht’s body! I thought Seiya had him this time, but the Death Emperor still doesn’t explode. Eventually, the crimson lines fade in color and disappear as well.

“…! The Death Emperor’s regenerative ability is even greater than the Hero’s attack power!” Jonde groans.

Now it’s Sirrusht’s turn to go on the offensive. He shoots the Deadly Bandages around his body at Seiya, but again, they are reduced to ash before reaching their target. Seiya’s attacks may be getting negated by the regeneration, but Sirrusht’s attacks aren’t landing, either. Right as I thought they had reached a stalemate, Sirrusht insists:

“Even with such tremendous power, your attacks are nothing in the face of absolute darkness.”

Sirrusht moves his arms in an arc, and a black vortex appears in the air.

“M-magic?!”

The distortion grows until it’s around the size of one of my gates. Seiya creates some distance between them. Sirrusht then explains:

“After the Demon Lord received the Dark God’s Blessing, all monsters he created possessed his remarkable power inside of them. I hear that Grandleon was planning on leading a rebellion, but he simply did not understand how this world works. We cannot exist without the Demon Lord.”

I don’t really understand what he means, but an ominous feeling takes root in my heart and begins to swell. Sirrusht holds a hand out at the vortex.

“Arise, corpses of all those who perished on Ixphoria. Cemetery: Night Again.”

In a similar manner to how Sirrusht had appeared earlier, a new, yet very familiar monster crawls out of the black vortex.

“I-is that a beastkin?!”

It’s a beastkin with the face of a dog. After the first appears, he is followed by a catlike beastkin, then fox and rhinoceros beastkin. Before long, a horde resembling the ones who once ruled over the continent of Rhadral has been assembled, but their faces are devoid of life. When I take a hard look, I notice their bones are exposed here and there all over their bodies. Jonde furrows his brow.

“Those beastkin are undead…!”

I panic at the sudden sight of undead beastkin, but…

“Maximum Inferno.”

Seiya is already holding his arms out at the beastkin. His flames completely devour them. They try to approach the Hero through the scorching blaze, but the overpowering heat reduces them to ash. After letting out a sigh of relief, I yell:

“Hmph! You’re gonna need more than a few weak, undead beastkin if you plan on giving Seiya a run for his money!”

“That was merely the beginning…of the end.”

“O-oh, stop trying to sound so cool and cryptic!”

“As long as the Demon Lord is alive, my powers allow me to resurrect even corpses that have already decayed. Even the tip of one’s pinky can be used as a medium to resurrect the dead in full. Now, behold as I resurrect every monster the Hero has killed in Ixphoria.”

“Wh-what?!”

He’s bluffing, right?! Every monster Seiya’s faced in Ixphoria? Every beastkin and Killing Machine? How many thousands—no—tens of thousands of enemies does that make?!

“And it won’t just be the underlings. The Beast Emperor Grandleon, the Machine Emperor Oxerio, and even the Vengeful Empress Celemonic will be resurrected. In addition to their automatic undead regeneration, all of their attributes besides speed will increase as well.”

“B-b-b-but…!! S-Seiya?!”

“This is bad…”

Seiya seems unnerved, but I can’t blame him. An army of thousands of undead are going to be resurrected along with Grandleon, Oxerio, and Celemonic?! J-just saying “this is bad” really undersells how bad this really is!

“Seiya!! You have to defeat him before he summons the undead and—”

Before I even finish my sentence, though, I realize it’s already too late. Multiple black vortices have appeared around Sirrusht, even more than before.

“The door to hell has opened. Behold my greatest ritual—Cemetery: Night Again.”

“Th-this is bad! This is very bad!”

Jonde stands in front of Kiriko to shield her and draws his sword. The Death Emperor’s voice echoes.

“Arise, those who cannot accept death. Come forth, my army of lost souls.”

I stare at the distortions, my breath unsteady. Countless monsters are going to attack us along with their leaders!

“Rise…my puppets…”

But nothing emerges no matter how long we wait.

“Impossible… But why…?” Sirrusht whimpers.

“Oh, so that’s what happened.”

Seiya slaps his hands together.

“‘Even the tip of one’s pinky can be used as a medium.’ I found it hard to believe that I left any remains of the enemy that large, but…the first wave of beastkin must have been monsters I killed when I used to be reckless. That’s why I didn’t properly dispose of their corpses.”

“‘Dispose’…? Absurd. Are you claiming you reduced every enemy you fought to dust, leaving no trace of them behind?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

Sirrusht falls speechless, but me…?

Yessssssssssss!! Every time Seiya defeated an enemy, he obsessively torched their bodies and dropped them into the center of the planet. Honestly, I always thought, What’s wrong with this guy? But that weird, overly cautious habit finally paid off!

“‘Cemetery: Night Again,’ was it? That move won’t work on me.”

Sirrusht growls deeply, making it evident he’s flustered.

“You bastard…!”

Sirrusht deploys his Deadly Bandages once more. Every one of them burns to ash before they can reach Seiya, but this time, even Sirrusht himself is rushing toward the Hero with his bandaged arms stretched straight ahead.

“Seiya!!”

Seiya knocks the Death Emperor’s arms away with his sword.

“Phoenix Thrust.”

The burning blade pierces Sirrusht’s stomach, followed by a swift kick to the sword’s hilt. He flies into the air before hitting the ground. Without delay, Seiya holds his hands over the monster and casts the high-level spell Maximum Inferno. Despite being relentlessly attacked and engulfed in flames…

“Permanent Rot.”

The flames vanish, and Sirrusht returns to his feet like nothing happened. New bandages now cover his body where the old ones were burned off.

“Preventing me from using Cemetery: Night Again is deserving of praise, but none of your attacks can surpass the speed of my regeneration.”

The Death Emperor then resumes his attack. While dodging Deadly Bandages, Seiya blocks the monster’s strikes with his sword, but all of a sudden, the flames around his body appear to wane.

What…? Is Seiya’s fire magic weakening?

I finally realize Seiya is only deflecting the bandages with his sword. He’s able to evade since he’s still in Berserk Mode, but it looks like it’s taking everything he has just to block the attacks.

He’s on his back foot now!! Is he tired?! Ah…! But if those bandages touch Seiya, his soul will…!

Much to my unease, Seiya quietly mutters to himself:

“Forty percent.”

“Huh? D-did he say something?”

“D-do you think he’s planning on using that move?”

“‘That move’? Jonde, do you mean…?”

“Sixty percent.”

Hearing those words convinces me.

That’s it! There’s no doubt about it! That’s the move Reckless Seiya taught him! Seiya’s focused on defending so he can absorb the Death Emperor’s power!

Watching over the battle, Jonde mentions:

“If you asked me my reasoning, I wouldn’t be able to give you a clear answer, but as a warrior, I’m sure of it. If there is a move that surpasses even the Death Emperor’s regeneration, then it has to be that one!”

I silently nod in agreement. The Dark God and the Death Emperor created a parallel world to lure us inside and trap us, but it looks like not even the Dark God imagined Reckless Seiya would teach Cautious Seiya that skill.

It’s a bizarre twist of fate. Cautious Seiya is using Reckless Seiya’s move to defeat a powerful enemy. I clench my fists while riveted by the battle.

Sirrusht…! I hope you’re ready, because the past and the present—the dual technique of the two Seiyas is going to surpass the speed of your regeneration!

Finally, it happens.

“One hundred percent.”

Yessssss!! Get him, Seiyaaaaaa!!

My spirits rise…but even then, Seiya continues to defend.

“One hundred and twenty percent.”

What the…?! He’s still charging even after reaching a hundred percent?! Wh-what cautiousness!

Then…

“One hundred and fifty percent.”

Okay. That should be enough! Get him, Seiya! Reckless Seiya’s heart is in that attack with—… Huh…?

Seiya is still just defending. Jonde stomps the ground.

“How long does he plan on doing this?!”

“I-I’m sure he plans on attacking once he reaches two hundred percent! Two hundred’s a good, round number!”

The Death Emperor continues to barrage Seiya with attacks until the time finally comes.

“Two hundred percent.”

This is it! Seiya is finally going to avenge the people of Fulwahna!!

““Attaaaaaaaaack!!”” Jonde and I yell.

“Two hundred and ten percent.”

“…Seriously?! How much do you plan on powering up that move?! Hurry up already!”

“You’ve already charged more than enough! Just do it!”

Having grown impatient, we jeer at Seiya, and yet…

“Two hundred and thirty percent.”

…the percentage just keeps rising.