CHAPTER 45

The Risks and Rewards of Caution

With the God Eater resting on his shoulder, the emperor waits for Seiya’s next attack, his face full of confidence. Fortunately, since there are no follow-up attacks, Seiya is able to take the Special Medicine out of his breast pocket, rub it on his cheek where he was cut, and heal his HP.

The emperor had the upper hand in that last exchange. I am struck with the feeling that this will be a fight against the odds, unlike anything we have faced so far—and I am sure that Seiya feels the same way.

“Seiya! Use the techniques of destruction! I’m sure you’ll be able to win if you use the moves Valkyrie taught you!”

“No, those moves wouldn’t work well against another high-speed swordsman.”

“But…!”

“At any rate, the emperor’s attributes rise the more he fights. I need to end this quickly.”

Seiya heaves a deep sigh.

“I was saving this for the Demon Lord, but…”

After placing the Adamantitor down where he can easily grab it, Seiya removes his platinum mail’s brassards.

“Huh…? Seiya…? What are you doing?”

Under his armor are a few bracelets around his forearms. Seiya takes one off and drops it to the ground. Clang! The cathedral’s floor cracks open.

J-just how heavy are those bracelets?! He has been fighting with those on the entire time?!

Seiya continues removing the bracelets one by one.

Wait. I think I’ve read a story about something like this before! The character shackled their body and held back their true attack power and speed!

After removing over ten bracelets on his right arm, Seiya begins taking off the ones on his left arm as well. After unburdening himself of over ten shackles on that arm as well, he sheds the ones around his right ankle. Then he moves on to the left ankle. I feel a sense of relief after he finally takes off all forty-plus weights…until he reveals there are several around his upper arms, too. Watching the endless loop of him removing the bracelets, I finally snap.

“Just how many of those do you have on?! Does the phrase Okay, that’s enough even exist in your vocabulary?!”

By the time he removes every last one, a mountain of bracelets and anklets stands on the marble floor.

“This is insane! There is no way equipping this many is even possible! What is this, some kind of magic trick?!”

But Seiya just continues to ignore me. Then he holds his hand out to Mash.

“Hand me my spare platinum sword-plus in the bag.”

“C-coming right up!”

Mash hands him the sword. Holding the spare in his right hand and the Adamantitor in his left, Seiya touches the tips together in a mid-stance.

“It will put a huge burden on my arms, but…it appears I don’t have a choice.”

An aura of light begins rising from Seiya’s body and swords.

“Mode: Double Eternal Sword EX…!”

He’s going to use Ultimate Eternal Sword with two swords! Plus, he should be stronger and quicker now that he’s taken all those weights off! He’ll definitely be able to defeat the emperor’s Evil Strikes now!

With clear amusement, the emperor asks:

“Are you ready?”

But Seiya shakes his head.

“Hold on. I have a little something extra for you since you waited so long.”

In a flash, roaring flames engulf the two swords in Seiya’s hands!

“It’s a combination between Ultimate Eternal Sword and Phoenix Drive. In other words…”

After swinging the flaming swords around as if he were putting on a demonstration, Seiya points them right at the emperor.

N-no way! He combined Ultimate Eternal Sword with another one of his best moves?! Th-this is undoubtedly going to be the Hero’s strongest move!

While I watch with bated breath, Seiya says:

“Mode: Double Eternal Sword EX Phoeni— Let’s do this!”

What the…?! Not only is the name too long but he didn’t even finish saying it! B-but fine! Whatever! At any rate, go get him, Seiya! Show him who’s boss!!

Thereupon, Seiya closes in on the emperor at lightning speed, thanks to taking off the weights. Even then, the Warmaster reflexively blocks one of Seiya’s swords with the God Eater! However…the other flaming blade is heading right for the emperor’s throat!

“Style: Evil Light!”

A black light shoots out of the Warmaster’s sword, deflecting Seiya’s first sword before the emperor immediately uses the God Eater like a shield to protect his neck from the incoming strike. Thereupon, the Warmaster takes the offensive once more, creating a geometric pattern in the air. However, Seiya’s dual flaming swords are already drawing the same pattern! The scarlet from the fire magic and the black from the dark magic mix and clash multiple times in the air. With each strike, the speed of their swords increases until my vision can no longer keep up. Their attacks go beyond the scope of human intellect…until Seiya’s scarlet flames eventually begin spreading out as if to swallow the darkness of the emperor. The Warmaster slowly retreats.

Y-yes! Seiya’s pushing him back! Seiya’s Mode: Double Eternal Sword (omitted) is slightly outdoing the emperor’s Evil Light! But when I glance at Seiya’s face, sweat is streaming down like a waterfall.

He’s sweating so much! Seiya must be more serious than ever!

For the first time, it is evident that this battle will not be easy. What’s more, Seiya said a little earlier that he had no choice but to use this move. In other words, if, by chance, this special attack doesn’t work, then…

In spite of my fears, the emperor’s shoulder guard is knocked off! Then the flames of Phoenix Drive scorch the emperor’s now-bare left arm!

He…he can do it! Seiya can win!

A ray of hope shines in my heart when…

“Marvelous. You are stronger than any warrior or monster I have ever faced. However…”

The sable light instantly carves an even more complicated geometrical pattern in the air, which slowly begins eroding Seiya’s flames.

“I have seen all you have to offer.”

Next, Seiya is the one being pushed back by the emperor’s awe-inspiring swordsmanship!

“Oh? What is this? It appears your movement is getting slower. All out of tricks?”

The Warmaster’s lips curl upward like hooks.

“An incredibly talented man like you only appears once in a hundred, no, two hundred years. However, you are no match for me now that I am a demon; hence, you are no match for the Demon Lord, either.”

But Seiya is breathing too heavily to respond. This is the first time I have seen Seiya in so much pain.

I am no longer able to stand back and watch. I approach Elulu, then shake her tiny shoulder.

“Elulu! Use Quick! Use your support magic and help Seiya!”

But Elulu shakes her head as if she’s in pain.

“I can’t…!”

“Wh-why?! Now’s the time to make use of your support magic!”

“I already used Quick! Seiya’s really cautious, so he made me cast it on him before we came inside!”

“Wait! So all this is even with Quick already cast?!”

Elulu gazes up at me, tears welling up in her eyes.

“Ristie! Everything’s going to be okay, right?! Seiya’s going to be okay, right?!”

“O-of course! I mean, Seiya—”

Seiya said he was perfectly prepared!

I catch myself midsentence and gasp.

W-wait! He didn’t say he was perfectly prepared this time!

The instant I realize that, I feel like I’ve been stabbed in the back with an icicle.

S-so wait. Seiya, does that mean you don’t know whether or not you can win?!

The bad feeling lingering in my heart worsens every time I see Seiya driven back by the emperor.

“R-Rista, I’m going to help him! We have to save Master Seiya!”

When Mash suddenly yells out, I look over at him to find steam rising from his body. Before long, scales begin covering his arms and legs, transforming him into a dragonewt…but his transformation doesn’t end there. Mash’s body continues expanding, slowly reaching the cathedral’s ceiling. While smaller than the Great Mother, Queen of the Dragons, he is still five meters in total length. After he awakens as a dragon, I use Scan.

MASH
LV: 21
HP: 139,544	MP: 0
ATK: 91,578	DEF: 83,333	SPD: 61,496	MAG: 0	GRW: 67
Resistance: Fire, Water, Lightning, Ice, Poison, Paralysis, Instant Death
Special Abilities: ATK Boost (LV: 8), Dragonewt Metamorphosis (LV: 9), Dragon God Metamorphosis (LV: 1)
Skills: Dragon Claw
Personality: Brave

W-wow! He’ll have no problem backing up Seiya with stats like those!

As if seeing Mash head out to fight lit a spark in her…

“Allow me to join you.”

Rosalie draws her sword.

“It is my duty to stop that demon!”

Just as they start to head over to battle…

“No. Stay back,” Seiya orders, despite desperately defending himself against the emperor’s combination attacks. Mash hesitates for a moment, but Rosalie continues to advance. That’s when…

“Stay back! You’ll be killed!”

Rosalie freezes as if her body’s gone completely numb when she hears Seiya’s cry. Mash and I are startled as well. Then, as if to capitalize on the brief moment that Seiya directed his attention at us…

“Crush Evil Light!”

Holding the God Eater high into the air, the emperor swings it straight down. Seiya swiftly twists his body, managing to dodge the sword itself as it hits the marble floor, reducing it to dust. But the shock wave caused by the impact sends Seiya flying. After rolling on the floor, Seiya tries to get back to his feet, but his staggering legs won’t let him. My heart audibly hammers against my chest as the Warmaster slowly approaches Seiya, struggling to stand.

Seiya! This isn’t happening, right?! You’ve got a secret weapon you’re saving, right?! Right?!

But Seiya’s dispirited expression and gasping don’t look like acting. The emperor fixes Seiya with a piercing, cold glare.

“I am sure you managed all this time without hardship, nestled within the comfort of your prudent cage of precaution. But now is the time to unmask your true nature.”

Seiya wreathes the platinum sword-plus in his right hand in flames as if mustering his last bit of strength.

“Phoenix Thrust…!”

He tries the same special move he used to bury the invincible Dark Firus, but the Warmaster sneers.

“Pathetic!”

He swings his sinister blade with a roar, and it passes right through Seiya’s right arm before Phoenix Thrust can even reach the emperor. I can’t believe my eyes!

Still holding on to the platinum sword-plus, Seiya’s right arm soars through the air, spewing out fresh blood.

“Noooooo!”

As Elulu lets out a shrill cry, the Warmaster laughs.

“The sense of pain and the fear of death shall be your downfall! How does it feel to be in a real battle?”

I-it’s over! The emperor is right. Seiya has only been in battles where he has been thoroughly prepared and couldn’t lose! There’s no way he can bear the excruciating pain of losing an arm!

As if to deal the final blow, the emperor swings the God Eater toward Seiya’s skull… The situation is so hopeless that only darkness lies ahead. Everyone else is sure of the emperor’s victory and Seiya’s demise as well.

…But there is a flash of light. A powerful slash from the Adamantitor grazes the bridge of the Warmaster’s nose.

“…What?”

The emperor takes a step back in bewilderment. Not even I can believe what I’m seeing. Seiya has lost one of his arms. Fresh blood drips from his wound…and yet, he stares fixedly at his opponent indifferently as always.

“It’s as if…nothing has changed…”

The emperor cannot even comprehend why he didn’t get the reaction he was searching for…but eventually, he smiles.

“You only have one arm! You have no chance of winning!”

“…I’m not the only one with one arm,” Seiya mutters. “The Technique of Destruction is about to trigger.”

Out of nowhere, as if someone simply dropped their belongings on the floor, the Warmaster’s right arm falls to the ground from the elbow down!

“M-my arm…! When was I even hit?!”

“The Ninth Valkyrja: Counter Break—a specified part of the body acts as a catalyst and returns the damage taken back to the opponent.”

“That means…you let me cut off your right arm…”

“Having some lag until it actually triggers is a drawback, though.”

“Heh-heh-heh… It appears I underestimated you.”

It’s a bizarre sight to see. They don’t seem to mind the great volume of blood gushing out of their wounds. It’s as if they’ve completely abandoned the sense of pain.

While both only have one arm, there is a crucial difference between them. The Warmaster’s right arm is lying on the ground with the God Eater in hand, and Seiya’s right arm with the platinum sword-plus is no different. But Seiya has two swords. He points the Adamantitor in his left hand at the unarmed emperor.

…The God Eater is vital if he wants to kill Seiya. The Warmaster lowers his posture, reaching out for the fallen sword with his left arm. Seiya uses this opening to get closer to the emperor when…

“You fool! I may not have the sword, but I still have my fist!”

Out of nowhere, the Warmaster unexpectedly counters with his fist. This is the difference in experience between them—a gap that cannot be filled—or so it seems at first.

I have no idea how he can remain so calm after losing one of his arms. Seiya narrowly dodges the roaring punch as if he sees it coming while simultaneously piercing the Warmaster’s gold armor using the Adamantitor with Phoenix Thrust.

“Gwa…ha…!”

Even as the flaming sword penetrates his chest, the emperor utters:

“I—I don’t believe it… But how…? You fight like a warrior…who has come face-to-face with death countless times…”

The emperor then lifelessly drops to his knees before collapsing to the floor. After deeply exhaling, Seiya tries to head our way, but he falls face-first after a few steps.

“S-Seiya…!”

“Master Seiya!”

“Seiya!”

When I rush over, Seiya gazes up at me with a look of utter exhaustion.

“Rista, heal my arm. The Special Medicine won’t work since it’s been completely severed.”

“Of course! You’ll be all better before you know it! Mash, go get me Seiya’s arm!”

“O-okay!”

I immediately begin casting a healing spell. First, I focus on clotting the blood. While healing Seiya with all my might, I take a peek at his face. He’s tired, but he’s as calm as usual.

“H-hey, uh… Seiya? Doesn’t that hurt?”

“Of course it hurts. But humans supposedly pass out when it really hurts, and seeing as I’m still conscious, I guess that means it doesn’t hurt that badly.”

“Uh-huh… W-well, I just—I can’t believe you’re holding up so well. I mean, when you got a little scratch from Thanatos, you were begging me to hurry up and heal you. This whole time I was thinking you were as mentally strong as a block of wet tofu.”

“Absurd. The reason why I always want to immediately replenish my HP and MP is because it lowers the possibility of the enemy defeating me.”

“O-oh! That makes sense! Anyway, I’m so glad you’re okay! I was really starting to think you were a goner!”

The moment I let out a sigh of relief…

“Wahhhhhh! It hurts! It hurts!!”

A husky, tearful voice radiates. The emperor transforms back into a white-haired old man as he regresses mentally into an infant as well. He holds his chest and cries. Even though I have only stopped the bleeding, Seiya stands up, pushing off his only arm, then approaches Rosalie.

“Do something. Your dad is crying.”

“Th-that’s not my problem! That man is no longer my f-father!”

Seiya responds to her stubborn reply with a “hmph” before returning to me.

“Rista, heal that geezer’s wounds.”

“A-are you sure?”

“He won’t shut up, and it’s annoying me. He won’t be turning back into a demon, and even if he heals somewhat, he’s no threat to me.”

“Well, Seiya… If you say so.”

I perform some emergency treatment on the emperor’s pierced chest and arm with my healing magic.

“Sniffle… Thank you, nice lady… Sniffle…”

After relieving the emperor of his pain, he wipes the tears from his eyes and smiles. I whisper to Seiya:

“Hey, Seiya, I healed his injuries, but…”

The flames of life are fading within him. Moreover, he used the Demon Spirit Orb to forcibly reverse the flow of time for his already withering body, thus worsening his condition. Seiya approaches Rosalie one more time as she looks away.

“The geezer doesn’t have much time left. Go be by his side.”

“Don’t make me repeat myself! That man isn’t my father! That is nothing but a monster that sold his soul to the Demon Lord!”

Immediately…

Slap!

“Wha—?!”

The palm of Seiya’s hand echoes throughout the cathedral as it connects with Rosalie’s cheek. Clutching her face, she yells:

“H-he tried to kill not only the goddess but you as well! To put it bluntly, he tried to destroy the world! He has shamed our nation!”

Smack!

“I—I don’t care how many times you slap me! I won’t be there for him during his final moments!”

Seiya pummels Rosalie’s stubborn cheeks with countless slaps.

Slap! Smack! Slap!

It’s as if he is trying to reenact the slapping incident at Olga Fortress.

“Grrr…!”

As vicious strikes begin turning Rosalie into a “dog” yet again, Seiya says to her:

“He won’t be able to hear your growls after he’s dead. Say what you need to say to him while he’s still alive.”

The way he phrased it was terrible, but this is just Seiya’s way of expressing his sympathy… At least, that’s what I think. A grandfather, a grandmother, a father, a mother—I don’t know what happened to Seiya, but perhaps he’s lost a loved one in the past as well.

“Grrr…! Mn…!”

Covering her swollen cheeks with tears running down her face, she looks at Seiya with disgust before reluctantly walking over to her father. With distant eyes, she looks down at her father, but…

“Wosalie… I love you so much…”

Looking at her father’s innocent smile, Rosalie can no longer bear it, so she drops to her knees and takes his wrinkled hand.

“Father… You are such a fool… You are such a big fool…”

“I’m sorry, Wosalie… I’m sorry.”

The tears just flow down her cheeks.

“It’s okay…! It doesn’t matter anymore…!”

Weeping, Rosalie directs the emperor’s hand toward her head.

“Will you please rub my head…? Just one more time…?”

“Okay, Wosalie… I wuv you… I wuv you so much…”

But the hand limply drops before reaching his daughter. The emperor takes his last breath before he can pat her head.

“Father…”

Rosalie weeps until she can weep no more.