CHAPTER 2

A Strange Feeling

Both the Divine Blade and the Goddess of War—two masters of combat—are present, but the unexpected turn of events seems to have made their minds go blank just like mine. They merely stand in mute shock.

Right before the werewolf’s claws pierce my throat, I reflexively shut my eyes. As my vision becomes a world of darkness, I hear a dull sound following an intense impact. I fall to the floor, but it’s strange. It wasn’t my throat but my shoulders and back that were hit. When I timidly open my eyes, I see Seiya on top of me. He was the only one who reacted to the situation. He protected me before the enemy’s sharp claws could slice through my throat.

“Seiya!”

But Seiya continues to limply lie on top of me without even budging.

D-did he let himself get hit by those claws to protect me?!

I take a quick glance but don’t see any blood. I wish I could make sure he’s okay, but there is a coldhearted voice echoing down from above.

“So this is the Hero who was summoned to save Ixphoria?”

The werewolf’s eyes cast an eerie glow, changing his target from me to Seiya. As he lifts an arm into the air, his sharp claws begin emitting a jet-black aura. My instincts deny its existence. It’s the same feeling I got when the emperor used the God Eater against me. There is no way I could ever forget this feeling. It’s…

…Chain Destruction!

“…Die,” the werewolf says in a cold, deep voice as his claws close in on Seiya.

N-no…!

I immediately throw myself on top of Seiya, reversing roles. Watching the werewolf about to strike…

“Eeeeek!”

Cerceus lets out a scream.

I’m prepared to have my soul destroyed—an eternal death…but that’s when I suddenly hear the ear-piercing clang of metal hitting metal. The werewolf’s claws reach neither Seiya nor me. When I look up, I see Adenela blocking the enemy’s claws with a real sword that she had sheathed at her waist. Her eyes open wide as she glares at the werewolf.

“S-stay back, you f-filthy mutt…!”

The werewolf pushes her sword back, creates some distance between them, and licks his claws.

“So you’re a goddess as well…which makes you our enemy.”

The werewolf’s claws extend in the blink of an eye. His nails the length of short swords, the werewolf gets into a battle stance to attack Adenela as she guards Seiya and me.

“Slash Disorder.”

I hear cracking and creaking coming from Adenela, as if she were dislocating her joints.

“U-Ultimate Eternal Sword!”

As Adenela points the tip of her blade at the werewolf, I yell out:

“Adenela, watch out! His claws are imbued with Chain Destruction! If he fatally wounds us, our souls will be destroyed!”

But only Cerceus reacts to my warning.

“What?! If he hits us with those claws, we’re really going to die?! P-please tell me you’re joking! Gods can’t die!”

“I’m only warning you because it can kill gods!”

“Noooooo! This can’t be happening! I don’t wanna die!” cries the Divine Blade, obviously not as tough as he looks. On the other hand, Adenela, the Goddess of War, smirks.

“Heh-heh-heh-heh! Th-there’s nothing more exciting…th-than fighting to the death!”

Without a hint of hesitation, Adenela rushes toward the enemy like a carnivore nimbly leaping at its prey before unleashing Ultimate Eternal Sword. Despite the original Eternal Sword being one-handed compared to Seiya’s dual-wielding version, it’s so fast that afterimages of her blade are carved into the air!

And yet…the werewolf is somehow knocking each strike away with both hands! It’s an unbelievable sight. Sparks fly as blades cross again and again, reminiscent of Seiya’s battle in Gaeabrande against the emperor.

…Before long, I hear the dull sound of flesh being sliced open. When I look over, Adenela has backed up a few steps while covering her stomach with her free hand. Fresh blood pours out, trickling between her fingers and down her side.

“Adenela?!”

“Th-this can’t be happening! The Goddess of War’s Ultimate Eternal Sword lost?! What in the world is that thing?!”

While keeping an eye out for the werewolf’s next attack, Adenela says to me:

“D-don’t worry. I-it’s just a scratch…”

The werewolf appears to have been hit by one of Adenela’s attacks as well. Drips of black blood flow from a cut on his cheek. Nevertheless, it’s painfully clear that Adenela was hurt worse. Unable to watch any longer, I wildly shake Cerceus.

“C-Cerceus! Valkyrie! Go get Valkyrie!”

“O-okay!”

Cerceus starts to take off, but…

“Th-that won’t be necessary,” Adenela softly mutters. “U-unlike the reaper, ph-physical attacks work on him. S-so there’s n-no need to worry.”

Adenela then raises her voice while clumsily stuttering:

“O-o-order!”

Crack! Creak! Adenela’s right arm lets out a pop as it twists and turns, transforming.

“Whoa?! H-her arm…! What is that?! It’s gross! And creepy! It’s greepy!”

Cerceus swiftly hides behind me. While I glare at him in disgust, Adenela’s arm transforms into something else. Her forearm illuminates as it becomes a shining silver blade. Her lips curl so wide that they almost touch her ears.

“Heh-heh-heh-heh-heh! D-Divine Sword: Soaring Falcon!”

I swallow my breath.

“Sh-she changed her arm…into a sword?”

Leaning forward, she hangs her sword-arm by her side as it gently sways. She defenselessly approaches the werewolf. Then…she mutters:

“U-Unlimited Eternal Sword…!”

In the blink of an eye, a storm of blades soars toward the werewolf, despite Adenela seemingly not moving a muscle.

“Mn…!”

The enemy’s confident grin twists.

The standard Eternal Sword attack alternates among chopping, countering, horizontally slicing, and thrusting at an incredible speed. The exponentially quicker Ultimate Eternal Sword is no less impressive. However, Unlimited Eternal Sword is an attack that specializes solely in thrusting. In addition, her right arm, which turned into a Divine Sword after she used Soaring Falcon, slowly becomes finer as it reaches the tip, like a rapier, making it perfect for consecutive thrusting attacks.

Without a shield, it would be impossible for the werewolf to completely avoid the flurry of strikes, despite being able to outdo Ultimate Eternal Sword. The sword pierces his body each time he is unable to dodge. The werewolf leaps to the side to get away, but the Soaring Falcon curves like a whip as if Adenela was waiting for this moment. The instant the sword curls around his right arm, it gets sliced clean off.

“Gwooooooh!”

Fresh black blood pours out of the werewolf’s wound as he screams.

“S-Soaring Falcon has enough p-power to do more than j-just thrusting attacks.”

Wow! So this is Adenela at full power!

The tables have turned. After losing an arm, the werewolf slowly steps away from Adenela.

“Tch!”

After clicking his tongue, the werewolf turns on his heel and begins heading toward the gate from which he emerged. Cerceus yells:

“He’s getting away!”

The werewolf then turns and grins smugly.

“This is fine. I’ve already left my mark.”

His mark? What does that mean?

“I—I won’t let you escape…”

Adenela charges the werewolf, closing the distance in the blink of an eye as her left arm transforms into a Japanese sword even longer than Soaring Falcon while making an ear-wrenching sound.

“D-Divine Sword: Homing Swallow…!”

Out of nowhere, Adenela begins cackling like a witch.

“Hee-hee-hee-hee-hee-hee! D-Dual Unlimited Eternal Blade…!”

With both arms transformed into swords, Adenela leaps at the werewolf as he tries to make his getaway. The werewolf’s face hardens at the sight of the encroaching Goddess of War.

“D-d-d-die…!”

“A-Adenela, wait! We need him alive so we can get inform—”

But my words don’t reach her. Her left sword-arm tears into the enemy’s back as her right sword-arm immediately begins thrusting at lightning speed.

“Hee-hee-hee-hee-hee-hee-hee-hee!”

Copious amounts of black blood splatter across the Summoning Chamber as the werewolf is skewered and sliced to bits!

Dual Unlimited Eternal Blade…! Adenela’s inimitable ultimate attack where she turns both arms into swords using Order!

Blood spurts from the enemy’s body like a fountain, even getting a drop on Cerceus’s cheek despite his being halfway across the room.

“Ahhhhhh! I can’t take it anymore! I just want to go back to my room and drink a warm cup of chamomile tea!”

Cerceus screams pathetically, but it’s hard to blame him. We are basically being forced to watch a one-sided slaughter. A few seconds go by until the werewolf is nothing more than a pile of flesh.

“Hee-hee-hee…hee-hee-hee-hee-hee!”

After bathing in the blood of her prey, Adenela looks back at Cerceus’s and my frightened expressions as if she has awoken from a trance.

“…Oops.”

Humanity suddenly returns to her eyes, and she looks down at the sad puddle of viscera that was once a monster.

“L-looks like I did it again…”

She awkwardly mutters as her arms suddenly change back to normal. After that, she points down toward my knees.

“Um… I-is… Is Seiya…o-okay?”

“Y-yes… He doesn’t look like he was cut…”

The werewolf’s claws didn’t seem to touch his body. But then why…?

“I’ve already left my mark.”

Why did he say something like that…?

Wait—!

Alarmed, I shake Seiya’s body.

“Seiya! Seiya, wake up!”

But I end up worrying for nothing.

“Mn…”

Though moaning, Seiya sits up with a hand on his head.

“Thank goodness! Are you okay?!”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m just feeling a bit light-headed.”

“Y-you are?! You should rest! Here, lie down!”

“I’m fine. More importantly, what happened to that werewolf?”

“Oh… Um… Adenela kind of…k-killed him…”

“…What?”

Seiya turns his gaze to the lifeless lump of meat on the ground, then knits his brow. Meanwhile, there isn’t even a hint of Adenela’s fit of passion left as she miserably lowers her head like a little girl who just broke a vase. Adenela understands how Seiya is. She’s clearly prepared to be scolded by the cautious Hero, since she slaughtered the enemy without getting any information from him first.

“I-I’m sorry…”

Seiya approaches the apologetic goddess before speaking to her in a surprisingly gentle voice.

“Don’t be sorry. You did the right thing. If you hadn’t killed him, he would have killed me. I owe you one.”

“S-Seiya…! I—I love you! I love you so much!”

The bags under Adenela’s eyes suddenly vanish, and her eyes sparkle like a little schoolgirl’s.

I raise my voice, sensing that Adenela’s young, innocent girl act is about to go south.

“A-anyway, we need to report what happened to Great Goddess Ishtar! I mean, this is serious! The first enemy to attack the unified spirit world was a user of Chain Destruction!”

Cerceus repeatedly nods in silence. Seiya glances at him, then says:

“Could I ask you to go in my place? There’s still something I need to do here.”

Oh… He’s going to use Hellfire on the werewolf until there’s nothing left, isn’t he?

I thought the usual cleanup ritual was about to start. But instead, Seiya grabs me by the arm and jerks me over.

Huh?! Wh-what the…?! Is he mad at me?! He must be! If I hadn’t created that gate, then the werewolf would have never gotten in here! O-oh no! Everything was going so well between us until I messed things up!

But I’ve gotten worked up over nothing again. Seiya isn’t mad at me. He simply tugs at my arm and rushes me.

“Come on. We don’t have any time to waste. We’re going to Ixphoria.”

“What?! What about burning the body?! And weren’t you still in the middle of training?!”

“I’ve trained enough.”

“H-hold on! Seiya?!”

Seiya drags me over toward the gate to Ixphoria. Both Cerceus and Adenela stare at Seiya with their eyes wide, taken aback by his unexpected behavior.

S-Seiya is overly cautious, so if he says he’s ready to go, then he must be… Plus, he’s already over level fifty, so we’ll be fine…right?

Seiya places a hand on the gate, then says:

“Let’s go, Goddess.”

“‘G-Goddess’?! Are you referring to me?!”

“We must hurry to save the world. Innocent lives are being lost as we speak.”

Hearing those uncharacteristic words come out of his mouth makes me extremely uncomfortable. Overcome with a strange feeling, I gaze at the Hero’s profile as he walks through the gate.

“S-Seiya, are you sure you’re ready to go?! Are you perfectly prepared?!”

“Of course…”

The Hero doesn’t even glance at me. He gazes into the distance and says:

“Everything’s gonna be okay.”