Chapter 86: The Sun Rises Again (2)
“Saber!”
“Hah! Die just like that! Sacred!”
“Don’t make me laugh. I will say it any number of times, Diabolic. For the people I must protect, I will not lose!”
But together with eyes shining fiercely and pale shining blue hair, the holy sword shone. She received Gain’s arm head-on and slashed from fist to upper arm.
While dripping blood from her mouth, Saber still smiled fearlessly and flashed her sword.
Even though she had taken damage, far from dulling, her movements accelerated further.
For someone, for comrades, for justice, and, after glancing at me once, Saber slashed Gain’s torso.
Upper body and lower body shifted, yet Gain forcibly connected them with self-regeneration, retreated backward as if frightened, and opened his eyes wide in astonishment.
That he himself had been frightened, that he had felt fear and stepped back. He could not believe it.
“I, I, this I, oo, gi, gu…!?”
“I will not allow it. I said so, did I not?”
The throat of Gain, who tried to call subordinates while stepping back, was burned shut again.
Gain’s eyes wavered with panic.
What is this, wrong, why, to a little girl like this.
Repeating such words that were probably floating in his head, Gain turned his back on Saber.
Run, run, run, admitting he could not match that.
But those pupils were bloodshot with anger, and while strongly biting his own fangs and tearing his lips he desperately suppressed unbearable humiliation.
“Just, even so.”
But unable to fully suppress the raging anger, Gain leaped at Knight.
From earlier the only one performing close combat against him was Saber. Knight had only been supporting with flame.
Therefore she would be easier to beat down than Saber. Gain probably thought that.
Since he could not do something like charging in triumphantly and then fleeing home without defeating even one Sacred, he needed to offer someone up as a blood offering.
The Diabolic called the Beast King of Brute Strength swung sharp claws down toward Knight.
That single blow was incomparably powerful. If it hit directly, even Knight who excelled at defense becoming minced meat was not hard to imagine.
“You certainly seem strong in power, but.”
Yes, if it hit directly.
Claw and greatsword touched. Sparks scattered, the blow packed with overwhelming force was parried.
“Your technique is nothing much.”
The claws that cut empty air shattered the ground at the same time as the greatsword swung like a performance took Gain’s head.
“…Ah?”
“You would have no way of knowing, but the one who taught junior Saber the sword was I.”
A vacant voice that did not understand the current situation.
Gain had been staring at his own body collapsing in a vision falling blankly toward the ground, but a beast’s sixth sense perceived it. Perceived it.
Someone stepping this way with blue hair fluttering.
The justice transformation heroine Sacred readying a holy sword. Sacred Saber.
“Hi.”
No good, not now. Fear was carved into Gain’s expression.
Even with his head cut off he was still alive, could live.
But now that he was separated from the body, consciousness, the subject, was in the head.
Since the abundant life force was all in the body, if the head was crushed in this state.
“I said it. I will not lose to a monster that has only power.”
The holy sword was swung.
The blade that flashed at high speed minced Gain’s head.
“A lie. I, I, in a place like this!?”
Countless cracks entered the remaining torso and it shattered.
A black haze like miasma dispersing. Saber and Knight purified the magical power of darkness and annihilated it.
That was the end.
The Diabolic who served as the final boss in the original died without conveying that terror to us.
No way, what is this.
At that fighting style I involuntarily leaked a dry laugh.
Certainly I had known the Sacred were the strongest since playing the original game.
But thinking about it, I had never seen a scene where they wielded that strongest power as they pleased, not in reality and of course not in the original.
In both the original and reality there were zero scenes of fighting under equal conditions. Even when the opponent did not use clever schemes, they moved so as not to involve ordinary people and onlookers who got caught up. It was like they were always doing a restricted play.
The same when they were dropped into darkness and used as pieces. Operating them after dropping into darkness those who originally fought for justice was mismatched, and they had probably not been able to display even half their original ability.
But now their mentals were stable, the opponent used no schemes, and they could concentrate only on fighting. Sacred strongest Saber and best Knight displayed their true ability.
What happens when existences with talent who have correctly polished that power wield it as they please? This was the answer. They purified a close aide of the queen that Alter had struggled with in the original, with only two people.
Ah, when I was playing the original I thought, Saber is an opponent you can shut out depending on how you do it, so why is she evaluated so highly when you defeat her.
That answer was this.
Because the queen understood that if they fought properly they would shut out even a final-boss-class existence. Because she correctly recognized the Sacred’s power, the original’s queen had evaluated Alter.
Saying you can shut her out depending on how you do it was because Alter observed without fighting and thought of a method to capture her. He understood from before fighting that the Sacred were stronger than himself and desperately set up countermeasures, and that was why Alter could win.
A power-proud expert would challenge the Sacred full of confidence and vanish at first sight, like Gain Perim who vanished without being able to do anything, without accomplishing anything, still blank.
That was why the Black Knight was welcomed as a close aide.
Because he knew the Sacred, understood his own ability, and understood how he should maneuver, he thought he could fight the Sacred. In fact, if we had not gone to reinforce, Knight would have lost.
“Octo-sama, how was it?”
“…Yeah, amazing. As expected of Sacred.”
I put on a self-mocking smile. Completely different from me.
Truly strong and amazing, and I hated how small I was.
“I will not say it is fine to be weak. Onii-sama also thought that was painful and hard.”
Looking straight into the eyes of me smiling self-mockingly, Knight smiled.
“But please at least evaluate what you yourself accomplished. If you make that kind of face, the side that was saved cannot honestly rejoice. Therefore, please smile.”
That was.
An impact as if the boomerang I had thrown at Saber had stabbed into the top of my head just like that.
I cannot live for someone the way she does, and I cannot even think of trying to. My self-recognition was garbage whose brain and lower body are directly connected. Was that the same as Saber’s figure I had once seen.
I think comparing myself to her is presumptuous, but Knight’s straight pupils denied my weakness.
Please do not demean yourself that much. I want you to acknowledge what you accomplished.
Because I was saved, I want the person who saved me to be saved too. The same feeling I had directed at Saber, Knight was directing at me.
“…My face barely even shows, does it.”
“Your eyes and mouth are out, and more than anything a certain amount can be understood from bearing.”
Even when I involuntarily averted my gaze and joked, Knight only puffed her chest and smiled proudly.