Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest: Short Stories (Premium)

“Miledi must die... I won’t show her any mercy.”

  Naiz tried to use spatial magic to lock Yue in place, but she used her own spatial magic to cancel his spell, causing his eyes to widen in surprise. Miledi had no idea what she’d done to these people, but she realized the grudge they held against her ran deep.

  “I don’t know what I did, but I’m really sorry!”

  Miledi went down on all fours while floating in the air. Even when apologizing, she refused to let her head touch the ground.

  Meanwhile, Tio, Kaori, and Remia were completely out of the loop. They glanced around in confusion, Tio taking care of the swarming monsters while Hajime’s group and Miledi’s group bickered. Surprisingly, it was Myu who restored order.

  “Jeez! What are you doing, Daddy? You too, Shea-oneechan, Yue-oneechan. This isn’t the time to be fighting!”

  Myu’s angry, high-pitched voice carried quite well across the battlefield.

  “N-No, but Myu—”

  “Bad Daddy!”

  “Ah, okay, okay. I’m sorry.”

  “Woooooow, you’re letting a little girl order you around! Hey hey, how does it feel getting scolded by your own daughter? Bahahahaha!”

  “Miledi-oneesan?”

  “Hyaah!? I-I’m sorry.”

  Hajime and Miledi hung their heads, thoroughly chastised by Myu. She then went and did the same to Shea and Yue, bringing them back to their senses as well.

  “Daddy, we’re almost out of time! We have to save Mister Whale!”

  Myu’s expression was more serious than Hajime had ever seen. He could tell this wasn’t some childish prank.

  “Everyone, come over here! Yue, Kaori, Tio, make us the strongest barrier you can!”

  Yue and the others instantly sprang into motion, and they deployed a combination of Hallowed Grounds and spatial barriers.

  “Miledi, Naiz, Meiru. We’re helping them.”

  At Oscar’s call, Miledi and the others obediently gathered as well. They placed down their own combination of gravity, water, and spatial barriers. With six extremely powerful barriers protecting the group, even the giant monsters couldn’t hurt them. They roared in frustration as their attacks bounced off the group’s multilayered defenses.

  “Alright, Myu. What’s going on? What do you know?”

  Hajime knelt down in front of Myu. She took a deep breath, then put a hand on the glowing whale next to her and replied, “This whale is the shadow we saw before. He needs Daddy and Oscar’s help.”

  As they’d neared the castle, the whale of light had regained a bit of its power and had been able to communicate with Myu once more. While they’d been traveling to Hajime, it had told them the gist of the situation. Apparently, the whale was the guardian of this destroyed city. Long ago, this city had been brought to ruin by the same monsters that were flooding out of the castle. Those monsters had actually been created by human hands, and the strongest of them made the nigh-immortal Hell Eater Hajime and the others had just recently fought look cute.

  But, as it always went in stories like this, the people had been unable to control the monsters they’d created, and brought their empire to ruin. However, they’d at least had the tenacity and the good sense to seal away the monsters they’d created. But to do so, they’d needed to use the whale as a cornerstone.

  Now, centuries or perhaps millennia later, the seal had been weakened to the point where it was nearly gone. If the lynchpin of the seal, the tower that the whale was fused with, broke, then the ancient evil horrors would regain their full strength and would start terrorizing people across all worlds and all times.

  “Mister Whale’s been waiting this whole time for someone who can fix the seal to come! He said he needed really strong ‘Synergist-creators!’”

  This abandoned capital didn’t actually exist anywhere within the real world. It had once stood where the sea they’d come from was, but the seal had transported it into a gap between dimensions. Basically, this whole space was a city-sized Treasure Trove.

  And because the whale was also the product of that ancient civilization, it too possessed the power to transcend space and time. However, its power had been greatly weakened, so it could only transport people here once, and only people who visited the particular stretch of sea the capital had once been on. Meaning this was the only chance anyone would ever have to repair this seal. Restoration magic wouldn’t be enough to do it because a lot of the damage to the seal was too old to be realistically recovered. It would take more mana than anyone in the world possessed. Which was why the whale had needed to bring in people who could analyze the seal and rebuild it from the ground up, namely Synergists who could use creation magic. Not only that, Synergists with more skill and mana than either Hajime or Oscar possessed individually.

  “So it brought you and Oscar-oniisan together even though you’re from different times, Daddy! It made a miracle!”

  Myu spread her arms wide, and for a moment Hajime wondered if this really was Myu. The glowing whale, which was apparently an avatar of sorts of the seal’s guardian, illuminated Myu with its light. As if Myu was the oracle it had chosen to speak through. Everyone present couldn’t help but be awed by how dazzling Myu looked.

  After she finished her story, Hajime took a deep breath. His mind was full of questions. Whether or not all the stuff about the seal was real, how it had managed to move Miledi and the others across time, as well as why they had to clean up someone else’s mess.

  However, there wasn’t enough time to think about all this. The tower had begun leaning precariously, and it was so cracked that it was a wonder it hadn’t collapsed under its own weight already.

  Hajime shrugged his shoulders, ruffled Myu’s hair, and said, “Guess we’ve gotta fix it then.”

  Miledi, the leader of the Liberators replied, “Alright, let’s do this. Don’t worry, my O-kun’s the greatest Synergist in the world. We’ve got this in the bag!”

  She grinned proudly. Miledi had absolute faith that there was nothing Oscar couldn’t do.

  But upon hearing that, Yue scowled and replied, “Excuse me? That’s an even bigger joke than your existence. The greatest Synergist in the world is my Hajime.”

  Miledi wasn’t about to let that pass uncontested. She gave Yue a glare that could curdle milk. Yue countered with an icy smile.

  The two of them stared each other down, trying to look as intimidating as possible. Seeing that, Hajime and Oscar exchanged glances and smiled sympathetically at each other.

  They could worry about these petty squabbles later. Right now, Myu’s request took priority. That desire was what kept everyone cooperating for the moment.

  “Yue, you’re in charge while I’m off fixing this seal or whatever.”

  “Miledi, it’s the same as always. Make sure no one gets in the way of my work.”

  Hajime grinned fearlessly, while Oscar adjusted his glasses with a slight smile. Naturally, Yue, Miledi, and the others all nodded confidently back to Hajime and Oscar. With that, the strongest team in all history was formed. And the one to start things off was Naiz.

  “Myu, where do we need to go?”

  “To the top of the tower, Naiz-oniisan!”

  “Got it.”

  Oscar quickly brought out his Metamorph Chains and bound everyone together. A second later, the party was floating a short distance above the tower’s summit. Naiz had teleported everyone in an instant.

  “He didn’t even use a gate...” Yue muttered in surprise.

  As they started to fall, Miledi used her gravity magic to soften everyone’s landing. The tower’s summit was about ten meters in diameter, and the only object on it was a one-meter tall obelisk. It was riddled with countless cracks, and it looked like it was moments away from shattering completely.

  “That thing! That’s what we need to fix to fix the seal!” Myu shouted, just as monsters started flooding the rooftop.

  “Go, Hajime! Myu, Remia, stay with Hajime! Kaori, put up a barrier! Shea, take care of
any enemies that get past Tio and me!”

  “We’re counting on you, O-kun! Meru-nee, you provide support from above! Nacchan, you take the other side!”

  Yue and Miledi shouted out orders while Hajime and Oscar ran over to the obelisk. Myu and Remia stuck close to Hajime, with the glowing whale at their side, and Kaori quickly cast a barrier over all of them. A second later, the giant grim reaper bore down on the shimmering barrier.

  “Dieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!”

  Shea yelled out her signature battle cry and batted the giant reaper’s scythe away with her hammer. The force of the blow was so great that it echoed through the roof and sent the reaper flying.

  “Whoa, is that girl really a rabbitman!?” Miledi shouted in surprise. Even as she spoke, she flew high into the air and used a Heavensfall to send the swarm of flesh-wolves and their three-headed leader to the ground. They fell straight down, not even scraping the side of the already weakened tower. At the same time, Miledi also used gravity magic to support the tower’s foundations.

  Wow... Her magic’s so precise. And yet she casts so quickly.

  For the first time in her life, Yue, the vampire princess who’d been considered the greatest mage of her generation, was jealous of someone else’s magical talent. However, she wasn’t going to let that get her down. Learning that there were heights she had yet to reach just stoked her desire to improve. And this was the perfect chance to watch and analyze the legendary Liberator who’d developed the techniques Yue was so fond of. She’d make Miledi’s skills her own, and improve them even further!

  Wow, this girl’s shaping her mana so quickly... Is she learning how to do that from me? After just watching me do it once?

  In the same way that Yue was impressed by Miledi’s skills, Miledi was impressed by Yue’s. Thanks to Myu’s earlier explanation, she knew that Yue was from a different time than her. Meaning that normally, the two of them would never have met. That went a long way to explaining why Yue could use gravity magic too. And since Yue and the others knew about her and the Liberators, Miledi had figured out they must be from the future too. It’s such a waste! I’ve finally met someone who can rival my magical ability, and this is the only time we’ll ever get to see each other!? This sucks so much! Miledi thought regretfully to herself.

  “Hey, what’s your name?”

  Of course, Miledi had heard Hajime say Yue’s name multiple times. But she felt compelled to ask anyway. This girl used the same magic as her, possessed as much talent as her, or possibly even more, and it was clear from how strong Yue’s bonds with her comrades were that she was someone who understood compassion. Miledi had to hear Yue introduce herself with her own words.

  If only she’d been born in our era. She would have been such a reliable comrade! The thought was so vexing to Miledi that it nearly brought her to tears. Yue sensed what Miledi was thinking from her expression, and she turned to face the Liberator with a serious expression.

  “Yue... The world’s strongest vampire princess. And... the one who inherited your magic, Miledi Reisen.”

  “Ah... I see. So that’s how it is.”

  Miledi felt Yue’s back lean against hers. It was warm and reassuring.

  During the battle, they’d gotten closer and closer until eventually, they were fighting back-to-back. Yue had no way to know what Miledi was thinking as the two of them crushed monsters with gravity magic in perfect sync. But she could tell that Miledi trembled a little when their backs touched.

  “Well if you’re my successor, then I guess I’ll show you an example of how the great Miledi uses gravity magic! Think you can follow along with the lesson?”

  “Don’t get cocky, Miledi... I’ll surpass you before you know it.”

  Grins tugged at the corners of both girls’ lips. With the greatest gravity magic wielders of the past and present working together to polish each other’s skills, no enemy could stand against them.

  Meanwhile, Tio, Naiz, Meiru, and Shea were all covering for each other as they fought, and Kaori provided support from the ground using her healing and defensive spells. Together they kept the horde of monsters away from Hajime and Oscar, who were in the middle of repairing the obelisk.

  Damn... This guy’s good... Hajime thought to himself. Red sparks ran down his arms as he desperately tried to keep up with Oscar. It was taking everything he had to keep the obelisk from falling apart. Even though he was the greatest Synergist alive in the present, he was having a tough time figuring out how to repair the seal. In fact, when he’d seen how complicated and precise the layers of magic circles that composed the seal were, he’d almost wanted to give up. To make matters worse, the obelisk itself was created from some ore he’d never seen before, and it was a hundred times more resistant to magic than sealstone.

  Every time he repaired one section of the obelisk, another gave way, and when he repaired that yet another section fell apart. It was like trying to solve a puzzle that kept changing itself.

  “Don’t panic. No matter how complicated something looks, its fundamental building blocks have to be simple. All we have to do is figure out how all the threads connect, then neatly tie everything together,” Oscar said calmly, though there were beads of sweat pouring down his forehead. Despite how resistant to magic the obelisk was, Oscar was easily able to weave his mana into it. With every passing second, Oscar understood more about the obelisk and grew closer to learning the secrets of how to repair it.

  Damnit! So this is what the legendary Liberators were like? His skills are on a whole different level compared to mine!

  Unknown materials? Magic circles that had never been seen before? Those meant nothing to Oscar. So long as he could analyze the structure of the obelisk, he’d be able to repair it completely. That was just how godlike his skills were. Hajime couldn’t help but grit his teeth in frustration when he saw how big a gap there was between their abilities.

  “Visualize, then create. That’s what we Synergists do. Isn’t that right?”

  Complete, utter perfection. The closer Synergists grew to that ideal, the more beautiful their creations became. So it was only natural for them to chase after such perfection. A true Synergist was someone who could create something beautiful that would last for time immemorial.

  If you call yourself a Synergist, you should be able to manage that much... Oscar’s expression seemed to say.

  “Alright, bring it on!”

  Hajime’s lips curled upward into a grin. He bared his teeth, his eyes shimmering with determination. He reached up and ripped off his eyepatch. Normally it didn’t bother him, but right now it was just in the way. If he wanted to analyze Oscar’s skills perfectly, then his Demon Eye needed to be free from all obstructions.

  “Ah!? That eye of yours...”

  The moment Oscar saw Hajime’s eye, he understood what it did and how it worked.

  Hajime’s grin grew wider and he said, “I’m gonna make your skills mine. Now show me what a legendary Synergist can do.”

  For a moment, Oscar was dumbfounded, but then he returned Hajime’s grin.

  “Very well. Steal my techniques, if you can!”

  “Watch me, Master!”

  “I don’t recall ever taking any disciples as arrogant as you.”

  As the two bantered with each other, they stepped it up a notch. Oscar took the lead, while Hajime followed using his Demon Eye. Hajime learned quickly and started using his mana more efficiently with each passing second. Not only that, he learned new ways of imbuing his mana into different objects. Once he learned Oscar’s methods for analyzing materials and the flow of mana, he refined them to make them faster and even more precise. But Oscar wasn’t about to let himself be done in by his disciple that quickly. Every time Hajime learned from and refined one of Oscar’s techniques, Oscar took that and refined it even further.

  Oscar was wrapped in a nimbus of sunlight-golden mana while Hajime, who’d activated his Limit Break during their contest, was covered in deep crimson mana. The tw
o Synergists were shining beacons of light in this miasma-covered world of darkness.

  “Analysis complete. You’re better at imbuing creation magic into objects than I am. I’ll switch to supporting you now,” Oscar said curtly.

  “Roger. I’ll start the repairs. We’ll do the deepest magic circles later. Start with the fourth one,” Hajime replied just as curtly.

  “Got it.”

  The two of them stared at the obelisk with absolute focus. They were like doctors performing a never-before-attempted life-saving surgery. It took perfect coordination and every ounce of skill they possessed to repair the obelisk with the pinpoint precision needed for such a complex artifact.

  The light coming off the two Synergists grew brighter. Golden and crimson sparks ran down their arms as they used up every last ounce of mana they had. Had there been anyone watching the castle from a distance, it would have looked like the light of dawn was cresting above the horizon, pushing back the darkness.

  “Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

  The horde of monsters let out a collective scream.

  “Oooh, the tower’s starting to get fixed!”

  “Heh... I knew Hajime could do it.”

  “Bahaha! Didn’t you hear them? He called O-kun his master.”

  “And then, right after he said he’d switch to supporting Hajime.”

  The two mages crushed the remaining monsters with gravity magic, then glared at each other with icy smiles. Meanwhile, Kaori and Meiru showered everyone with restoration magic. It seemed Kaori had learned a thing or two from Meiru as well, as her magic had gotten much faster and more powerful as well. Within seconds, everyone’s wounds had been healed and their mana restored.

  In a last-ditch attempt to prevent the seal from being repaired, the dragon opened its maw to fire a blast of corrosive breath at the party. But before it could, Shea hammered it with a series of explosive slugs, blowing it to bits. From the other side, the three-headed wolf tried to shoot pellets of blood at the party while the frog tried to launch its spit at them. But Shea stopped both of them as well.

  “Wow, I can see everything. This is some really useful magic!”