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.
CHAPTER 46
A Slice of Life
After his battle with Seiya, it is announced that Emperor Wohlks Roseguard has died of old age. A small funeral is quietly held by the people of the castle. We spend our time in a room Rosalie prepared for us during those events until three days have passed.
Although the mourning period has ended, we still remain in the castle…because Seiya is unable to move. The moment we walked into our castle room, Seiya said he was going to rest a bit, but he hasn’t woken up since.
I take a seat at the end of Seiya’s bed. As I gaze at his refined features, I reflect on it all. Mere moments before the emperor was about to kill me, there was the Hero, ever the gallant knight, showing up to save my life. I mean, I’m sure he did it for the exact reason he claimed. He won’t be able to return to his world without me unless he commits suicide, so he didn’t have any other choice. But even then…
“Thank you, Seiya.”
As I place a fresh wet towel on his forehead, Elulu and Mash enter the room.
“Hey, Ristie. How’s Seiya?”
“He’s still sleeping.”
“Man, is he gonna be okay?”
“He’ll be fine. I completely healed his severed arm with my magic, and he’s in good health as well.”
“Then, Ristie…why won’t he wake up?”
“He’s probably mentally exhausted.”
“Makes sense. That battle was intense…”
That’s when I hear a knock at the door, and Rosalie comes in.
“The Hero still hasn’t woken up?”
Those are the first words to come out of her mouth as she stares down at Seiya in the bed. It’s been two days since we last saw Rosalie. It’s no surprise, though. She’s been busy with her father’s funeral, taking care of the remnants of Eraser’s army, and making arrangements to become the next emperor. Nevertheless, she probably doesn’t even know how to feel right now. Seiya is the one who drove her father to death. My heart is racing just thinking about what she’ll say to Seiya when he wakes up. All of a sudden, Rosalie speaks.
“I don’t think it was the strong father I loved…but the caring father.”
Rosalie gazes at Seiya with innocent eyes.
“If I hadn’t taken my father’s hand on his deathbed, I would have regretted it for the rest of my life. I am very grateful to the Hero who told me to be by his side.”
She turns her attention to me and smiles.
“Feel free to stay at the castle as long as you like.”
And with those words, Rosalie leaves the room.
“Hey, Ristie… Don’t you think Rosalie has changed somewhat?”
“Yeah, a lot has happened lately. She’s probably grown up a little.”
“So wait. Rosalie’s gonna be the next emperor—or I guess I should say empress, right? How badass is that?”
“I bet she’ll be a wonderful ruler.”
I smile at the two of them.
“Rosalie said we could stay here as long as we’d like, so…how about you two go play in the city?”
They’re completely floored by my suggestion.
“What?! And leave Seiya like this?! He still hasn’t even woken up!”
“Ha-ha! That’s exactly why you should go play. Once Seiya wakes up, you’re going to be extremely busy with training and fighting! That’s why you should have fun while you can!”
“Y-yeah, I get that, but…”
“You two wanted to go to the casino, right?”
Like holding a carrot in front of a hungry horse, I entice them. Their cheeks turn red, and they awkwardly nod.
“Then go! Hurry before the training addict wakes up!”
“R-Rista…”
“Don’t worry about a thing, Mash! Leave it to me! I’ll cover for you if this overly serious, overly cautious Hero decides to wake up!”
“R-Ristie…”
“Don’t look so gloomy, Elulu! I know you’re worried that Seiya might get mad, but it’ll be fine! After all, I am a goddess, while Seiya is a mere human! Rank-wise, I’m above him! In fact, he’s basically subservient to me!”
I confidently prattle on, using the fact that he’s sleeping to my advantage. But Elulu and Mash are still acting weird for some reason.
“Th-that’s not it, Rista…”
“Ristie… B-behind you…”
“…Huh?”
I timidly turn around.
“Who are you calling a servant?”
Seiya is firmly standing up out of bed with his arms crossed.
“Hyaaaaaa?!”
Shiiiiiiit! H-h-he’s going to punch me, isn’t he?! He’s going to punch me and kick me and crush my boobs!!
But surprisingly, he doesn’t do a thing. He simply takes a seat on the bed.
What? He’s not going to attack me? Th-that’s impossible! I bet he’s really gonna let me have it later!
“I’m glad you’re all here. Let’s discuss how we’re going to tackle
this Demon Lord…”
I slap my hands together, since Seiya started talking.
“Listen up, everyone! Lord Seiya is speaking!”
Mash gives me a quizzical stare as I kiss up to the Hero.
“Yo, Rista… What happened to the casino?”
“What?! This is no time for casinos! We’ve got work to do! Has your brain decomposed and turned into a mushroom, too?!”
“B-but, Ristie, you said we could go play…”
“Don’t be ridiculous! I said no such thing! I would never even imply such a thing!”
They pierce me with their icy glares as I lie my ass off, but I’m desperate. I really don’t want him to squish my boobs again.
“…Who cares about that? Now let me talk. To tell the truth, I was barely able to defeat the emperor. This is something that really needs to be reflected on. I need to train even more for the next battle, against the Demon Lord.”
This is more or less what I expected to happen, but it’s not just me who’s relieved. Mash and Elulu also look somewhat reassured.
It is Seiya, after all. I’m sure he would never just go recklessly rushing into the Demon Lord’s lair, but…
I nod deeply, expressing my agreement.
“Train as much as you’d like, Seiya! If the Demon Lord really does have a horrifying magic item like Chain Destruction, then I’m sure Great Goddess Ishtar won’t mind you staying in the unified spirit world long-term!”
“All right. Then…”
Seiya starts to get up. Elulu and Mash grab their packs without even being told to, and I get ready to open a gate to the spirit world. But Seiya…sits back down on the bed.
“But, well…I guess it could wait. Taking a break might not be so bad every once in a while.”
“““What?”””
Our jaws drop in unison. We stare at the Hero in bewilderment for a while after that.
“S-Seiya…? What was that?”
“I said we should relax a little. Looking back on it, we’ve spent every waking moment training and fighting. I’m honestly a little tired.”
“O-oh… So you mean like two hours or so?”
“No. Resting for two or three days shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Th-that long?!”
Mash timidly queries:
The Hero Is Overpowered but Overly Cautious, Vol. 2 Page 15