An Archdemon's Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride: Volume 9

by Fuminori Teshima

  Several Archangels drew their Sacred Swords and pointed them at Zagan at once.

  Mmm... There’s no need to hesitate. It’s nice and simple. He just had to punch everyone who got in his way and go home. That would solve everything.

  “Geez! Why do you always do whatever you want?!”

  Chastille also took action while looking like she was holding back a headache. And the first to let loose their sword was...

  “Shine — Sacred Sword Azrael!”

  A burst of light was let loose the moment she drew her sword from its sheath. The light wasn’t directed at Zagan, but at the Archangels. Several of the knights had the swords knocked out of their hands, while the others blocked the blow with their own swords or dodged out of the way.

  “Damn you, Lillqvist! So you really have betrayed us!”

  The Angelic Knights directed their anger at Chastille and tried to pick their Sacred Swords back up, but they were once more blocked by her light.

  “Don’t misunderstand me. You’re the ones I’m protecting here.” She then looked down at the Archangels who had dropped their swords. “All the ones who dropped their swords failed. Were you planning on challenging an Archdemon despite being unable to withstand that? I couldn’t possibly abandon my brethren to a dog’s death, now could I?”

  This even had Zagan wide-eyed in surprise.

  She really is talented when in work mode... This was the ideal solution for the Unification Faction to shave down the number of Zagan’s enemies while protecting the Angelic Knights. It looked like three of the Archangels were rendered powerless. She managed to stop three of them on her own, so that was more than enough effort put in by her. However, the remaining Archangels were still gripping their swords.

  “It’s not like I trust you or anything, but I agree with that opinion. We don’t need hindrances here.”

  “Kaltiainen?!”

  A middle-aged Archangel swung his sword at Chastille. He appeared to be quite skilled, and it took Chastille all she had to keep his attention. However, he wasn’t her only opponent.

  “My apologies, but I, Hartonen, do not acknowledge one who is connected to an Archdemon as my ally.”

  A young man slipped to her side and tried to slam the flat of his Sacred Sword into Chastille.

  “Whoa there. Why don’t you knights fight like knights and do it one-on-one?”

  “Gah!”

  Stella kicked the Archangel right in the face before he could do anything. And watching that, Michael held his head with both hands.

  “Hey, you! What the hell are you doing when my position’s in such a shaky state?!” Chastille exclaimed.

  “Chastille’s my friend. Was the power you gave me meant for ignoring my friends?” Stella inquired.

  “Haaah... That damn Zachariel, why choose someone so damn troublesome?” Michael said as he let out a sigh, took off his sword belt, and tossed it at Stella.

  “Then give it a go. Paths are meant to be cut open with one’s own strength, right, Zachariel?”

  Zagan’s eyes shot open in shock.

  Stella’s... the next wielder of that Sacred Sword...? Stella herself also stiffened up with her mouth wide open.

  “You’re giving it to me?”

  “Yeah. Try it out however you like. Don’t use anything but that sword though, okay?”

  This was apparently better than having her use sorcery here. Zagan held back his confusion about all of this and turned a refreshing smile towards Michael.

  “Are you not going to fight yourself, Michael?”

  “I’m neutral, ya know? In times like these, all of you can do whatever you want.”

  As if to prove this, Michael took a box of tobacco from his chest pocket and began smoking. The unification and neutral factions were falsely similar. The difference in action taken by Chastille and Michael demonstrated this full well.

  Michael then turned his attention to the three Archangels who had dropped their swords as if suddenly remembering something.

  “Oh yeah, you three who failed just now. Sit down on your knees right here. You’ll be restarting your training starting tomorrow.”

  The three young Archangels were speechless but timidly followed his orders.

  Tch. That damn Andrealphus. I’ll have him properly explain all this afterwards... And as that went on, Stella shouted in a completely out of place, cheerful tone.

  “Thanks, teach! I was super pissed at this geezer!”

  “...Don’t look down on me, woman!”

  “Ahahah! It’s all right. I’m no good with sword, so I’ll hold back. Oh, I guess I can’t really do that since I’m not very skilled, huh? Well, whatever. Let’s do this — Zachariel!”

  Stella drew the Sacred Sword while laughing as she usually did and a black flame poured from its blade.

  “What?! She really...?! Gaah! Howl — Zadkiel!”

  The middle-aged Archangel who was crossing swords with Chastille switched targets over to Stella. In his stead, the Archangel who had called himself Hartonen began fighting Chastille. And those weren’t the only sword fights to begin.

  “It’s been a long time, Valjakka.”

  “Lord Hyurandell. Why would a man of your caliber... Ugh?!”

  “Does it displease you?”

  “I can’t possibly forgive you!”

  It appeared that the young man named Valjakka had some sort of grudge with Raphael and was locking swords with him.

  It seems there are people here who are on par with Chastille and Raphael... The first three knights to drop out looked rather inexperienced. With them, Chastille, Stella, Raphael, and the three they were in combat with, made up nine Sacred Swords.

  As for Ginias, it didn’t seem that he had recovered from the shock of being tricked. He was simply standing there, dumbfounded. However, there were twelve Sacred Swords in this room. As for the remaining two...

  “Our opponent is an Archdemon. Don’t let your guard down for an instant, Julius.”

  “I know, brother.”

  Two young men who appeared to be brothers stood before Zagan.

  “Nephy, stay a good distance back from me.”

  “Yes. Do be careful, Master Zagan.”

  “Mm.”

  Having her see him off like this felt somewhat fresh, and Zagan’s face unintentionally slackened. The Archangels before him apparently took this as a provocation, and the brothers screamed while their cheeks convulsed with anger.

  “Archangel Arvo Juutilainen! Archdemon Zagan! I’ll be taking your head!”

  “Archangel Julius Juutilainen! Here I come!”

  The brothers named themselves in a stuffy manner and came charging in from both sides at the same time. They got along quite well as siblings and were well coordinated.

  Zagan lowered his pipe. It would have been a waste to put it out, seeing as there was still some tobacco left, so Zagan bent his body in a way that avoided their slashes without letting it get extinguished.

  “Your swordsmanship isn’t bad. If you accumulate a little more experience, you may be able to reach Michael and Raphael’s level.”

  Zagan honestly praised them, which only fanned the brothers’ anger further.

  “Don’t make light of us, Archdemon! Flutter — Sandalphon!”

  The elder brother called to his Sacred Sword, and a cold chill that felt like it could tear one’s skin poured from his blade as it shined a radiant blue. In fact, it could do exactly that. The skin on Zagan’s cheek froze in an instant, and a small line of blood ran down his face. And there was no way an Archangel’s attack would end at just a scratch.

  “With me, Julius!”

  “I know! Dance — Gabriel!”

  The younger brother’s Sacred Sword let loose a stream of water. A wave of cold and water, and when the two of them combined...

  “Hmm, now this is splendid.”

  An enormous mass of ice was born, then went to envelop itself around Zagan. He really was glad that he’d had Nephy get away
from him.

  The mass of ice was wrapping around Zagan and growing in size, looking to crush him within it. To add to that, upon coming into contact with the aura from the Sacred Swords, it was impossible to weave sorcery. It was likely impossible for an average sorcerer to escape this technique.

  But they still lack experience. And what Zagan chose to do... was stomp his foot. That was all. The entire treasury shook from that simple action. And underneath his foot was the unstable pile of rubble.

  The ice was enveloping the rubble as well, but it didn’t change the fact that his action had introduced foreign substances into the block of ice. By sending a shockwave into those pockets, even the ice would be unable to withstand it. Ice with cracks in it was ever so brittle. So the enormous block of ice began crumbling into pieces.

  “We’ve got you now...!”

  “Hrm...?”

  The shattered ice turned into sharpened blades and rained down on Zagan.

  “I see. So this is all one technique which includes having the ice shatter. Well done.”

  Even an Archdemon wouldn’t be able to escape this combination from a crushing block of ice to a rain of frozen blades. However, Zagan stomped on the rubble and shattered it to pieces earlier. The fragments were thrown in the air all around him. After finding a sizable piece of rubble within all that, Zagan gave it a good kick.

  The stone was about the size of a fist, and it slammed into a blade of ice that was aimed at Zagan’s head, changing its course. The blade crashed into another blade, and the stone that he’d originally kicked also ricocheted and slammed into yet another blade. The chain repeated itself again, with blades slamming into stones slamming into blades one after the other right over his head.

  Before long, all the blades of ice succumbed to gravity and fell to the ground. Zagan of course started by confirming that Nephy hadn’t suffered a single scratch, then he enjoyed another puff from his pipe.

  “A wonderful technique. However, it isn’t sharp enough to cut an Archdemon.”

  “No way... Completely unharmed...?”

  The brothers were dumbfounded. Zagan didn’t suffer a single scratch from what could be considered a shower of blades. The single rock that Zagan had kicked had knocked down every single blade like a rampaging billiard ball.

  This would probably be hard for even someone of Kimaris’ level to handle completely... He probably would’ve been fine if he had wrapped his body with sorcery in advance, but it was too late to ward against it now. The only other Archdemon who could come out of this unharmed was Andrealphus, since he could manipulate time.

  The reason Zagan had been able to completely break through this technique was because he was a sorcerer who specialized in observing sorcery and imitating it an instant. In other words, he specialized in observing and analyzing the flow of things.

  One could say that he was the worst opponent for these two Archangels. And yet, the brothers didn’t give up.

  “Don’t think you’ve won, Archdemon!”

  The older brother, the one who called himself Arvo, fiercely charged in.

  Hey now, you’ll crash into Nephy if I dodge this! Zagan made sure to stand in a way so that he was covering Nephy behind him this entire time. There was no way he could dodge this attack. That being said, if he punched someone charging at him so defenselessly, he would end up killing them.

  “What a stuffy fellow.”

  And with no other choice, Zagan grasped Arvo’s face like a hawk to stop him. He might suffer a serious shock to his neck from this, but he’d have to put up with that much. It should have been quite painful, but Arvo was smiling.

  “That... arrogance... has proven... fatal!”

  “What?”

  Immediately following that, ice began spreading out with Arvo at its center. With Zagan grabbing his face, his arm was swallowed by the ice before he could even let go. Taking a closer look, the Archangel had stabbed himself with his own Sacred Sword.

  Does he plan to take me along with him?

  “Now! Do it, Julius!”

  “B-Brother...”

  “We’ll be able to take down an Archdemon with just our lives! A cheap price to pay!”

  “Ugh... Damn it all! Gabriel!”

  After hesitating for but a moment, Julius quickly resolved himself to his fate. Arvo had a Sacred Sword thrust through his body already; there was no saving him. The water streaming out of Julius’ sword wrapped around his own body, and a giant spear of water pointed itself directly at Zagan.

  He completely ignored all defenses and plunged toward Zagan like a loosed arrow. The swirling vortex of water at the tip felt like it could even pierce through Heaven’s Scale with a direct hit. But most of all, the water current even began swallowing Julius’ body. It was like he was caught between rotating cogs. Even if they somehow managed to defeat Zagan, they would surely never wield swords again.

  It was likely that aside from Confession, there wasn’t a single Archangel that was capable of unleashing this powerful of an attack. It could be said to be the ultimate spear. Its only weakness was that if it was dodged, they would be dying in vain. But they managed to overcome this with Arvo’s sacrifice. Not that Zagan would ever choose to dodge this move anyway, seeing as Nephy was behind him. And with such a crisis before him, Zagan simply let out an astonished sigh.

  “I approve of your resolve, but you two don’t have enough attachment to your damned lives.”

  He then thrust forth his right hand, still holding his pipe.

  “Heaven’s Scale Eastern Sky.”

  A massive right arm made of Heaven’s Scale manifested at Zagan’s side. Michael, who was sitting on the sidelines while watching everything, whistled in admiration.

  “Not bad at all. They got Zagan to use his right arm. You guys should learn from them.”

  “What are you saying, Lord Diekmeyer?! Go save the Juutilainens!”

  “What do you think this old man can do without a Sacred Sword? Well, just sit there and watch.”

  One of the young Archangels clung to Michael for help, but he simply sat there laughing.

  Heaven’s Scale was the invincible shield Zagan had created to fight the church.

  Unfortunately for you, I never planned to belittle the Sacred Swords... Zagan had had this prepared the moment he was first confronted with the Archangels. He had simply stopped providing it with mana, and the moment he’d let his mana flow once more, it activated instantly.

  And so, the ultimate spear and invincible shield collided. The Eastern Sky grabbed Julius’ Sacred Sword. An ear-grating creak rang through the air as cracks ran down the Eastern Sky, but the sorcery known as Heaven’s Scale fed on mana and aura to strengthen itself. The damaged portions repaired themselves, and the Sacred Sword lost more and more power. And with a sound like shattering glass, silence spread throughout the room.

  The surging current of water from the Sacred Sword came to a stop, and all that was left was the brilliantly shining Eastern Sky. The invincible shield came out on top. Having used up all his strength, Julius fell to his knees. His entire body was covered in bruises and lacerations. It felt like his limbs would tear off at any moment.

  “Impossible... We Juutilainens couldn’t even manage a single blow when staking our lives on it?”

  Arvo was completely taken aback, to which Zagan replied in astonishment.

  “You actually did pretty well. I didn’t plan on using the Eastern Sky here at all. You may pride yourselves in having forced me to use it.”

  He then tapped the ice with his pipe. Black flames flew out like fireflies and shattered Arvo’s ice. Both Zagan and Arvo were unharmed by the flames. Only the ice was destroyed.

  Heaven’s Phosphor Will-o’-the-Wisp. I thought the lack of destructive power was a flaw, but it can be used for something like this too, huh?

  And as he reevaluated the usefulness of Will-o’-the-Wisp, Zagan grabbed the Sacred Sword that was in Arvo’s dying body.

  Hm? Nothing’s happenin
g. Zagan was prepared to burn his hand, but the Sacred Sword didn’t reject him. Well, it was a pleasant miscalculation that he was fine after touching it, so Zagan pulled the Sacred Sword out mercilessly.

  “Gak!”

  Perhaps thanks to freezing his own body, there was no blood loss from pulling out the sword. Having said that, it surely didn’t feel good, and Arvo lost consciousness. Zagan then took the dying Arvo and tossed him over to Nephy.

  “Can you heal him, Nephy? It’s a bit of a waste for him to die here.”

  “Yes! Please leave it to me!”

  Nephy was tense from all the suspense just now, but her smile had returned wonderfully.

  It’s difficult to heal wounds from Sacred Swords with sorcery, but Nephy’s mysticism can handle it. He wasn’t sure whether a complete recovery was possible, but they could likely keep Arvo from dying. And seeing that conduct from Zagan, Julius raised his voice in bewilderment.

  “Why? Why are you saving my brother? No... before that... you should have been able to avoid it!”

  Even if he didn’t go out of his way to use the Eastern Sky, Zagan could have broken the ice using Will-o’-the-Wisp, taken Nephy, and gotten away from the blow with ease.

  After savoring his pipe for a moment, Zagan let out a puff of smoke as he replied.

  “Well, first, I have a debt to Chastille. That crybaby is running about getting her Unification Faction or whatever it is going. I can’t possibly do something like that in front of her.”

  The other reason was because he was only here for sightseeing, but if he’d said that, Julius was sure to get angry. The young Archangel then dropped his blade in resignation.

  “Hm? All done?”

  “Not only did you hold back on us, you even saved my brother. How exactly am I supposed to keep fighting? It’s... our loss.”

  With that, the Juutilainen brothers were rendered powerless. Taking a look around, the others had also brought their fights to a conclusion. Or rather than bringing them to a conclusion, it was more like they had gotten tired of fighting and were watching Zagan in silence.

  “So we’re done?” Zagan asked as he shrugged his shoulders. “Then I’d like to get going already.”

  “We’re not... done here!”