Were they watching him through some sort of means...?
Nevertheless, Godou immediately tossed these incomprehensible queries aside for now.
This was because he noticed he had received power from Liliana and Yuri who were not supposed to be here—life force and magical power. It was not very much, but with this, it was now possible!
"There... How's that!?"
With his companions' help, Godou converted the total remainder of his magical power into lightning and released it from his left hand.
A direct hit on Uldin's dragon mount. At this moment, the Hunnic godslayer had just circled to above Godou's left and was just about to slash with Tyr's Sword.
GAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
Struck in the face by lightning, the pterosaur screamed. Then captured by the dark star's gravity, it was finally pulled over.
"It's not over yet!"
Unbelievably, Uldin jumped over from the pterosaur's back—
He had taken a leap, aiming for the dragon saddle on Godou's pterosaur.
Along the way, he threw away Tyr's Sword and drew a hatchet from his belt instead. On top of a saddle—in a fight at such close quarters, a small weapon as easily swung as a knife was more advantageous.
Hence, he substituted a hatchet for his sword. As expected of a guy accustomed to real combat.
Oh well, since Godou had immediately returned Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi to within his right arm and desperately grabbed the wrist of Uldin's hatchet-wielding hand, he was not that different from his enemy after all...
That said, Uldin held the absolute advantage in physical strength.
For the sake of victory, Godou chose a final taboo method without any hesitation. Silently ordering the star of darkness overhead to "disappear as quickly as possible," he commanded the pterosaur at the same time:
"Descend like this! Fly towards the ground!"
"What!?"
In the moment of Uldin's surprise, the pterosaur began its rapid descent.
With the disappearance of the star of darkness, the force of attraction vanished accordingly. Hence, there was no longer anything to hinder the pterosaur's flight.
In this manner, the pterosaur flew its hardest towards the empty plain, finally crashing violently.
Naturally, this resulted in Godou and Uldin's crash landing together as well.
Epilogue
"It is not working. I cannot see anymore..."
Liliana Kranjcar's shoulders shook in regret as she opened her eyes.
"And to think I finally found Kusanagi Godou after so much trouble—!"
"This cannot be helped. The other side of the corridor indeed leads somewhere not of this world. Hence, we should already be happy to have caught a slight glimpse for a brief while."
Mariya Yuri gently comforted her companion who was biting her lip tightly in self-remonstration.
Quietly, she placed her hand on Liliana's shoulder. Calming down a little as a result, Liliana nodded.
"Fair enough. Using my magic and your power, Mariya Yuri, we were able to explore the situation on the other side. I suppose finding this out is already an accomplishment."
"Yes. Now the rescue mission officially begins!"
Yuri spoke with resolve as though to encourage not only her companion but also herself.
Seeing Yuri acting a little affectatiously, Liliana could not help but smile wryly. Feeling a little embarrassed, the Hime-Miko also smiled slightly wryly.
The two girls were currently in the mountains of a place called Casentino, located in the region of Tuscany.
They were following a stream at the bottom of a ravine. This was the place where the quartet had disappeared. Namely, the four people: Salvatore Doni, Kusanagi Godou, Erica Blandelli and Seishuuin Ena.
Yuri and Liliana were standing by the cliffs.
In other words, this was where the "corridor" had appeared—the darkness resembling a cave when triggered by the authority that caused magic to go berserk.
Using spirit vision to find out that the distant endpoint of this passageway led to "this world on the other side," Yuri was apparently able to use psychic sensing to share what she had seen with her companion.
Hence, Liliana had used witchcraft for locating people and flown the [Witch's Eye] towards the direction indicated.
This resulted in the discovery of "their companions fighting a dragon-riding young man" at a castle somewhere.
Using psychic sensing to share their sight, Yuri and Liliana were both quite happy for this result.
Since they needed to help Kusanagi Godou, the two of them transmitted their "power" through the corridor.
However, before they could make contact with him, the [Witch's Eye] and psychic sensing were both dispelled. Using magic on the other side was no easy task after all.
Liliana sighed deeply.
"That said, I never expected he would be able to draw out the 'black blade' for battle."
"Just to be on the safe side, I unsealed it beforehand. However, that person who resembles Godou-san so much, what on earth are his origins...?"
"Would it be correct to recognize him as the eighth Campione...?"
Liliana turned to face Yuri who was clasping her hands together in doubt.
There were too many incomprehensible aspects to this "corridor created by Madame Aisha." Due to too many things happening and rushing about hastily, they had not been able to listen to a proper explanation from Saint Raffaello.
"Speaking of which, having only entered this cave no longer than three hours... Yet Godou-san appears to have embroiled himself in a conflict again."
"And finally, it looked like he was forced to make an emergency crash landing. Oh well."
"L-Liliana-san. Please do not say anything like "he probably survived." Although Godou-san is human, even if something were to happen to him, he will surely be fine!"
"In other words, Mariya Yuri, you and I are in perfect agreement."
In any case, Yuri and Liliana began to shift their thoughts from "confirming the safety of their companions" to considering "how to rescue them."
"Wow, I almost thought I was going to die back then."
Godslayer Uldin laughed heartily as he spoke.
Holding the reins, Ena was sitting cross-legged on the cargo section of a cart drawn by two horses. Godou was sitting opposite her and frowning at Uldin's statement that no normal human would make.
As a side note, Erica was currently riding her horse in a trot beside the cart.
"How unbelievable that they could survive that..."
"Yes. His Majesty and Uldin-san are truly absurd people..."
Rather than amazed, Erica and Ena's words were filled with a different sort of overtone.
The two Devil Kings had crash landed several hours earlier.
Crashing down in the plain somewhere, the pterosaur had slid along the ground like a aeroplane. After that, the Campiones were tossed off with countless cuts and bruises as well as broken bones all over their bodies.
Unable to stand up, the pair had fainted temporarily. But they did manage to survive. After Erica and Ena caught up to them, they were rescued.
"Hey comrade, let me offer another invitation. Will you be king in my place?"
While rocking from the motions of the cart, Uldin suddenly proposed.
Although Godou was in the same state, the other guy seemed to have completely recovered his energy.
"How about we build our harems in Rome or over in Constantinople? I think it would be a great idea."
"Like I said, stop talking about that. I already told you before our duel."
In response to Godou's displeased grumbles, Uldin replied with surprise.
"Hey hey. I thought that was a promise only if I lost."
"What nonsense are you talking about? You clearly couldn't fight anymore. And I'm the one who put you in that state."
"But going with that logic, you couldn't fight anymore either, comrade."
"I-I was fine. I d
eliberately made myself like that."
"No no, don't forget that before the crash, I was the one who thrashed you soundly."
The two Campiones were going at each in the spirit of "an eye for an eye."
While this meaningless dispute was going on, the cart returned to the stronghold at Augusta Raurica.
Ruska and Clotilde were scheduled to arrive later. Fortunately, the Roman army had not returned, thus avoiding an encounter with Uldin.
Since Aisha was with the people of the Roman army, she was probably not here either.
Just as Erica and Ena stopped their horse and cart respectively before the castle gates—
"What's going on? He looks like he's in a great hurry."
"A Roman courier. He probably has urgent news to report to Lugdunum."
Ena looked out towards the main road ahead and murmured. Staring in the same direction, Uldin also commented.
Apparently, a Hun's eyesight rivaled that of a Japanese child of nature.
"Lugdunum?"
"In modern parlance, that's Lyon in France. During this era, it was an important stronghold in the Roman province of Gaul."
Seeing Godou confused, Erica clarified.
The city of Lyon in southern France. Godou had heard of it before but never visited the city. Soon after, the Roman cavalryman could be seen approaching.
This was almost a full gallop. Continuing to ride in this manner would cause the horse to collapse soon.
"Judging from the way he's making a beeline for here, he intends to switch horses?"
"Yeah. Maintaining speed by switching horses multiple times."
Realizing how Uldin discerned the rider was a courier, Godou nodded.
On the other hand, Erica blocked the road as if sealing it off, walking towards the cavalryman whose horse was decelerating.
"I belong to the army stationed here. What's the urgent news?"
"E-Enemies gathering up north... The Frankish tribes have pledged themselves under a certain man's banner to form a great alliance!"
The courier was initially surprised to hear Erica declare herself part of the army despite being a woman.
But perhaps due to the urgency of the situation, he reported as he panted heavily. Not only the horse but even the rider was also exhausted. It really must be quite an emergency.
"Who is this man you speak of?"
"His name is Salvatore Doni... Although it's unknown where he hails from, that man... No, that monster single-handedly conquered the stronghold of Colonia Agrippina... Uwooh!"
It must have been quite a regretful affair, seeing as the young courier cried tears of chagrin.
However, Godou and his group had no leisure to notice such details.
"S-Salvatore?"
"Looks like the situation has gradually gotten serious..."
"So that king has already arrived. And even caused all sorts of serious incidents."
The three moderners were respectively dumbstruck, worried and lamenting.
Furthermore, even Uldin reacted with "that reminds me."
"I've heard of that name too. It was the godslayer wandering my forest three months ago."
"W-What did you say?"
"After I told him that this area was my 'hunting grounds,' he said he was going to tour the north and have some fun first. He also said something about wanting to duel me after he gets used to these lands."
Uldin recalled with an amused expression the maniacal words that sounded very much like a certain man.
He did not seem like he intended to refuse the challenge. Speaking of which, to think it was 'three months ago.' Godou could not help but click his tongue.
Clearly Doni was sent to a time much earlier than them.
How many unruly acts exactly had he committed during this time?
"Hey. Those Frankish tribes working under Doni are..."
"I remember they were the founders of France?"
"Yes. Of Germanic lineage, the Franks were united by Clovis I to establish the dominance of the Merovingian dynasty, thereby starting the history of France. However, that's not supposed to happen until a hundred years from now, you know?"
The moderners gathered together and whispered to each other.
Hearing Erica describe future events, Ena sighed uncharacteristically.
"So, this could cause history to change too. So we really should hope for that whatever corrective force to work its effects...?"
"About this matter, is it really okay to hope?"
As Erica remarked in distress, Ena was shocked all of a sudden.
"But didn't Aisha-san already explain about this kind of force?"
"Ultimately, Madame Aisha is just a traveler. No matter how many years she spent traveling in the world of the past, she would still eventually return to the modern age. But if a modern Campione were to live in this world persistently for decades or even centuries... Do you think that kind of continued distortion can be corrected?"
Erica murmured with a gloomy voice and sighed.
"I think that it won't come as a surprise if Sir Salvatore were to forget about 'returning to the present' and end up living here for more than a century."
"Considering that idiot, that's very possible for sure."
Godou could not help but nod, realizing that new trials were about to begin.
Clearly it was imperative to find Doni and bring him back even if it meant tying him up. This could very well turn into a problem no less troublesome than a duel with Uldin.
Translator's Notes and References
Hassou-no-kamae(八 双の構え): one of the five stances of kendo, an offensive posture with the sword pointing upright and the blade sloping slightly to the rear.[1]
Tempering: Refers to the final process in making chocolate when cocoa butter crystallizes. Uncontrolled crystallization results in undesirable texture and appearance.[2]
White Day: March 14, the day one month after Valentine's Day. In Japan, it is customary for girls to give boys chocolate on Valentine's Day. On White Day, boys are expected to return the favor with a gift, generally double or triple the value of the Valentine's gift.[3]
Dionysus: known as Bacchus in Roman mythology, Dionysus was the Greek god of the grape harvest, wine and winemaking, ritual madness and ecstasy.[4]
Uldin: historically, Uldin was a primary chieftain of the Huns starting from 390 CE and ruled over the western wing of the Hunnic state. The Huns split into three large groups after Uldin's death in 412.[5]
Tyr: a Norse god associated with law and heroic glory, one of his most striking characteristics is the hand he lost to Fenrir during the binding of the monstrous wolf. Tyr is speculated to have been the father of the gods and chief deity until he was overtaken in popularity and authority by Odin and Thor.[6]
Furius: probably a member of the gens Furia, one of the most ancient and noble patrician houses at Rome.[7]
Flavius: Flavius Honorius Augustus was the Western Roman Emperor from 395 to 423 CE.[8]
Tír na nÓg: the "Land of the Young" widely known as the Otherworld in Irish mythology. It is the place where Tuatha Dé Danann settled when they left Ireland's surface. Rather than an afterlife for heroes as popularly misconceived, it is an earthly paradise populated by supernatural beings that sailors and adventurers may chance upon through good fortune.[9]
Rudra: a Rigvedic deity, associated with wind or storm, and the hunt. Rudra is also taken as a synonym of Shiva. Shiva is often depicted with a third eye, with which he used to burn Desire to ashes. Symbolizing the Sun, Moon and Fire, the three eyes are also known collectively as the three mother goddesses.[10][11]
Samarkand: the 2nd-largest city in Uzbekistan and noted for its central location along the Silk Road.[12]
Chang'an: an ancient Chinese city, used as the capital by more than ten dynasties.[13]
Samson: a judge of the ancient Israelites, recorded in the Book of Judges. God granted Samson supernatural strength to fight Israel's enemies and perform heroic feats. Howeve
r, he had two fatal weaknesses: his attraction to untrustworthy women and his hair which made him powerless when cut.[14]
Sword of the War God: the legendary weapon carried by Attila the Hun. The Roman historian Jordanes reported that Attila possessed the "Holy War Sword of the Scythians," which was given to him by Mars and made him a "prince of the entire world." The Roman god Mars was definitely an embellishment on Jordanes' part; the Huns would have simply called it the sword of God. In any case, Tyr was equated with Mars when Germanic peoples identified Roman gods with their Germanic deities.[15]
Delilah: the temptress who persuaded the biblical hero Samson to reveal his weakness (his hair must not be cut). While Samson was sleeping, she ordered a servant to shave his head, thereby eliminating his supernatural strength and allowing the Philistines to capture and blind him.[16]
Joshua 6:13,16
Hassou-no-kamae(八 双の構え): one of the five stances of kendo, an offensive posture with the sword pointing upright and the blade sloping slightly to the rear.[17]
Joshua 6:26
Joshua 6:26
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