by Aneko Yusagi
“That skill you just used. It looks like you can perform a pseudo-recreation of Heavenly Emperor techniques. But if you don’t hone them further, ready them for use in actual battle, then you’ll find they just get repelled, eh,” the past Heavenly Emperor continued to inform Raphtalia.
Raphtalia returned her katana to its scabbard and prepared for a draw slice.
“That stance! That focusing of power!” Rishia immediately responded. She was doing the whole exposition thing again. I remembered her doing that with Ren too.
“I know!” Now Ren himself was getting in on the explaining action. “It’s a technique adapting the Hengen Muso Style, Moon Ripple!” Raphtalia unleashed a swift horizontal cut, and a crescent moon–shaped slash flew toward her opponent.
“Oh my! An attack technique that isn’t a skill? However—” The past Heavenly Emperor began and took the crescent moon slash on her hammer. “—eh?” Raphtalia allowed herself a slight smile. She was probably sure the attack had landed.
However—
“Hengen Muso Style. I’m quite surprised you’ve learned such techniques, eh,” the past Heavenly Emperor admitted. With just a slight swing of her hammer, she canceled out whatever it was Raphtalia had placed into her attack. “I’ll give you credit for the idea. Let me have a go too, eh.” She smashed the hammer onto the ground with a heavy thud, and with that, countless balls comprised of life force flew toward Raphtalia.
What the hell was that? Was each and every one of those was an attack with life force—a defense rating attack, which I could personally barely manage to draw out of myself?
Just how many techniques did she have access to?
“I can’t let those hit me—” Raphtalia shouted and leapt into the air, just to find the past Heavenly Emperor standing where she came down, already swinging her hammer.
Watch out!
Even as I thought that, even as I took a step forward, Raphtalia turned into smoke and vanished. I narrowed my eyes and finally saw that Raphtalia had actually avoided it by jumping in the opposite direction.
“You did well to avoid that, this time. I’m wondering if maybe I should just kill you, eh,” the past Heavenly Emperor bragged. She was getting some dangerous ideas. This wasn’t just about training or testing Raphtalia. That said, if Hengen Muso Style wasn’t going to work, how could she fight this opponent? I just couldn’t see a path to a finishing strike.
“I’m not out of tricks yet. Not yet—” With that Raphtalia raised her katana in front of her and adopted the stance for the Eight Trigrams Blade of Destiny. In the moment she started to focus her attention—
“You’re completely exposed!” the past Heavenly Emperor announced, and as she closed in, Raphtalia was forced to drop the stance. As I’d feared, that was an attack she couldn’t unleash without some allies pinning down the enemy. That also meant she couldn’t use the Supreme Ultimate Slash of Destiny. That could only be unleashed quickly with the Sakura Sphere of Influence and blossom blaze protection.
In either case, attacks that didn’t rely on skills just took too much time. I really couldn’t think of an approach here.
Was the only option to deploy a new weapon and rely on a new skill, then? Was that it?
Even as I considered that, the past Heavenly Emperor—looking like she’d had enough now—poured power into her hammer and swung it down at Raphtalia.
“Could you have failed my expectations any more completely? How the bloodline of the Heavenly Emperor has fallen,” the past Heavenly Emperor contemplated.
“Kuwah! Haaah!” Raphtalia desperately parried and avoided the attacks, but it was really starting to look like little more than a child trying to fight an adult.
Shit! My only choice was to step in and protect Raphtalia. Just as I was about to take a step forward, Raphtalia—who was closely watching the past Heavenly Emperor—realized that her tail was full and fluffy.
For just an instant, she appeared to sparkle right to her hair.
“Haaah!”
“Woah!” Raphtalia’s counterattack forced the past Heavenly Emperor to take a big step back.
“Keep showing me the same attack and I’ll eventually learn to beat it!” Raphtalia pointed out. Then she placed her hand on her katana blade and adopted a stance. It looked like the sword had started glowing with something other than life force, magic, or SP.
Not to be outdone, the past Heavenly Emperor struck at Raphtalia with her hammer.
“Five Practices Destiny Split!”
“Five Practices Destiny Thrust!”
Raphtalia’s katana and the past Heavenly Emperor’s hammer clashed, and then again, over and over. Perhaps due to the clashing magic, petals of magical power scattered around them, causing all sorts of illusions to form.
“Fire Defeats Metal,” shouted the past Heavenly Emperor. Raphtalia quickly responded.
“Metal Quells Fire!” As a result, this time she repelled the weapon-destroying attack. So she’d found a way to nullify it?
“Ah, your true Heavenly Emperor powers provided the answer, eh?” the past Heavenly Emperor commented with a whistle. “Try this then, eh! Water Defeats Fire!”
“Fire Quells—” Raphtalia couldn’t complete the cancellation in time, bouncing from the clash of weapons and blowing away the magic from the blade itself. Was that nullifying the imbued effects or life force or whatever?
“I can’t change!” Raphtalia lamented. No! Interference with weapon changing! I’d suffered it myself numerous times, but I hadn’t expected to encounter this technique here! “No! Tree Grows Fire!” Raphtalia’s katana bloomed into fire, and the blade started shining.
“Hmmm, a little rough, but well done. Yet all you’ve really done is left yourself open!” the past Heavenly Emperor shouted and flickered out of existence, then appeared a little distance away, charging a massive amount of power! What was with the quickening of this power?
“Now observe! This is the technique of the Heavenly Emperor!” she boomed. Countless clones all flew together toward Raphtalia, whose only choice was to narrow her eyes and try to spot the real one.
“There!” With both swords back in their scabbards, she gave that shout while adopting a draw slash stance. “I can’t focus my strength as quickly, as potently, as you. This is the best I can do—try it out!” Raphtalia stamped down heavily on the ground, causing a large ying-yang mark to appear there. “Kagura Dance of the Sakura! Second Formation! Beginning Blossom!” Readying a deep swing, the past Heavenly Emperor smashed her hammer down toward Raphtalia.
“Ying-Yang Eight Trigrams Split of Destiny!” The clash of strength on strength caused a wave of oppressive pressure to spill into the surroundings. The very air crackled, throbbing with the ferocity of the conflict.
“Five Practices Destiny—” Raphtalia and the past Heavenly Emperor continued to beat at each other. Five balls started to float around the past Heavenly Emperor, and it started to look like they were defending her during her attacks. As though competing with her, five balls were also floating around Raphtalia.
That wasn’t all though.
The sakura lumina growing close to the city all started to glow, and even though it was still daylight, they started to shine into the sky like spotlights.
“Spring Blossom Tree!”
“Kagura Dance of the Sakura! Third Formation! Third Blossom!” The two attacks clashed, scattering light and darkness in the vicinity, which then scattered like petals.
It felt like the first time I truly understood the meaning of the magical nature, both light and darkness, possessed by Raphtalia. The light was for more than just refraction, and the darkness for more than concealment. Her basic nature comprised both light and darkness, like the ying-yang, allowing her to make use of seemingly opposing attributes.
Clashing, the two weapons bouncing off each other sounded as though they were going to ring into infinity.
“Wood Defeats Earth! Earth Defeats Water! Water Defeats Fire! Fire Defeats Metal! M
etal Defeats Wood!”
“Kagura Dance of the Sakura! Fourth Formation! Fifth Blossom! Sixth—Blossom—ugh!” It looked like maybe Raphtalia was losing ground. But no, the past Heavenly Emperor was also starting to crack.
“You’ve done well to keep up this far. Those strings of attacks are likely increasing in attack power with each skill you unleash, but they also burn through your strength in a short period of time, eh,” the past Heavenly Emperor observed.
“You think I don’t know that! I’m still not giving up! Haaaah!” Raphtalia responded.
“Have a taste of my own special attack! Divine Clash of the Five Practices!” Countless clusters of five balls each gathered together and vanished into the hammer, preparing an attack imbued with incredible power that then swung straight for Raphtalia. The magic symbols running across the floor formed a five-pointed star and now appeared to be exerting pressure on Raphtalia.
Responding, Raphtalia caught it on her sword and scattered the pressure from the area around her, but then another pattern appeared on the ground. Without backing down, Raphtalia unleashed all of the power of her sword. The balls around her started to rotate at high speed.
“Finally, I can do it! I’ll use the yang to oppose the controlling power of ying and cancel them out!” Raphtalia declared.
“I saw you honing that ability even as we fought, eh. Now this all comes down to a single moment! If you don’t want to die, come at me, eh!” the past Heavenly Emperor dared.
“Haaaaah! Divine Birth of the Five Practices!” With a cracking sound, the magic symbols deployed around the pair of combatants shattered. In the moment the past Heavenly Emperor realized her attacks had been neutralized, she tried to get some distance, but Raphtalia immediately closed in and swung her sword.
“I’m not finished yet! Hazy Moon!” Seizing the smallest of openings, Raphtalia’s attack splintered the haft of the past Heavenly Emperor’s hammer and bit into her shoulder.
“I just need a little more! Just a moment more! Haaaah!” she roared and drew the other katana from its scabbard. The accessory with the special effect pseudo-haikuikku wouldn’t work in this world. What Raphtalia was currently using was something that slightly increased her current speed. Still, that slight increase could be enough to make all the difference.
“I’m still right here, eh!” The past Heavenly Emperor wasn’t giving up yet, swatting at Raphtalia one-handed with the shortened hammer. But just before it landed, Raphtalia vanished.
“Huh? Remarkable. Vanished in an instant.” The past Heavenly Emperor almost sounded impressed.
“Illusion Blade!” That was the first technique she had learned and was now her final attack, carrying all of her remaining strength—all of the magic and SP and life force she had. Raphtalia popped back into existence behind the past Heavenly Emperor and slashed down with all her might. “This is the end!” Raphtalia screamed and took the card out from her top, which looked like it gave the Heavenly Emperor room for a counterattack. But the past Heavenly Emperor did nothing and just accepted what was coming.
“Gah. I guess that’s a passing grade, eh,” she conceded. The card hit her chest, and with a flash of light it vanished inside her. “You’re lacking in many ways, but you’ve also got real vigor. I think I may well make an exception and leave things in your hands rather than eradicating you here, eh.” After ruffling Raphtalia’s hair, the past Heavenly Emperor gave her a round of applause. Raphtalia kept her sword up and watched, suspicious.
“Hold on a moment. You weren’t fighting seriously?” Raphtalia gasped.
“I wouldn’t say that. I fought you with the maximum power I could place in this body. If you can’t surpass me, you have no right to be a pacifier, especially if you are in collusion with the holder of a spirit implement.”
“A pacifier? Aren’t they the ones meant to stop the heroes?” Raphtalia wondered.
“If you failed to display the power to overcome me, then you would be unable to give the fools that will surely appear what they deserve. I pray that you will continue the bloodline of the Q’ten Lo Heavenly Emperor, free from the claws of pride,” she concluded. That was the past Heavenly Emperor’s murmured response to Raphtalia, and she placed her hand on her chest. The general atmosphere wasn’t really conducive to anyone else butting in. “You’ve caused quite a lot of turmoil across this nation, but you showed me something interesting here at the end, eh. Do your best not to lose to them! Now then, the ghost from the past . . . will return there, eh.” With that, the hammer held by the past Heavenly Emperor cracked, shattered with a splitting sound, and her glowing tail also turned into mist—the transformation ended, revealing Shildina, who promptly collapsed.
“Got you!” Raphtalia caught hold of her.
“Looks like you won,” Shildina whispered. The rest of us dashed forward and checked Shildina out. She was breathing raggedly, and her vitality was low. We needed to take certain steps or her life would be in danger. We still didn’t know if she would respond to us, but she was Sadeena’s sister, and I did have a lot of sympathy for her situation.
We needed to care for her as best we could.
“I’m going to treat her. Those with healing magic and knowledge of healing herbs, help me out. Everyone else, prioritize taking the castle! You must be exhausted, Raphtalia, so you stay with me. Sadeena, you help with the healing too!”
“Y-yes!”
“As you say!” With that, we paid witness to the battle between the Heavenly Emperors and then started taking care of the aftermath.
Chapter Fourteen: The True Terror of Monsters
We treated Shildina as best we could and then sent her away before heading to the main keep ourselves. According to those left alive in the castle, the current Heavenly Emperor was still there, all alone.
“He’s just a young boy, correct? Knowing he was cornered, maybe he’s sent everyone else away and is just waiting alone?” I asked of Raluva when he came to report to me. The kid had given all sorts of stupid orders thus far, but maybe at the end he was finally acting a bit like a real ruler.
“Actually, it seems Makina told him this would all be over quickly and left him alone in the keep,” Raluva reported.
“While Makina herself actually tried to escape using a secret passage. We saw what happened to her after that,” I said. Raluva nodded. That just made me hate her even more. She’d caused untold damage to this nation and yet taken no responsibility. Just as when she tried to take over Shildina as a ghost, I was reminded horribly of Witch. If it wasn’t for the queen, Melromarc might have ended up exactly like this place. She’d really got under my skin, making me think like that.
“Rafu.” Huh? Raph-chan was clinging to something that looked like a ball. What was it? I did want to check it out, but we carried on, reaching the main keep and proceeding to the Heavenly Emperor’s room behind the audience chamber.
We opened the sliding door.
“W-who’s there!” The speaker was a boy, maybe around eight years old, dressed a bit like a priest. He was looking in our direction with fear in his eyes, clutching onto a stuffed toy clearly modeled after a filolial chick.
He was even younger than Raphtalia when I first met her. So this was the moron who had been acting as Q’ten Lo’s emperor?
His room was packed with filolial merchandise. It started with pictures and included stuffed toys and even wooden carvings and bronze statues. I took a moment to look for ones made of gold and gemstones—yep, there we go—although on closer inspection it was just gold leaf. The gemstones were cheap ones too.
It also looked like there were lots of books, but about what? A quick look at the covers revealed more images of filolials. All of those depicted were white with cherry pink coloring. Exactly the same as Filo. Just why was that coloring so popular?
“W-where is Makina? Someone! Anyone! Shildina! Help me!” he shouted. It looked like he didn’t have a full understanding of the situation and had just been left—abandoned—here. What to
do, then?
It was really starting to look like he’d just been used and had no real understanding of good and evil for himself. That said, his frivolous application of the protection of the Heavenly Emperor was definitely a lingering problem.
“Ah! That outfit! I’m the only one important enough to wear that!” the kid yelled, pointing petulantly at Raphtalia. It looked like the first order of business was to make sure he understood exactly the position he was in. Just capturing him without any explanation and putting him to death was a situation I definitely wanted to avoid, but it didn’t change the fact he was going to come off his high horse, down from all that power, with a bump.
“Sorry, kid, but anyone who might have sided with you is either dead or captured. You’re not important. You’re not anything anymore. You must understand that much at least, right?” At my question, the kid hung his head and gave a nod.
“I thought that was the case,” I stated. Oh? Looked like maybe he had a better grip on things than I first thought.
He began to speak. “Makina said she would be right back, but after all this time she still hasn’t returned, and sometimes when I was hiding I heard people saying things about me that weren’t all that nice. But still . . .” The kid—no, he was too smart for that, at least worthy of being called a “boy”—went on. “I still wanted to believe in them. That they would end this chaos and come back to me.”
“Sorry that didn’t work out for you,” I scoffed. The boy remained silent in the face of, let’s be honest, my pretty dickish comment. Hey, I wasn’t his babysitter.
“Please, Mr. Naofumi,” Raphtalia pleaded. Of course, she had picked up on it. “Can’t you be a little bit nicer to him?”
“I know, he’s just a boy. But this is still the one who sent all of those after your life, Raphtalia. That’s a big problem, even if we cut him some slack,” I stated. The very fact this boy was such an ineffectual leader had led to Raphtalia being targeted. If he’d actually been in control, assassins might never have been sent out just because she put on a stupid outfit.