by Aneko Yusagi
It made all the more sense having experienced something similar myself. Back when I was spending a lot of time peddling wares, I’d originally set out to make money so that we could get better equipment. But before I knew it, my goal had become the act of making money itself.
So I guess even something as petty as that could unlock a curse series. But that was also why he wouldn’t be able to win against my wrath. No matter how much stronger his curse grew, that pathetic greed of his could never overcome my wrath. It was transient, two-bit greed.
His weapon was part of a curse series. I was confident of that much. Which meant there had to be a reason for the curse to trigger. For me, Witch interfering with my duel against Motoyasu is what sparked it. The curse series hadn’t actually triggered then, but later on when I thought Filo had died during our fight with the dragon zombie, the Shield of Rage first appeared.
The weapon that Motoyasu was using looked like part of a curse series, too. Hmm . . . Maybe the curse series were something that triggered when a legendary weapon user experienced extreme psychological stress or something. Motoyasu and I had both been in really bad situations. Our psychological states had been bad enough that suicide wouldn’t have been unthinkable. But the heroes couldn’t be allowed to die in this world. If the heroes died, it could mean the destruction of the world itself. Suicide was unacceptable.
I think I’d hit the nail on the head. Put simply, the curse series was a defense mechanism that manifested when a hero was suffering from some psychological issue. Still . . . Even if that were true, what was it that had driven Ren this far? At the very least, he had still been calm enough to have a civilized conversation when we’d met before at the tavern. Even if he had been making excuses like blaming his companions’ deaths on their own weakness.
“I am the strongest hero! I am the one who will save the world!”
Ren’s words pissed me off, interrupting my thoughts. All the bastard cared about was something so insignificant! He needed to get a grip! I didn’t care about what had caused the curse anymore. I just wanted to shut him up.
“Save the world? Then go save it, you goddamned fool! Do you really think you’re going to save the world by running around playing bandit chief here?!”
The strongest? Save the world? By running around here playing bandit chief and ambushing anyone he didn’t like, going on and on about who won or lost? If he could save this rotten world by doing that, then he was welcome to keep it up! But that wasn’t going to save the world, and it wasn’t going to stop the waves.
“I’m tired of listening to you drivel on about being the strongest! I don’t have time to be dealing with an insignificant brat trying to be king of the mountain out in the middle of nowhere!”
“Wait! This isn’t over! Let’s see if you can withstand my maximum power!”
Ren’s sword transformed again. Had it evolved to the next stage? My Shield of Rage had transformed into the Shield of Wrath. It was safe to say that Ren’s current situation was similar to the one I had been in when that happened. In that case, it was highly possible that Ren’s sword had just transformed into a superior version of itself.
“Yes! A new skill just came to me! Maneater! Shooting Star Sword!”
He’d used that on me last time we fought! He was acting like he’d just come up with a skill that he’d been using all along. Using the same skill repeatedly wasn’t going to work even in the most cliché of manga. Seriously, what the hell?
“Let this foolish sinner pay for his transgressions with his being crushed in the name of a god! Take my riches and unleash a godly assault upon him!”
“Gold Rebellion!”
Ren raised his sword up to the heavens and golden treasures began amassing from out of nowhere to form a human image in the sky. It was a sinister and unbelievably gaudy sculpture made out of gold. Taking the attack head-on would probably leave a scratch, but I had my companions with me, and I was guessing that not all of them would be able to avoid it. Goddammit. I guess that meant I had to eat this lame-ass attack. That would make anyone want to sigh.
What happened to Maneater Shooting Star Sword, anyway? This was obviously a completely different skill. His tricks were becoming more and more cowardly. Could this still be called greed for victory? That skill . . . I’m guessing it was the equivalent of my Blood Sacrifice. There would most likely be consequences for using it. Ah, so that must have been why Ren’s equipment was so shabby.
“Eat this!” he shouted.
“Back up, everyone!” I yelled.
“O . . . okay!”
“Will you be okay, Mr. Naofumi? Right now your stats are . . .”
“We don’t have time to get away.”
Maybe we could have run if one of us could fly or something. It would have been nice if Filo could still fly like when we were in Kizuna’s world. She was big enough by the time we’d left that I probably could have ridden her. I was imagining it as the idol came crashing into me. It sent a heavy shock wave reverberating through my body that felt like it might dislodge an organ. Damn . . . Being weakened by the curse made me feel that one a bit, after all.
“Raphtalia!”
“Understood!”
Raphtalia sheathed her katana and took a quick-draw stance before springing toward the statue that I was holding off.
“Instant Blade! Mist!”
An exquisitely clean whishing sound filled the air as Raphtalia drew her katana. She then landed firmly on the ground and returned her katana to its sheath. A loud crash rang out and a fissure tracing the path her blade had traveled began to open on the surface of the statue before it crumbled away and disappeared.
Sheesh . . . I really wished this guy would come to his senses.
“Mr. Iwatani . . .”
“Yeah, I know. I may be tough, but even I have my limits.”
If Eclair and the others had been able to get away, then it would have made sense to just dodge an attack like that. Even so, this was just part of the job. As the number of people involved grew, our ability to respond swiftly would continue to decrease. I wanted us to be able to respond just a bit more quickly. Looking at it from a different perspective, though, you could take it as a sign that our military power was increasing, like in Kizuna’s case.
I guess I should be focusing on Ren right now.
“Grr . . . It’s not over . . . I can still become stronger . . . I have to give more . . . I have to win, even if it means sacrificing everything!”
“Get a hold of yourself!”
Intent on cutting me down, Ren raised his sword and struck from overhead, and thrust at my chest, and made a diagonal downward cut . . . and just kept slashing away using all sorts of attacks. I evaded, blocked, and parried, and not a single one connected.
I didn’t have time for this. He would trust some bitch that told him what he wanted to hear, but he wouldn’t trust me. And now he was in a place like this, swinging around a cursed weapon and going on about getting stronger. It had been the same with the Spirit Tortoise. It was the same with everything. It was all a game to him! He gave up on the Hengen Muso training because it was boring. He didn’t even try to believe what I told him about sharing power-up methods.
I was all out of patience. Maybe it would be best to just cut off his limbs and keep him locked up somewhere, so that he didn’t end up getting killed. It would only cause problems if he died, after all.
“Shall I off him, then?”
“Didn’t I say not to kill him?!”
Motoyasu was really itching to kill Ren. Or at least that’s the way he was making it sound. Why was he pretending to be on our side, anyway?
“S’yne, you keep Ren from being able to use any skills. The rest of us will incapacitate him and then we can take him with us. And if he still won’t cooperate after all of that . . .”
I stopped in the middle of my sentence, but everyone seemed to understand what I wanted to say.
“I guess it might be unavoidable, after all.�
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Raphtalia nodded regretfully.
“No, please. Wait a moment.”
A single person seemed to take exception to my suggestion.
“Mr. Iwatani . . . Please allow me to duel the Sword Hero,” Eclair pleaded.
“Why?”
“It’s something that occurred to me when we fought before. I have a feeling that we may be able to use swordsmanship as a means to get through to the Sword Hero.”
“You realize only some musclebrain who lives and breathes training would say something like that, right?”
“I do. Regardless, my patience is running thin, too. I’d like to give the selfish Sword Hero a good shaking. Let me fight him one on one.”
“At least that excuse is a little better. I’m going to intervene if things start to look dangerous, though. You good with that?”
That might not agree with Eclair’s knightly ideals, but she was a valuable military asset . . . It didn’t sound right coming out of my mouth, but she was a valuable companion that I couldn’t afford to lose. I wasn’t going to be naïve and say I wasn’t prepared to accept any sacrifices in the fight for this world’s peace. But at the very least, her life was not one I could afford to sacrifice for something as stupid as this. Plus, even if she did have some skill, I didn’t really feel comfortable pitting Eclair against a hero.
“I’m going to cast my support magic on you to make up for the fact that he has a legendary weapon. I’m not going to approve of the duel unless you’re okay with that. It would be unfair, otherwise.”
“That’s fine. I thank you for your consideration in making things as fair as possible.”
I cast Zweite Aura on Eclair. If Sadeena were here, we could cast Descent of the Thunder God on her, but whatever. This was as good as I could do in these circumstances. After all . . . casting Sacrifice Aura on her would surely be going too far.
Once my support magic took effect, Eclair turned to Ren and readied her short sword! Ren was already preparing to chase after Rishia, but Eclair stepped in front of him and blocked his path.
“Mr. Amaki the Sword Hero! This will be the second time that we cross blades.”
She swiftly pointed the tip of her short sword at Ren.
“If you wish to fight Mr. Iwatani or Mr. Kitamura the Spear Hero, then you must defeat me first!”
“Hmph! It doesn’t matter who you are—you’re no match for me!”
“Our fight was interrupted last time, so let’s finish it here! Sword Hero! My name is Eclair Seaetto, and with this sword presented to me by the queen, I shall cure you of your selfish ways!”
Eclair finished her declaration and the duel began.
Chapter Eighteen: Flash
The two clashed, and the rest of us backed away to watch the duel. Motoyasu looked like he was just waiting for a chance to stab Ren to death from behind.
“Don’t interfere, Motoyasu.”
“As you wish!”
He was being helpful for the time being, but . . . it seemed like I still needed to set him straight eventually. He did seem to be listening to me, which was more than I could say about Ren, but he had a really bad habit of running away.
Eclair’s sharp thrust nailed Ren right in the shoulder. It hadn’t actually pierced his skin, but that was a point for her.
“Hmph, is that all you’ve got? You weren’t this sluggish last time.”
Upon hearing Eclair’s provocation, Ren’s eyes opened wide and he squeezed his hands tightly around the grip of his sword.
“I . . . will not lose. I . . . am the strongest and . . . to become stronger . . . I will . . . gain all and . . . devour . . . all!”
Ren’s speech became fragmented and his sword—what had been a sinister, single-handed sword—transformed into a soot-black long sword. On top of that, the black aura that it had already been emitting intensified.
Would Eclair really be okay? That sword . . . I wouldn’t have been surprised if its stats had risen enough to overcome my defense now. Looking more closely, I noticed that there were lots of little decorations on the sword. There was a dog-looking animal on the guard . . . a fox, maybe. I could see something that looked like a pig on the hilt, too.
But Ren’s speech had gotten even stranger when the sword transformed. Gain all and . . . devour all? If he’d meant “devour” in the literal sense, then it was possible that he’d awakened the curse of gluttony, too.
“I . . . will become the strongest! Even now . . . in this very moment, I am evolving and . . . I will harness . . . an unfathomable amount of strength . . . and defeat you all . . . and devour the experience!”
Ren swung the long sword up into the air and dashed forward. His movements were awkward, but they were also quite fast.
“Raahhhhh!”
Ren began swinging the long sword around furiously. There was absolutely no rhyme or reason to his attacks. Eclair was crouching, bending, and maneuvering her body to dodge all of the attacks.
“Your swordsmanship is dull and simplistic. No matter how much your abilities increase, with swordsmanship like that you wouldn’t be able to hit me, even if I hadn’t improved a single bit since our last encounter!”
Oh, nice! She was right. His movement was quick, but it was also haphazard. I guess if someone had been swinging a sword around as long as Eclair, they would be able to dodge that much. I had a feeling the situation was similar to when Raphtalia and Sadeena had fought. Sadeena had completely read all of Raphtalia’s attacks and dodged every one by a hair’s breadth. It was an incredible feat. So now Eclair had become strong enough to do the same thing to Ren.
“Grr . . . Stop missing! Each of my attacks should be strong enough to destroy anything it touches!”
Stat and ability-wise, Ren was most likely well ahead of Eclair. The reason he still couldn’t hit her was probably due to a vast difference in the levels of their swordsmanship.
“Why?! Why am I missing?!”
“There’s no way you could hit me. Not with that languid blade. With haphazard attacks like that, it’s as if you’re not even trying to hit me.”
“Shut uuuuuppp!”
I wondered how Raphtalia or Filo would dodge if it were one of them fighting him. They probably wouldn’t dodge by a hair’s breadth like that. They’d probably just use pure speed. It was probably because she had always fought by my side, but Raphtalia tended to fight really aggressively. I guess that only made sense, though. In all of our battles, her job had been to try to land the most fearsome attack possible while using me as a shield instead of dodging. Perhaps it was time for us to undergo some serious training, too.
To get a better idea of Eclair’s skill, I decided to ask her fellow Hengen Muso pupil Rishia what she thought.
“Hey, Rishia. What do you think so far?”
“Fehh? Umm, the Sword Hero’s attacks are all rather monotonous. I’m sure anyone experienced at combat would be able to dodge them.”
“Hmm . . .”
I guess so. Ren was fast, but even I would probably be able to dodge those attacks. That’s how repetitive and tedious his attacks were as he swung his sword around. For the most part, they were either cuts straight down or slices to the side. Every now and then he would make a right-angle turn or something, but it was always completely obvious when he was going to change his path.
Technique-wise, L’Arc and Glass were probably far more advanced. Compared to them, these attacks of Ren’s were like a child’s sword-play. The strength gained from a curse was basically a stat boost. I had a feeling Ren had actually fought smarter and been stronger before he had been consumed by the curse.
“Alright, I guess that’s all you have to show me. In that case, now it’s my turn.”
“Grr . . . I’m not finished! My victory will be one-sided!”
What a line. He was saying it was all about his attacks, and the opponent shouldn’t even get to counterattack. Oh yeah, Ren had mentioned that shielders had died out in the VRMMO he used to play. Maybe that�
�s why he was so caught up on defeating his enemies before they could counterattack. He’d also said something about expecting them to evade, though. It didn’t add up.
Since even the earliest online games, it was usually in PVP where the existence of defensive classes really made a difference. It seemed to me like Motoyasu, Ren, and Itsuki were all total noobs when it came to fighting against other people. Of course, things probably worked just like they said in their own games. But that’s not how it worked in this world. That much, I was sure of.
“Eat this!”
Ren swung his sword down hard and recklessly. The instant the tip of his blade touched the ground, the earth shook and split open. Oh man, so it was one of those earth-splitting attacks. It seemed pretty powerful.
“You’re full of holes!”
Aiming for Ren’s shoulder, Eclair unleashed a sharp jab just like the last time they had fought. With a dull thud, her jab bounced off of Ren’s shoulder, ineffective. It was clear that Ren’s defense had risen even higher than it was several moments ago.
“Mu-ha-ha! The sword that I am currently using features the highest level of automatic self-repair. Your measly attacks are meaningless. Quietly accept your defeat!”
Ren’s eyes twinkled as he laughed sinisterly. I guess he was laughing because he’d realized that Eclair lacked a decisive blow. But what was up with the explanatory narrative? Actually, the armor I’d been wearing before had automatic self-repair functionality, too.
“Hmm . . . So he’s not as tough as Mr. Iwatani, but he rejuvenates as soon as I cut him. That makes things difficult.”
Eclair mumbled while looking at the tip of her sword. She must have still been pretty relaxed, because there wasn’t a single bead of sweat on her brow.
“Quietly accept defeat and give me my experience points! Maneater! Shooting Star Sword!”
That skill again! I guess it’s because it was a long sword now, but the cloud of black stars dispersed over an even larger area. Eclair’s appearance began to . . . blur as she went about dodging every single one.