Campione 08

by Trials of the Devil Kings

  The power to slice apart the ancient fort along with the very earth!? Isn't he contradicting his prior statement of "that isn't sword skills"?!

  The shock and surprise stiffened her muscles, causing Saint Raffaello's sword to delay slightly. The slowly moving sword became even more languid in its motion.

  Taking advantage of this opening, Doni attacked at once, charging with his body!

  The magic sword of the lion was originally going to split Doni in half starting with his head.

  However, it only managed to slice off a bit of his scalp, and Doni's body continued to crash towards her.

  What a decisive and courageous tackle. Rather than swordfighting it was more like a rugby move. Saint Raffaello dodged by taking a brisk step to the side. Thanks to that, the massive idiot's head was not split open.

  Doni's arm no longer flashed with silver light. It was a feint for he had no intention of using his authority.

  "Y-You damn brat! You social misfit of a human failure! Even so, you went further and abused a swordsman's honor, promising not to use that arm!"

  "But all I did was show it. I didn't actually use it, right?"

  Saint Raffaello was furious, while Doni was unrepentant.

  The duel between masters of the sword had become an argument like squabbling children.

  "Hmph, if that's what you want, I will use all of my weapons."

  Saint Raffaello dispelled the lion's magic sword. As its replacement, she summoned the magic sword of the master musician — Il Maestro!

  It was a weapon with a blade like a saber's fitted onto a long shaft like a spear. Resembling the Japanese weapon of the naginata, it was the other of the twin swords. Its name meant "The Master."

  The creator of mysterious beauty, this steel was renowned for playing wondrous music, as hidden within it was the spiritual power of the magic melody.

  Saint Raffaello effortlessly swung Il Maestro.

  The sound of slicing wind was heard as it slashed at Doni.

  The motion was as fast as a chilly breeze blowing lightly across highlands.

  Furthermore, Il Maestro's slashing attack was accompanied by the playing of a tempting magic melody.

  From the steel of the master musician came mysterious tones, which caused listening opponents to lose concentration and be overcome with sleepiness, thereby producing openings. This was Saint Raffaello's prided secret technique that had placed many a foe at her mercy.

  If Cuore di Leone was the "strong" sword then Il Maestro was the "gentle" magic sword.

  However, the magic melody did not work against Doni. Like ocean waves crashing against rocks on the shore, all bewitching effects were deflected completely.

  As befitted the god-slaying man!

  Magic was ineffective against a god-slayer after all. In that case, one must focus on martial arts!

  Saint Raffaello began to swing Il Maestro even faster.

  — In close-quarter combat, absolute advantage was held by the one with greater control over their weapon. No matter what, seizing initiative was imperative.

  Of course, there was also the tactic of crashing into the enemy's bosom to enter contact range.

  However, there was no way Saint Raffaello would let someone beneath her like Doni do that.

  Il Maestro attacked mercilessly in its naginata-like form.

  Horizontal slash followed horizontal slash. From left to right, diagonally up, diagonally down, straight up, straight down, slashing attacks were sent from all angles. Sometimes the blade was even thrust forward in a straight line.

  Without pausing for a single instant, the series of continuous attacks were like a storm of steel.

  Doni desperately tried to overcome the disadvantageous shift in the tide of battle, using his sword to defend against Il Maestro's thrusts and slashes. Defend, defend, defend!

  However, Saint Raffaello suddenly changed her rhythm of attack.

  Twirling around the long-shafted Il Maestro, she made use of the opposite end of the blade, or in other words, the pommel to strike Doni. This was the critical hit.

  Having grown accustomed to the previous attack rhythm, Doni was struck squarely in the temple by the wooden shaft.

  Hit by an impact equivalent to a splendid hook from a boxer, Doni's body began to sway. His knees hit the ground and his eyes lost focus.

  Unconscious, eh? However, one cannot be careless until a decisive strike lands with absolute certainty.

  Saint Raffaello began to swing Il Maestro once again.

  Part 6

  Tracing back to earlier events, Erica and Liliana had just fallen into a dark place underground together with a large amount of debris.

  After hitting the floor, Erica endured the pain and got up.

  Feeling the ground beneath her feet, it felt like clay tiles which are much softer compared to hard slabs of stone or concrete.

  Her body did not hurt too much, most likely due to the clay tiles absorbing part of the impact.

  Relieved, Erica snapped her fingers to perform a [Ghostfire] spell.

  Four palm-sized blue flames appeared In Erica's surroundings. Beside her, Liliana also got up onto her feet.

  "...As expected, this looks like an underground temple."

  "Yes. Originally this place was blocked off by a powerful barrier, preventing normal entry into the grounds."

  The two of them surveyed their surroundings.

  The temple was rather spacious — big enough to hold a football match.

  Going forward, there was an altar in the depths of this church.

  At the back of the altar was a figure of Jesus Christ on the crucifix.

  Behind the sculpture was some kind of massive face. It was the demonic deity Baphomet worshiped by the Knights Templar during the Middle Ages.

  "Since a depiction of Baphomet is here, it must have been constructed during the Middle Ages."

  "Yes. The worship of Baphomet in lineages descending from the Knights Templar was something that was gradually lost in contemporary times."

  Erica and Liliana looked upwards.

  The ceiling was roughly ten-odd meters above the floor. A massive crack crossed the ceiling, and the debris fallen from above had buried roughly a quarter of the underground church.

  "Lily, by your estimates, how deep are we?"

  "An accurate measure would be impossible of course. A witch's intuition tells me this should be quite deep. It could very well be equivalent to four or five floors underground."

  Magi with a witch's disposition were particularly favored by the earth.

  Erica shrugged in response to Liliana's answer.

  "Building such a church must have required significant resources. I fear this place was built by our predecessors the Knights Templar themselves, or a successor of direct lineage."

  Erica speculated as she walked about, examining the place.

  One of the reasons why the Knights Templar went into decline was their indulgence in developing economic power which ran counter to orthodox Christian ideology.

  The Knights Templar undertook operations that were essentially finance.

  Redeemable deposits, loans and financing. Managing the funds of pilgrims setting off for Jerusalem. Selecting over nine thousand knights from various European orders to come to the Middle East. They also loaned cash and even provided aid to government finances. The Knights Templar acted as a prototype of modern banking.

  "This must have been an important holy sanctum once. Which is why Saint Raffaello has been living in seclusion watching over it... By the way, Lily, what's this?"

  Erica discovered a book lying at the foot of the sculpture of Christ.

  The book was rather large in size. The width of the cover was roughly the length from Erica's elbow to her fingertips while its height was as tall as Erica's upper torso.

  Erica slowly approached this massive book.

  "W-Wait a minute, Erica. I can feel an aura from that book, it could very well be a sacred treasure with significant
history!? Do not recklessly touch something so dangerous!"

  "...Your witch's intuition again, right? I am very intrigued."

  Chirping away like a little bird, Erica completely ignored Liliana's warnings.

  Approaching the mysterious book, Erica gazed unerringly at the cover. Titled "The Book in Praise of David's Great Works," the book was written in ancient Greek.

  Erica felt herself shudder instinctively. For the grimoire that all knights sought in their dreams to be encountered like this...

  "Too reckless, Erica Blandelli! Know your plaaaace!"

  Liliana panted as she ran over to catch up.

  It was only natural. The childhood friend and rival was not a girl who would fail to recognize the value of this book.

  "Correction. It is very likely that Saint Raffaello went into seclusion for the purpose of guarding this grimoire. That must be why this underground church with a sturdy barrier was chosen. For the sake of safeguarding battle magic of the ancient sages —"

  The one who hid this grimoire was most probably Saint Raffaello. Also, there was Liliana's oracle.

  Combining these facts, Erica concluded that it was highly unlikely for this grimoire to be fake.

  —"The Book in Praise of David's Great Works"!

  It held incomparable attraction for magi seeking the pinnacle of the way of the knight.

  For example, there were the [Spell Words of David]. An ancient and powerful curse that was said to be strong enough to cause injury to Heretic Gods. Or the [Song of Smiting], the sacred hymn of massacre that destroyed the tragic city of Jericho, causing the Midian kings and people to be annihilated from the face of the earth —

  "Hey Lily, I have a suggestion..."

  Erica's voice sounded uncharacteristically like a cat's.

  Failure was unacceptable. Throughout her entire life, Erica had managed to deceive Liliana Kranjcar countless times, but nevertheless, the success rate was not 100%.

  One must be cautious and avoid setting off the silver-haired childhood friend's sense of justice.

  On the other hand, such worries might have been redundant.

  After all, Liliana was staring at the grimoire like a poor child gazing wistfully at a little trumpet, or more accurately, like Salvatore Doni salivating over a sword!

  Salvatore Doni had just been struck soundly in the temple by Saint Raffaello.

  It was a heavy blow. His brain felt like it was vibrating, and his consciousness was slipping. His knees were wobbling and his body was losing balance and about to collapse.

  However, this painful blow managed to awaken something in his mind.

  —Aaah, it's all coming back.

  Doni found his memories from the past month surfacing nonstop in his mind.

  It must have been a museum in Turkey where his body was possessed by the divine spirit of Saint George. Originally, he had been hired as a bodyguard in Rome's Chinatown by an antiques dealer he was acquainted with. Then a whole lot happened after that.

  Controlled by the divine spirit, he went overseas to Ireland, spending his days searching for deities and exterminating them.

  Finally, he discovered the gates of the Fairy Realm which led to the Netherworld. Nuadha, the king of the Tuatha Dé Danann (Irish deities, basically), manifested there and began to duel one on one against Saint George.

  In the end, only Saint George's divine spirit was destroyed and Doni regained his freedom. After that, Doni was certain that he had challenged Nuadha to a duel —

  "Traveling back to Italy through the Netherworld, I arrived at that village, was that what happened...?"

  Doni shook his head in a daze and nodded. After ending the battle with the god and on the verge of death, there was an impression of speaking to a female somewhere.

  'Your memories will be in chaos for a short while after returning to the real world. Though becoming a god-slayer results in rebirth, incompetent magi will receive brain damage from the strain of staying in the Boundary of Life and Immortality for too long. If that happens, just find someone to give you a good smack on the head!"

  It sounded like advice from a very frivolous young girl...

  Anyway, Doni's memory had recovered.

  Only a fraction of a second had passed since being struck by Saint Raffaello. During this time, his master had swung Il Maestro over his head, and was intent on delivering the finishing blow —!

  Defense and counterattack was necessary.

  Salvatore Doni had already mastered thousands of techniques that could be used in this situation. Using this endless variety of ever-changing sword styles, he will face his former teacher!

  — However, the techniques surfacing in his mind suddenly all vanished.

  — Doni also halted his sword-wielding arm.

  The sword dangled limply. Abandoning the offensive and defensive maneuvers that were deemed necessary, the sword only needed to be moved freely by one's heart.

  "No good... Did I even forget the most important part?"

  He had encountered Nuadha who wielded the undefeated sword. At that time, he had awakened a deep revelation that was close to the true essence of swordsmanship. Right, this was what Salvatore Doni had hoped for from a duel with Saint Raffaello.

  "...You, did you recover your memories?"

  Saint Raffaello asked. She seemed to have noticed the change in Doni's behavior. Despite having spent only a brief period with him, she was truly the teacher worthy of the paladino title.

  "Recovering your memories by smacking your head? What a sloppy little brat..."

  Even though she was scolding him, Saint Raffaello's anger seemed to have subsided.

  "Almost like changing into an entirely different person... You, brat who loves to show off, finally understood the concept that 'abandoning skills' is also a 'skill,' right?"

  "Hmm. Well, that's right I guess. From now on, let's really stick to swords alone."

  Doni's sword continued to dangle limply as he responded.

  This posture could be described as stanceless, but precisely because it was "nothingness" it was open to infinite changes. Countless variety was not enough, for truly infinite variation lay in modest simplicity, like combining yin and yang, melding contradictory elements completely into one.

  Now all that was needed was nothingness in the mind.

  Devoid of thought. Cleared of thought and contemplation —

  Saint Raffaello made a straight thrust with Il Maestro. Doni remained in his mental state of nothingness, swinging his sword upwards. Were this move to succeed, it would block the strike from below and send Il Maestro flying high up into the air...

  Ka! Ching!

  The harsh timbre of metal clashing echoed. A conclusion had been reached.

  The sword flying high into the air was the fake one — Doni's weapon.

  "...Well, let's call it a day. Are you impressed by my greatness?"

  "Am I that far away from perfecting it? Sometimes I can use it well but other times it doesn't work."

  As his master declared with pride, Doni muttered to himself as he shook his head.

  "Purely in regard to swords, it is my victory without a doubt. You are still too lacking in experience... However, as a side note, experiencing a few more battles of this sort will greatly help your training."

  Saint Raffaello's advice carried a terrifying sort of certainty.

  "That said, had it been a fight to the death, with 99% certainty it would have been your victory. Hey Doni, in that decisive moment, did the thought of "I might die" ever cross your mind?"

  "Now that you mention it, never. Why?"

  "Sure enough, you're still a moron. You usurped the divine authority to slice through anything — if you really used that then I would have no chance of victory... I am absolutely certain, you really could use that against me without any hesitation."

  Criticized by his master, Doni began to pout.

  "Hmm, even though I'm just a rookie amongst knights, I intend to keep my promise of 'only s
words' no matter what."

  "Yeah right! As if one could expect the fair spirit of competition from a fellow who can slay gods!"

  Having known quite a few Campiones, the paladino asserted.

  "Don't even think you can obtain the secret art of nothingness so easily from the victory over Nuadha. Well then, Doni, if you really want to master the sword skills of nothingness, you must fight enemies of an equal or higher level, and reach the mental realm of serene nothingness in the process. Only then can it become yours as if it were a part of your flesh and blood."

  "Enemies of an equal or higher level?"

  "Of course. That means gods or your peers, the Campiones."

  Thus the "King of Swords," Salvatore Doni, was set loose upon the earth, causing direct and indirect hardship and suffering to countless others as a result of his eccentric behavior.

  The culprit who had offered such brilliant advice, frowned and murmured to herself.

  "By the way, those Kranjcar and Blandelli girls probably got injured a little. And of all places you could have driven them, you had to pick the worst one! That girl in particular is not an easy one to handle. If only she was the same type as this idiot here!"

  "Seems like the battle has ended..."

  "Wow. What an amazing fight..."

  Having witnessed most of the duel, Erica and Liliana whispered to each other.

  The two of them were still in the underground church. Liliana had released the Witch's Eye to scout out the subterranean passage which was as complicated as mountain caves. The observed images were projected onto the surface of magically conjured water.

  Completely memorizing the layout, Erica was able to deduce the underground structure.

  With that, the two of them were able to find an escape route with shocking speed.

  Once the Witch's Eye reached the surface, they were able to observe the deadly duel between Saint Raffaello and the young man named Doni.

  Since the spell only enhanced vision, they were unable to catch the dialogue.

  Nevertheless, Erica and Liliana were able to fully grasp how amazing the young man named Doni was.

  "Despite various concerns, our first priority should be getting back up."