Chapter 16: Unreachable Blade
After creating another small meteorite, Seiya's figure wavered in the sky.
「Are you okay, Seiya? 」
「I consumed a large amount of MP. I need to rest a little to recover it. 」
「I understand. For now, let's return to Semul and rest at an inn. 」
He looked fatigued since he was wrinkling his eyebrows. It might be the first time that this happened to Seiya. It was a bit unreasonable. He ended up using that amazing magic for two consecutive times. In the end, it was not only the MP that decreased, he might have been mentally exhausted as well.
Seiya muttered bitterly.
「My MP was around 15 000…now is…only 13 500. 」
「But, you have a lot of MP left, don't you!? 」
「You're a fool. It might get very hard if the enemy targets me while my MP is this low. 」
「I wonder about that…will it be that hard…? Well, for now let's go to the inn. 」
With 13 500 MP remaining there shouldn't be any problem, but his everlasting cautiousness still amazes me; even so, we made our way back to Semul's town…
When we arrived in Semul's town I noticed that many other Knights have arrived as well and they were all assembled together. The veteran Knight from before spotted us arriving and he came running in our direction.
「I'm glad to see you unharmed! Then…who came victorious? 」
I told him the truth.
「They were annihilated…? All of the ten thousand undead…? Is that really true? Well, it's not that I doubt you or anything like that, but… 」
The other Knights looked at each other and started laughing. Even if the hero was indeed strong enough to defeat the large army of the undead, he having done so in just a couple of hours seemed somewhat unbelievable. Seiya took out the memorandum and requested the reward; they said in response 「We need to go get it first! 」, several Knights got on their horses and ran out of the town.
The veteran Knight told us 「you must be tired 」, and took Seiya and I to nearby inn.
…it was our third morning since we stayed at the inn.
I was staying in the room next to Seiya's; while I was combing my hair I heard someone knocking on my door.
「Geez! So you're finally ready to go? …what? 」
I opened the door but the person standing there was not Seiya. I looked below and there was a curly-haired girl wearing a robe waiting for me; it was Elle.
「Elle? 」
Elle looked a bit gloomy as she nodded at me.
「Goddess, I am sorry for what happened the other day. Please listen to what I have to say. 」
「 You make it sound like it's very bad. What is that you want to say? 」
「 Mash disappeared two days ago. I looked for him and I couldn't find him anywhere. 」
「 Maybe he returned to your village, no? 」
「 If that's the case, then I'll have to return to see if he really went back… 」
Elle was about to cry but I touched her shoulder to reassure her.
「 Elle, I'm sure he is okay. The army of the undead was defeated. I think the possibility of Mash being in trouble is quite low. 」
Elle's disposition became a lot better.
「 Yes, I heard it. People in the town are talking about what happened. That hero sure is amazing. 」
「 Well, I guess you could call him amazing. 」
「 Where is he? Is he staying in the next room? 」
I respond while taking a deep breath.
「 He has been obsessed with training a new skill called "Synthesis" ever since then… 」
Yes, that's right. After receiving that large reward, Seiya went to the weaponry shop and bought lots of equipment; afterwards he closed himself within his room. He wanted to train his newly acquired ability named "Synthesis". That's why Seiya wanted so much money.
「 First, l need to talk with Seiya to tell him that I'll go out with you. I can't let you go on your own. 」
「 Go…out with me…? 」
「 I will go with you. Let's go find Mash together? 」
「 Is that okay? Because we are not comrades anymore… 」
「 That's what Seiya decided without my permission. Besides, as a goddess I can't let anyone get in trouble. 」
「 Goddess, thank you very much! 」
Elle had a wide smile on her face.
Elle and I came to Seiya's room and we knocked on his door; however, we didn't get any reply from him.
「 Seiya? Are you there? Can we open the door? 」
The moment I opened the door, Elle and I were astonished. Dozens of swords and armors were scattered around the whole room. Seiya, who seemed focused with his sword, finally realized our existence.
「 Lista, look at this sword. 」
Seiya, who rarely showed his emotions, was flustered as he showed me his sword. I looked at it and I saw an elegant sword emitting a silver luminosity; then I spoke.
「 Don't tell me that this is a Platinum Sword!? That's incredible!! How did you make a sword like this in the first place!? 」
「 I had to change my experimentation. At first, I combined the sword with another sword, but only the strength was increased. To synthesize a strong sword, I had to prepare another method, so I used a catalyst. 」
「 Catalyst? What was that? 」
「 A goddess' hair. I found some of your hair in your room while you weren't there. I used it to combine with the steel sword, and I managed to synthesize a Platinum Sword. 」
My own hair…? He even entered my room without my permission…?
I was speechless; instead, it got a bit more complicated.
「 The Platinum Sword might need maintenance, so I need to have more hair in reserve. Give me more of your hair. A thousand strings will be enough. 」
「 I'll get bald!! 」
As I refused his request, I noticed that Elle was shining her eyes towards me like if she was looking at me with utmost respect.
「 It's awesome to have power on your hair! As expected of a goddess! 」
「 Well, I guess so! 」
Meanwhile, Seiya went further inside the room and picked a totally different sword. It was a strange sword with a twisted and curved blade.
「 However, this one was a failure. 」
Seiya said that he used one of my golden hair strings on the sword. Yet, the sword became twisted and had a weird format.
Elle blushed before me.
「 It can't be…that is…perhaps… 」
「 Yes. Maybe it became this frizzy because of the other string hair? In other words, with curly hair this strange sword was created. I want more of your straight hair. 」
「 *screams* What!? 」
I picked my hair strings "scattered around", I got the twisted sword and I shouted angrily.
「 How dare you!! 」
I was so angry with Seiya that I tried to hit him with that "hair brush sword", but at the same time, I heard knock sound. It was familiar voice from the other side of the door.
「 Excuse me. I have a delivery for Mister Hero. 」
That person was the Landlady of the inn. When I opened the door, the Landlady was holding a large object wrapped in cloth, and gave it to me. When I received it, it was surprisingly light despite its size, and I could grab it alone.
「 What is this? Who brought it? 」
「 I don't know what's inside. It just says "an offering to the hero who defeated the undead". The one who gave it to me was a mysterious man wearing a hood. 」
After the Landlady closed the door, Seiya looked at the object with a suspicious look.
「 This is suspicious. It might have something explosive inside. You open it. 」
So, a goddess can be useful on times like this because I won't die. Still, I unwrapped the object as I was told to. From the inside, there was this large full-length mirror. The mirror was wider than a normal full-length mirror and it could reflect two people side by side at the same time.
「 Oh my, it looks like a nice present…huh? 」
I noticed that this mirror looked more like a transparent plate similar to a glass. I erected the plate next to the wall, but it only reflected transparency.
「 What is this thing? 」
However, I heard a sound coming from this supposed mirror, and the transparency became colored.
*squeal sound* Elle and I were both startled.
「 What is going on with this thing? 」
…on that moment, an eerie image was unfolding on the full-length mirror. Someone appeared inside the mirror, that person was tied up on a chair with a rope in a shadowy room. That person's eyes were covered with a cloth band and his mouth was closed with a gag. The red stains on the clothes were probably from blood.
Elle was the first one who noticed who it was. She pressed her mouth with her hand and said with a trembling voice.
「 Mash…! That's…Mash…! 」
In a second, I could hear stepping sounds coming closer and closer to where Mash was tied up. Suddenly, a man appeared from the edge of the full-length mirror and stood next to Mash; this man started speaking to us.
「 I wonder if you can see and hear us from there. Yes, from here, I can clearly see a man who is probably the hero, a beautiful goddess and a cute red-haired girl. 」
The one talking looked like a petite man dressed in black robes just like a grim reaper. This person was bald and on his face there were three eyes. This man was obviously not a human being. He continued speaking with a low-pitched voice.
「 These mirrors are quite strange, right? They have the Demon Lord's power engraved inside of them. They can project images of every place no matter how close or far they are from one another. 」
Unexpectedly, the man grinned sinisterly.
「 Oh my, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm one of the four generals of the Demon Lord's army, my name is Death Magra. Thanks to the Demon Lord I got a special ability to "remodel", in other words, to create an undead from the corpses of fallen human beings. 」
I was caught in this horrible situation.
This man was Death Magra…! He wasn't within the undead march…!
「 My, my, that was a splendid attack. You destroyed a large army of the undead and reduced them to nothing. You used sky magic? That was a very fearsome power. I'm glad I was only remotely controlling the undead from afar. By the way… 」
Death Magra came near the full-length mirror to show us some possessions.
「 Do you know what this is? 」
I was horrified when I realized that Death Magra was holding a human finger on his hand.
「 I wonder if there is any left? Soon, this poor boy won't be able to hold things with his hands anymore. 」
Elle was trembling next to me.
「…no, no, this can't be happening. 」
Death Magra laughs pleasantly as he hears a terrified Elle.
「Yes, I had fun. I am so amused right now. Fooling around with living human beings is very entertaining after all. Playing with corpses is boring because they don't feel anything and they won't scream as well. 」
Then, Death Magra grabbed Mash's head and put a knife on his neck.
「But, I'm getting bored and tired. I going to kill him now. 」
Elle's screaming voice resonated everywhere. On that precisely moment, Death Magra turned his vicious eyes towards us.
「Hero, this is your entire fault. You destroyed my army using your cowardly tactics. 」
Then, Mash began to stir on the chair as he noticed Death Magra's ruthless intentions.
「Oh my. He wants to beg for his life? 」
He took of Mash's gag from his mouth. Mash took deep breaths and then he spoke with a shaky voice.
「He…Hero. So, you ended up bringing down that army of ten thousand undead… 」
Mash raised his voice against the unimaginable pain and fear.
「You damn hero!! But, I must admit that you're the real deal!! It's true that I am nothing like you!! But please… 」
Tears of blood went through the blindfold band.
「Please…save the world in my place…!! 」
I instantly turned my eyes away from the full-length mirror, as I could no longer bear to keep listening to Mash's cry.
I can't bear to watch. I can't bear to listen. Mash probably knows that he can no longer be saved. That's why he entrusted his wish to Seiya, the one he hated so much not too long ago.
Death Magra spoke with a boring face.
「Oh my? You didn't beg for your life? However, during your torture you shed so much tears that I was so overjoyed. Well, I guess I won't be able to have fun with you anymore. 」
Elle strongly grabbed my arm.
「Goddess! Please, save Mash! I won't ask for anything else, just Mash, just him! So, please…! Please…! 」
I tried my hardest to think of something. But I couldn’t think of any way to help Mash in this situation.
When I took my hand away silently, Elle fell on the floor and sobbed so much.
「I don't want to believe this…somebody…somebody please help Mash… 」
Death Magra was laughing happily, as he saw how desperate the both of us were.
「That's right. I understand it too well. Even if you defeated ten thousand undead troops, in the end you won't be able to save one important person. 」
However, as Death Magra stared at us, Seiya's face stiffened.
「Oh dear! What's wrong, hero. This is not a time to get upset about trivial things such as these. According to the story I heard, you seem to be overly cautious; I wonder if that cautiousness made you detect this place and infiltrate some of your friends in here? 」
After he finished talking, this man revealed his true nature and laughed with a devilish face.
「*laughs loudly* It's too bad, because that would be impossible!! You're called a hero!? You are so helpless!! Just watch silently as I cut this boy's throat!! 」
Even with this horrifying scenario, Seiya didn't change his complexion that much, instead he whispered on my ear.
「Lista. Open the heavenly portal. 」
「Yes. But… 」
No matter how much time we can delay in the God's realm, it is not possible to save Mash for being cut off right now.
「Just open it. Because… 」
Seiya kept ignoring Death Magra until now and remained calm as usual as he spoke.
「Are you sure you want to kill the dragon boy Mash? I must say you have guts. You will need to prepare yourself and start "collecting" your stuff. 」
Death Magra changed his attitude when he heard Seiya's words.
「Hey you there. What did you just say? 」
「…I always use a simulation for similar situations. 」
「So, what are you even trying to say? 」
Death Magra became extremely frustrated right now. I also didn't understand what Seiya tried to say.
「It was the same with Chaos Makina. I saw from a crystal ball that Nina's father was about to be killed. I thought, "what should I do". On situations like these when I can't afford to waste time, it was important to find a solution, so I've been thinking about it for a long time. 」
In that instant, Seiya dropped his scabbard and took a grip at his sword. Noticing an offensive attitude, Death Magra opened his three eyes wide and greatly distorted his mouth.
「This idiot! Is he in the position to attack? I'm only reflected through that mirror, I'm not actually there! Your sword can't reach me! 」
He put his knife back on Mash's throat again.
「*laughs wickedly* This is your punishment for having destroyed my army!! 」
「Please, stop it!! 」
Elle screamed. Yet, I observed Seiya instead of watching Mash on the verge of his death.
A part of the sword came out of Seiya's sheath and shined brightly. On that moment, he pulled out his entire sword; it was emitting such a strong light that even my eyes could not look directly at it; and he stroke back in the direction of the mirror! At the same time, Death Magra's arm that was holding the knife went flying and there was dark blood spilled everywhere!
Death Magra shouted when he noticed that his arm was cut off and gone.
「*screams aggressively* This is…!! What happened…!? 」
After that strike with a swinging sword, Seiya looked at Death Magra again but with hawk eyes.
「This is a sword made of photons that splits the entire space… it's a "Dimension Blade"…! 」
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