TWEM Vol. 7 Chapter 12 Part 2
At that moment, I felt as if something had swallowed me up.
I immediately checked my surroundings, but nothing seemed to have changed.
Then Ellis informed me.
《Master. It seems that Eleos’ unique skill has trapped you in some kind of barrier.》
I see. So the sensation I felt earlier was from when I was absorbed into the barrier.
《Yes. However, I believe the barrier will not function properly against Master.》
Huh? Why?
《That’s because there is a big level difference between Eleos and Master.》
I see. So in other words, my magic attacks are not halved, but only slightly weakened?
《That’s right.》
After finishing my conversation with Ellis, I smiled.
Eleos nodded, as if he misunderstood something.
“It seems like you’ve noticed the barrier.”
“Yeah, it’s really troublesome.”
“You don’t stand a chance now that you’re trapped within this barrier. Your magic will be weakened, and mine will be strengthened.”
Apparently, he didn’t realize that the barrier wasn’t that effective on me.
I sheathed my beloved black sword, Benizakura.
Eleos grinned at my actions.
He probably thought I’d admitted defeat.
“What’s wrong? Have you lost your will to fight?”
“No, if I did, you’d take away the power over my life and death, so I intend to fight to the end.”
“What? —No, you are appraising me. If you can appraise me, it means that you have the same level of ability.”
Not only am I on the same level, I’m even stronger, but it didn’t seem like Eleos had considered that possibility.
Eleos continued speaking.
“But even so, you have no chance of winning.”
“That’s if we fight using magic, right?”
I felt a change in Eleos’ mood when I said that.
“Are you saying that you’d win against me in close combat?”
“What else does it mean? Well, I would win in a magic fight too.”
“I see.”
Eleos pointed his finger at me, and a small black flame lit up at his fingertips.
I could tell from the flames that it was filled with immense magic power.
“—Dark Inferno!”
It seemed to be the same magic as before, but this time it flew in faster.
As I quickly deployed the Aegis space-cutting barrier, Eleos’s shot landed.
With a heavy thud, it burst into flames and a pillar of fire rose.
But even so, my barrier remained unfazed.
After a short time, it settled down, and I stood there unharmed.
But Eleos didn’t seem to be surprised.
He probably expected it.
I released my barrier and closed in on Eleos in an instant.
“Haa!”
The drawn sword was stopped by Eleos’ sword.
“That was a fast attack. But is that all?”
Eleos said with aplomb, but… my aim wasn’t to inflict any damage.
We kept parrying each other, and then I heard a crack.
The sound gradually grew louder, and the cracks spread.
Finally, the sword Eleos held crumbled into pieces.
“I can’t believe this sword broke…!”
It seemed he finally realized that I was trying to destroy his weapon, but it was too late.
I kicked stunned Eleos’s torso, which was wide open from the sudden turn of events.
“Gah!?”
As Eleos clutched his stomach, I sheathed my sword and struck him with a single blow.
A crimson flash ran across Eleos’ left arm, and it flew into the air.
I quickly unleashed fire magic, burning the arm to ashes.
“Guh…”
Eleos created some distance and glared at me with an intimidating look.
Well, it was normal to get angry if your arm was cut off.
“How dare you take my arm…”
“You have another one. Please forgive me.”
As I encouraged him, I felt the pressure increase even more.
Even so, he didn’t seem to be in any pain. Moreover, if you looked closely, there didn’t seem to be any blood flowing from the wound.
What did this mean?
Did becoming a Majin make you like that?
While I was pondering over this, Eleos opened his mouth.
“You will pay a high price for this arm.”
Eleos swung his right arm to the side.
Then, countless sword-shaped spells unfolded above Eleos’ head.
He then raised his hand to the sky, and all of the swords were pointed at me.
“You seem to be proud of your barrier, but it is powerless against this magic. Now―die.”
He swung his arm down.
At the same time, the countless swords rushed towards me.
It would be difficult to avoid all of them.
So, I deployed the Aegis barrier to cover myself again.
Every time a sword hit, the barrier shook.
The barrier shrieked with a crack, threatening to break at any moment.
And for the first time in this battle, a crack appeared in the Aegis barrier.
“What!?”
I couldn’t help but cry out in shock.
This attack was probably a mix of space-time magic and incredible magic power.
There was no other explanation.
I placed my hand on the hilt of my sheathed sword and began to pour magic power into it.
I bent my hips, lowered my eyes and concentrated.
After a few seconds, maybe a few minutes, the Aegis barrier broke, and at the same time I opened my eyes wide and drew my sword.
“Cherry Blossom Flash – Wild Dance!”
At the same time that the Aegis barrier shattered, a crimson sword flash lit up.
In the next moment, all the swords that had been rushing in disappeared.
This “Cherry Blossom Flash – Wild Dance” was a technique that deployed “Cherry Blossom Flash – Extreme” 360 degrees around it, cutting off all targets within a certain space.
Eleos, who had all of his swords repelled, did not seem to be in a hurry, but spoke to me.
“So you had another hidden trick like that. But―”
I interrupted Eleos’ words and told him.
“You haven’t noticed?”
“What―Wh…?”
It seemed that Eleos just noticed the wounds all over his body after I asked him.
Nothing fatal, but he couldn’t be completely safe. His left arm was gone, after all.
Then Eleos looked as if he was biting a bitter bug.
“―Ugh, it’s fine. I’ll let you off the hook this time.”
“Are you running away?”
“We’ll fight again.”
“You think there’ll be a next time? Look around carefully. You won’t be able to defeat me if you only focus on the enemy in front of you.”
“What are you talking about――When did you get here?”
It seemed that he had finally realized.
Magic circles began appearing around Eleos.
There were an incredible number of them, so densely packed that there was no way to escape.
“I wanted to ask you more questions, but I don’t have a choice. I’ll defeat you here.”
Eleos quickly deployed a barrier, but it would be useless if it was made in such a hasty manner.
As expected, the magic spells that were fired one after another destroyed the barrier and approached Eleos.
“Ah, gaaaaaah!”
Eleos, who was hit directly by the magic, screamed.
But it was only for an instant.
“Damn, I can’t die in a place like this!”
Eleos’ magic power exploded.
And instantly, the barrier was rebuilt and my magic was neutralized.
But there was no way I was going to end my attack here.
“You’re not well-prepared, Eleos. You will die here.”
As I spoke, a huge magic circle appeared in the sky.
That’s right, I had been preparing for this, and I eased up on his attacks to avoid drawing his attention to the magic circle.
“Thor’s Hammer!”
Lightning struck Eleos from the sky.
The overwhelming energy shattered everything in Eleos.
As Eleos was enveloped in light and his body was reduced to dust, he muttered those words.
“—Lord, I offer my all to you.”
And all of Eleos turned to dust, and the black light born from it disappeared into the heavens, just as it did with Lauren.