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Chapter 10 – VS The Prince
After Aegan and the others left, two Yvels attacked us.
Tendo, with his holy sword drawn, and Mogami, with his fists held out, responded.
I called out to Tendo from behind.
“Can you handle it?”
“We got this, Haruto. This is also our role as heroes, so leave it to us!”
Tendo’s expression showed confidence and determination.
“All right!”
While we were having this conversation, Mariana’s eyes widened when she saw the holy sword that Tendo was holding.
“Th, that sword—is the holy sword Mistilteinn isn’t it?! Shouldn’t it be with Sir Tendo…?!”
At these words, Tendo, who was still wearing his hood, finally took it off.
At the same time, everyone who was still wearing their hoods took them off.
“Oh, it’s really sir* Tendo?! And sir Mogami too! Why are you together with sir Yuki…? 　Even Princess Iris of the Kingdom of Perdis…what in the world is going on?!”
To Mariana’s confusion, Tendo announced in a dignified manner.
“I wanted to fight for justice. To carry out the justice that I believe in!”
Following that, Suzuno, Shinonome, and Asakura spoke up.
“I also believe in my own justice!”
“I’ll fight for you too, Haruto!”
“The things you all have done. Crimes that can never be forgiven no matter what you do”
“I also happen to believe in my own justice!”
With that, I joined the battle against the Yvels.
Then Iris turned to Mariana and said.
“My my, it’s been a while since I’ve seen you, Princess Mariana. Have you been faring well?”
“Ugh, does it look that way under these circumstances?”
Iris has quite a knack for stirring things up!
“No, just, forget it, more importantly! Sir Tendo and fellow heroes, are you going to betray the Kingdom of Glicente?!”
Iris said, “what does she mean by more importantly…”, and was feeling glum and dispirited.
Tendo moved away from Yvel and answered Mariana’s question.
“I’m not betraying anyone.”
“Then why…?”
“Because that’s the ‘Justice’ I believe in!”
“Ughh……! 　Th, that’s right! What about your friends?! Are you going to betray them? 　They’re actually in town right now!”
I guess by friends, she’s talking about the other heroes.
But Tendo was unfazed and replied in a dignified manner.
“They would understand our actions if we explained to them properly. Tell them everything you’ve done, and they’ll understand for sure”
Mariana couldn’t say anything back to those words and fell silent.
Leaving her alone, Tendo and the other five led the two Yvels to the edge of the hall and moved on to a full-scale battle.
Even so, I was surprised to hear that all the heroes are gathered in the royal capital. I’d heard they’d gone on a trip, and still thought that some of them might be hanging around, but…kinda wondering what the gathering is about?
Well, I guess we should be glad that none of them were in the castle. I should have done a better job of checking the map of the royal capital…at any rate, that’s not important right now.
“Hey there, your lowliness* monster prince.” (TLN: A pun was intended, instead of “your highness”)
Heelis twitched his temples at my words.
I didn’t say anything wrong, so I’m sure he’s not mad at me…probably.
“WHAT IS IT? FINALLY rEADY to OFFER YOUR LIFE?”
So he’s angry. Yeah. He’s definitely angry.
“For the time being, I’m going to kill all those who have turned into Yvel in the royal capital. That includes you, of course”
“Can YOU DEFEAT me?”
“Piece of cake. Even Iris can defeat you.”
“Cheeky basTARD! SHE’S a princess of a neighboring country, SO I’ve KNOWN PRINCESS IRIS for A LONG TIME, AND she doesn’t POSSESS the KIND OF STRENGTH that you SPEAK of!”
Perhaps in response to Heelis’s angry voice, the last of the remaining Yvels besides Heelis attacked us.
Iris immediately jumped out and drew her magic sword, Tonitrus.
She then ran straight for the Yvel and struck him with a blow as she slipped past.
Lightning lingered in the path of the sword, and as Iris delivered it, one of the Yvel’s arms fell off. The cut looked as if it had been scorched by the high temperature of the lightning.
But just like when I cut off the head earlier, the arm that fell off disappeared into dust, and at the same time, the arm grew back.
“This is such a pain after all…”
The regenerated Yvel quickly attacked Iris.
The Yvel closed in on Iris as if to crush her, and the next moment—
“Four-Lightning Stroke Swordflash”
The next thing I knew, Iris had moved behind the Yvel.
And as soon as she put her sword away with a barely noticeable clink sound, four thunderbolts ran along the four lines floating on the Yvel’s body.
The Yvel’s body, which had been sliced open by the lightning, seemed to regenerate again, but then it turned to dust and disappeared.
A moment of silence enveloped the place.
But it wasn’t me who broke that silence—
“…Wh, WHAT THE HELL?!”
It was Heelis.
“I told you, didn’t I? Your lowliness monster prince.”
“FUCK! … It’s not like I’m losing. …HOWEVER, I still HAVEN’T lost YET!”
I looked at Heelis, who was swearing but not giving up on winning.
“I see. Then—come at me.”
Heelis swung his fist in anger, but it still looked really slow to me.
I evaded with plenty of time to spare, and used my sword to cut off the arm that was being swung down, before leaving the spot.
“Ughh!? Still!”
Heelis growled for a moment, and soon his arm grew back.
Apparently, it regenerated faster than the others. Maybe because he had a lot of magic power to begin with.
As I was leisurely thinking about this, Heelis stuck out his palm.
“—FIREBALL!”
He’s even capable of no-chant. Moreover, it’s much larger than a normal fireball.
“You can even use magic…wow, the force is nothing to scoff at too…”
I was able to avoid it without breaking a sweat as well, but the wall behind me was obliterated without a trace.
“HMPH, MY magic power is PEAKING UP, WHAT DO you expect?”
If he can use magic, maybe I should consider changing my stance? I can’t be bothered to think about stray bullets or whatnots.
While I was pondering about this, Heelis on the other hand was firing magic at me.
I moved around to avoid hitting Finne and the others, and sliced up Heelis’s body little by little.
At first, Heelis’ body regenerated quickly, but as I increased my speed, it gradually began to fail to regenerate in time.
“What’s wrong? Seems like your regeneration can no longer keep up, or is it just me?”
“Uggghh…”
Heelis’s ugly face twisted even more in frustration.
“DAMMIT! NOW THAT IT’S come to this, time for MY trump card…”
Then Heelis swallowed a red ball the size of a small candy that he had taken out from somewhere.
“Gah, gaaAAAAAaaaAAHHHHHHh!”
Immediately afterwards, with a fierce roar, black magic power spiraled up from his entire body.
◆◆◆
A little farther away from Haruto and the others, the battle between Tendo alongside the other heroes and the two Yvels continued.
Tendo dodged the Yvel’s fist bearing down on him, and sliced off its arm.
“Gotcha!”
But still, in the blink of an eye, the severed arm regenerated.
“Damn, that’s one nasty ability”
Tendo’s face twisted as he said this.
But it’s not that he didn’t know how to defeat them, and so he regained his composure.
“Suzuno, Shinya, Natsuki. Keep the one over there at bay! In the meantime, Aoi and I will take out this one!”
“All right, Koji!”
“Got it!”
“Got it!”
“Thanks guys, I owe you!”
After thanking the three who nodded, Tendo and Shinonome set their weapons on the targeted Yvel.
“…Here we go!”
“Yeah!”
The two of them pulled themselves together and rushed at the Yvel in front of them.
Shinonome, who was faster than Tendo, attacked first.
Shinonome dodged the incoming fist and slashed it down. The other fist of the Yvel closes in on her face.
“No you don’t!”
But the sword that Tendo swung a beat too late was enough to drop the Yvel’s remaining arm.
When Tendo realized that the arm that had been cut off earlier had not yet regenerated, he shouted sharply.
“—Do it now!”
“On it!”
Shinonome was not foolish enough to miss this opportunity.
The Yvel was distracted by Tendo, and its guard was left wide open.
Shinonome muttered as she sheathed her blade once and took a stance.
“Shinonome Style Technique Third Stance—Samidare*” (TLN: It literally means Early Summer Rain)
In the next moment, countless wounds appeared all over the body of the Yvel in front of Shinonome.
And as soon as Shinonome retracted her blade again, the Yvel fell to its knees.
“Phew …”
Shinonome took a breather and turned to face the Yvel that Mogami and the others were dealing with—
“Aoi, Look out!”
Tendo’s sharp cry resounded.
“…What?”
Turning around, she saw the Yvel, the one she had supposedly just sliced up, holding up a fist.
“Ah–“
In this posture, it was impossible to avoid or counterattack.
As Shinonome was about to give up, Tendo jumped in front of her.
“Not a chance!”
Tendo held his holy sword as if it were a shield and received the Yvel’s fist.
And with the holy sword that was held as is, Shinonome behind him was blown away as well.
“Ugghhaah.”
“Kyaaah?”
The screams of Tendo and Shinonome, who crashed into the wall, caused Ichinomiya, who was suppressing the other Yvel, to turn around.
“Kouji, Aoi!”
“Suzuno, focus on this for now! They’ll be fine!”
As Mogami said, Tendo and Shinonome stood up immediately.
“I’m, I’m fine…”
“Me, too…”
The two of them stood up, caught their breath, readied their weapons, and looked at the regenerating Yvel.
“Ugh, the wound was too shallow…”
As Shinonome clutched her blade in frustration, Tendo told her not to worry about it.
“Don’t worry. We’ll get it this time.”
“…Yeah.”
“Come on! Let’s put an end to this!”
Shinonome nodded deeply at Tendo’s words.
After completely regenerating, the Yvel roared as if to vent its anger at having both of its arms cut off.
It then broke down a nearby wall and threw a stone about 40 centimeters in size at Shinonome.
The stone flew in a precise trajectory, but Shinonome was already gone.
“Shinonome Style Technique Second Stance—Kotetsu”
Then, with a voice from behind, Shinonome’s sword swung down powerfully from above, causing the Yvel’s right arm to fall again.
The Yvel turned around and swung its fist down, but Shinonome’s technique was faster.
“How naive. Shinonome Style Technique First Stance, Flowing Blade”
Shinonome parried its fist and slashed off the Yvel’s left arm in return.
“Now!”
“Already on it!”
Tendo slashed the back of the Yvel that was left wide open.
“Holy Sword, grant me strength!”
As if in response to Tendo’s words, the holy sword Mistilteinn glowed white.
Tendo poured all his strength to slash at the Yvel.
Then, the crumbling mass of the Yvel’s flesh, which must have lost its ability to recover from Shinonome’s attack, disappeared straight into dust.
The two were about to relax when they saw Mogami, who was suppressing the other one, being blown away and crashing into the wall.
“Ghhaah!”
““SHINYA!””
Mogami was in the vanguard with the support of Ichinomiya, who was in charge of recovery, and Asakura, who was in charge of magic support, but he lacked the decisive power to defeat the Yvel and was finally sent flying.
“Please hold on Shinya, I’ll heal you right now!”
Ichinomiya ran up to Mogami and used recovery magic on him.
And in the meantime, Tendo and Shinonome rushed into battle the Yvel.
It looked like it was going to be the same battlefield as before, but this time Asakura was also there.
As Shinonome retreated instantly after her slashing blade was blocked, Asakura’s magic was immediately unleashed on it.
“—Wind Cutter!”
The wind blades hit both of the Yvel’s arms, but only caused shallow wounds, which quickly regenerated.
At the same time, Asakura dropped to her knees on the ground.
“Natsuki!”
“I’m fine. I just used my magic power one time too many is all”
Asakura’s words put Tendo and the others at ease.
But there was no way the Yvel would let such an opportunity pass.
The Yvel tried to rush towards Asakura. However—
“Oh no you don’t! —Grand Wave!”
The moment the resurrected Mogami thrust his fist into the ground, the ground rose up like a wave and stopped the Yvel in its tracks.
“Now, Kouji, Aoi!”
At Mogami’s words, the two approached the Yvel.
The Yvel swung its fist, losing balance, and lost most of its power.
“Shinonome Style Technique First Stance, Flowing Blade.”
Shinonome slashed upward with the blade that had parried the fist and severed the Yvel’s arm.
“Not yet! Shinonome Style Technique Second Stance—Kotetsu.”
She then used her blade held overhead to slice off the other arm that was attacking her.
“Koji, now!”
“Got it! —Holy sword, grant me strength!”
With those words, the holy sword that Tendo held shone even brighter than before.
And as he approached the Yvel, he shouted powerfully.
“—Sacred Judgment!”
The blow sliced the Yvel’s body in half.
“Not yet!”
However, Tendo slashed the Yvel twice more and finally retreated.
The damage that the Yvel had sustained earlier would have been recovered, but the power of the sacred magic in the holy sword caused the mass of the Yvel’s flesh to vanish into dust.
After defeating both of them, Tendo and the others finally took a well deserved breather.
“All that is left is…”
“Yeah”
“All that is left now is to defeat the prince”
“Goddamn right!”
“Haruto…”
Tendo, Shinonome, Mogami, Asakura, and Ichinomiya muttered to themselves while receiving Ichinomiya’s recovery magic.
And the moment they looked towards Haruto—black magic power spiraled up from the prince.