"───Sigh!"
After the Evil power had resided in my body, I began the training to master it, as Ouma-san and Master Usagi had suggested. Of course, I couldn't neglect the other training I had been doing up until now, so I had to do them simultaneously. But that didn't help me improve much. Rather, there was not even a sign that this would even work.
"Puhaah! I can't use it at all… I can't get any stronger like this…"
When I muttered that to myself, the Evil inside me called out to me in a mocking tone.
"Hee. It's just impossible for you, you know?"
"Why? If it's because of you, then I'll tell Ouma-san…"
"Do not bring the legendary dragon into this right away! If you're going to play the legendary dragon, you should do so more sparingly!"
"Even if you say so…"
"And it's not my fault that you can't use this power; it's because your soul is too pure."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"That reaction is exactly what I mean."
Hmm, I don't understand.
For the time being, the training to master the Evil ended, and the next part was training with Yuti. After a short break, I called out to Yuti.
"I'm ready now."
"Roger. Just come at me whenever you want."
The training with Yuti was to fight while maintaining my [Magic Attire].
And──
"Then… I'm coming!"
I sprinted ahead from the spot while equipping my [Absolute Spear] and thrusted it out.
"Naive."
Yuti lightly dodged the attack and proceeded to shoot a tremendous amount of arrows.
"Are you serious…!"
I desperately dealt with it with my [Absolute Spear], but each blow was heavy considering the arrows were made of wood, and I couldn't move forward from there.
"How about this…!"
"Mmm."
I rotated the [Absolute Spear] with one hand above my head to prevent the arrows from raining down and pointed my other hand at the ground. And immediately, while imagining the eye of a typhoon in my mind, I activated the magic. Just as I had imagined, the magic was activated as a violent wind blew around me.
Thanks to that, the arrows were deflected, and I took this opportunity to close in on Yuti at once and threw the [Absolute Spear] at her.
"Haaahh!"
"Fuuhh!"
However, Yuti skillfully caught the attack with an arrow in her hand, deflecting the impact and parrying the attack. But, the purpose of my attack was not to inflict damage using the [Absolute Spear], but to create a momentary opening.
"Haaahh!"
[Omni-Sword] appeared in my hand and I slashed at Yuti, who had shown an opening.
"Useless. You can't reach me with that."
"Wha-!?"
And then, Yuti sped up her actions further and escaped from my attack without difficulty. When it comes to evasion, Yuti, the disciple of the "Bow Saint," was unrivaled, and I could not even get close to her. Although in the end neither of us fell, no matter how I looked at it, I probably lost. I was overwhelmed the whole time.
As I sat down to took a break from the training, Yuti approached me.
"Yuuya."
"Hmm?"
"Not good. Yuuya, you're not serious."
"Eeehh? I think I was serious enough…"
"Affirmative. That you are. But, Yuuya, you haven't used your Evil power yet."
"Ah, yeah… but I can't use it yet, so…"
"Final goal. Combine the Evil power with the power of the [Magic Attire] that you have been using in the earlier battle. With that reason, you can use the power of Evil."
"Hmm… I know that, but…"
I laid down on the ground and called out to the Evil residing inside me.
"I really don't know why I can't use your power."
"Hmm? Do you really want to use my power that badly?"
"Well, you know. There are more powerful existences than I had expected in this world, and the more ways I have to protect myself from them, the better. And since you're inside me now, why don't we fight together?"
"Haha. You know what? Your soul is the opposite of mine. I'm not sure I can fight with someone like that. We're not compatible to begin with."
"Hmm… is that so? I'm really enjoying talking to you like this, and I don't think we're incompatible."
"…Hmph."
Hearing my words, the Evil was silent for a moment and then opened its mouth again.
"…I don't know, but I think it's not that bad to live with you either."
After I obtained the Evil power, I began to train to use it, and I spent some time with Evil for a while… I noticed that it did not try to take over my soul whenever it had a chance, as it did in the beginning. On the contrary, it was interested in everything I did and even enjoyed the unknown world of Earth with curiosity.
"And it's not just you; it's this other world called Earth that I enjoy. I think that's also the reason the legendary dragon is attached to you because he can see your world that we don't know of living in this world. It seems like the battle between "Holy" and "Evil" is just a small conflict."
"I wish your main body felt the same way…"
"No, that's impossible. My main body is the accumulation of negative emotions from the world itself. Compared to that, I'm just a speck of dust, so it's relatively easy for me."
It's not easy for me, though!
I couldn't help but wish that the main body of the Evil could be as reasonable as this one.
"Well, whatever. I'll leave it at that for now and go back. I've finished all my daily training…"
"Affirmative. Rest is important."
I was about to head back home with Yuti, as well as Night and Akatsuki who had been playing in the corner of the garden while we were training when… it happened.
"Huh!?"
"Grrrr…"
"Hmm? What's wrong?"
Suddenly, Night and Yuti stopped and looked sharply at the entrance of the garden.
Then──.
"What?"
A tremendous roar rang out near the house.
"What happened?"
"Unknown. But that was definitely the sound of battle."
"Battle?"
I've never heard such a roar before, even though this was one of the most dangerous places in the world.
"W-what in the world is fighting…?"
"Unknown. But if it continues like this, this place is in danger."
"Yuti?"
As soon as she said that, Yuti, who didn't know about the protection around Sage-san's house, suddenly ran towards the sound.
"W-we're coming too!"
"Woof!"
"Buhi?"
In addition to Night, who was already prepared, I took Akatsuki, who had been lazily rolling around, into my arms and followed after Yuti.
It's probably better for Akatsuki to stay at home since he's not a good fighter, but if this sound was from another Evil opponent, we could do nothing about it without Akatsuki.
As I began to chase after Yuti with that on my mind, I realized that I had left Ouma-san behind at home.
"Oh, no… I should have asked Ouma-san to follow us too…"
I was about to say that, but then I changed my mind. I don't think that Ouma-san would come. It is likely that he is currently sleeping inside the house on Earth, and because he is a dragon that could sleep for thousands of years, once he is asleep, he does not wake up easily.
And even if he's awake, he wouldn't be interested in a conflict by humans or the battles between the "Holy" and "Evil" in the first place.
I deployed my [Magic Attire] at once, and caught up with Yuti at top speed.
"You came."
"Yes, I came, but… don't go too far ahead. You'll make me worry."
"…I'm sorry."
In my words, Yuti's eyes widened slightly, and then she muttered softly as she looked away.
As we ran through the Great Devil's Nest in silence, I suddenly noticed an oddity.
There are no monsters…?
I usually ran at my top speed like this, and monsters would attack me regardless. But for some reason, we hadn't encountered any monsters since a while ago. It seemed that Yuti had also noticed this point and she had a similarly suspicious expression on her face.
As I continued with my inexplicable anxiety, we finally reached the source of the sound.
And──.
"Oh? Who are you?"
(Yu… Yuu, Ya…?)
"Master Usagi…?"
There was a man with dreadlocks who had the dark aura of Evil emanating from his body. He was grabbing the battered Master Usagi by the neck. The situation was so unrealistic that not only me but Yuti and the others also froze.
Then, the man threw the Master Usagi away from his grasp carelessly.
"Hah! I see, so this is your favorite disciple, huh?"
(You should not touch… Yuuya…!)
"What? You shouldn't have the right to order me around when you're weaker than me."
The man stomped on Master Usagi.
"You…!"
(Don't… come…!)
"Why?"
When I tried to run to him immediately, Master Usagi shouted with all his voice.
(Get out of here, right now…!)
"Get out from here, you say…? I-I can't do that! Yuti, I'm going to attack him, so you have to support me!"
"…You can't."
"Huh?"
I couldn't believe the words that came out of Yuti's mouth, and I looked at her. She was looking at the man, shaking and wobbling. Not only Yuti, but even Akatsuki and Night looked frightened of the man.
"What's going on, guys?"
"Yuuya, can't you see? He's dangerous. It's nothing compared to Master, the Kicking Saint, or any of the others. He's a monster."
"M-monster, you said?"
When I was utterly confused by Yuti's words, the man snorted, looking down at me.
"Hah… Usagi. I wouldn't have thought that your disciples would be someone who couldn't even tell the difference in strength between us. Huh?"
(Guh!?)
"You…!"
The moment I couldn't stand it any longer and was about to charge at the man who was stomping on the Master Usagi as if to torture him, the man gave me a very stern look.
"Annoying."
"───"
The killing intent from that one word made me fully aware of the situation—and the difference in power between us. I was unable to move because I couldn't stop my body from trembling from that killing intent.
"Aaah… a dangerous guy has come. That guy is one of the most intractable troublemakers among the Evil, you know. Well, you're out of luck."
"Huh? What do you mean…?"
"He's a very different kind of user of the Evil than Yuti. He's kind of a monster."
Even the words of the Evil inside me sounded terribly distant to me.
The man seemed to have lost interest and looked down at the Master Usagi as my body remained motionless with fear.
"Oh, you're so pathetic. I will kill you in front of the disciples that you are teaching with your all."
(Kuh…)
"Nevertheless, I was expecting to have more fun with this. This was a huge disappointment. Hey!"
(Gaahh…!)
The man pulled away the foot that he had been stomping Master Usagi with, and kicked him straight in the face.
"What do you think of my kicking from the eyes of the famous "Kicking Saint"? It's okay, right? Ah?"
He grabbed the ear of the rolling Master Usagi and forced him to stand up while smiling disgustingly. …Stop it…
"Well, don't worry. After killing you, I'll quickly dispose of the other people here as well. Hey, I'm kind, aren't I? I think it's better to get rid of the trash without leaving behind a speck of dust. Right? So, at least as an effective use of garbage, after I've played around with you, I will cleanly erase you."
(Stop… it…)
"As I said… a small fry has no choice!"
The man stomped on Master Rabbit over and over again. Stop it…
Why can't I get my body to move…
"Oh yeah, I've got an idea. How about I kick you to death, Usagi? That way, I'll be the one to take the title of the "Kicking Saint." Woohoo! I'm a genius, aren't I? Right?"
(Ugh…)
"Hey, hey, what's your answer, hey!"
The man relentlessly kicked Master Usagi over and over again. It must be very humiliating for Master Usagi, who bore the title of the "Kicking Saint."
"It's boring if you don't respond. Okay, I'll kill you now."
The man simply declared and fixed his gaze to us again.
"Hey, take a good look, okay? This is the moment when the "Kicking Saint" is kicked to death by me, and the moment that the new "Kicking Saint" is born!"
The man raised his foot vigorously and swung it down without hesitation. For that brief moment, the world in front of me slowed, like a revolving lantern.
Stop, stop it; please stop it.
Move, please move. Why can't I move? Why can't I move while Master Usagi is being attacked? What's with this man in front of me in the first place? He's the one who beat Master Usagi up like that.
──I will never, never forgive him.
＊＊＊
While Usagi was about to be kicked to death by the "Fist Saint," the Evil power inside Yuuya was relaxing.
"No, it's really bad luck. Yuuya is different from that little girl called Yuti; that girl is completely compatible with the power of Evil… Besides, she has the ability to be a Holy too, which is another good thing."
The Evil power inside Yuuya is laying around, muttering boringly.
"Ah, I've been having fun lately, but my life here is coming to an end. If Yuuya is killed, I'll have to find another host. What a pain in the ass."
The Evil power muttered and sat down powerlessly.
"…No. As expected… it's boring."
The Evil power inside Yuuya said so.
Although Yuuya and the Evil power were supposed to be incompatible to begin with, a bond was undoubtedly created.
That's why it felt pleasant to try the new emotions that sprouted in it, who had only experienced being a part of the Evil until now.
"It's a bit sad, isn't it… that we have to part ways here. With him as your opponent…"
At that moment when the piece of Evil muttered emphatically, the inside of Yuuya, which was supposed to be a pure white space, was suddenly dyed black at a tremendous speed.
"W-what is it!?"
The darkness swallowed even the Evil power that had been relaxing.
"Uoohh!? W-what's going on?"
The Evil power was perplexed by the situation that it had never experienced before, but it understood the feelings that Yuuya currently has.
"Hey, hey… I've never seen anything like this in my life, not even in Yuti. What's with this pitch-black soul…?"
On top of that, the Evil power smirked at the darkness of Yuuya, as it was trying to sink itself even deeper into the depths.
"Well, that's fine, Yuuya. Normally, I would have taken over you at this point, but this time I'll lend you my power and you can use it to your advantage. In return───."
And the red eyes of the Evil power glowed suspiciously.
"I won't forgive you if you lose."