"Oraa!"
――Clang!
"Hmph!"
――Bang!
Ophir and Boreios were engaged in exchanges of offense and
defense in which each blow could be fatal.
In their previous battle, Boreios was able to defeat Ophir in his
original form, but it appeared that he wasn't able to do so anymore
before the power of thunder and Phoenix Seal-enhanced Ophir; he
was already Beastified like Elysium.
"I see. You can only release all your potential when that man is
around," remarked Boreios.
"Ya got that right! That's why I'm overflowing with power right now!"
Ophir smiled widely, surrounded by swaying, flame-like aura.
Boreios then curled up the corners of his mouth into a smile and
said, "That's most welcome. I find pleasure in defeating the strong."
"Ha, let's see if ya can still talk big after I beat ya!"
――Bam!
Kicking off the ground, Ophir brandished the Holy Axe and closed in
on Boreios.
"Fine by me. Because—the one who is going to get beat here is
you!"
Bang! Boreios's strong blow greeted Ophir's assault.
◇ ◇
As battles broke out in various places, some had not yet begun to
fight.
They were the 'Staff' Saintess Magmell and the 'Shield' Saintess
Shiva.
Since the 'Staff' Saint Hesperios had already been defeated, this
pairing was inevitable. However, Magmell's opponent wasn't a 'saint'
but a 'saintess'.
Hence, Magmell asked why she was on the saints' side.
"Please answer me, Shiva-san. Your action was very
incomprehensible. Why did you give a hint to us… no, to Exa?"
"I mean, that would allow us to achieve our goal faster, and in fact, it
did, right? But it would be boring if I were to give a straight up
answer. Hence, the hint."
"But you also told him to gather 'seven saintesses'. Did you say it to
achieve some sort of goal as well?"
"Well, I wonder. It was nothing but a fortune-telling; it might not have
a deeper meaning, you know?"
"Do you really think I'd believe that?" Magmell glared at her.
Shiva shrugged her shoulders and said, "Indeed, it's too far-fetched.
Well, I'll tell you one thing, then. Why do you think Olgou
purposefully divided the rare skills into seven?"
"Isn't it so we can deal with various situations?"
Shiva shook her head to Magmell's answer, "No, that's totally wrong.
It's actually—to prevent the seven from becoming one'."
"To prevent the seven from becoming one…?"
"Yes. Unlike the common skills, the seven rare skills are meant to
protect the world. They're not only countermeasure against
monsters, but also humans and demi-humans. And of course, that
includes 'the bigger threats' as well."
"The bigger threats… no way!?"
Shiva curled up the corners of her mouth into a bold smile and
nodded to Magmell who had gone wide-eyed, "Yes, if someone can
combine all the rare skills into one, he'll be able to kill—the gods."
◇ ◇
"Haa!"
――Clang!
I felt a sense of incongruity facing Elysium who was regaining his
stance while sliding backwards on the ground.
How do I put it, his responses were strange.
It was true that he was attacking with all his might, but sometimes he
would pull back his strength, whereas on other times he would go on
full offensive, like he was fishing.
This was clearly strange.
Hence, I didn't bite his bait and stopped on the spot.
After I did, Elysium asked, tilting his head, "What's wrong? Losing
the will to fight?"
"Not at all, it's just you seem to be plotting something, so I'm trying to
disturb your rhythm."
"Hm, I see. You noticed it, huh."
"Well, your moves were simply too unnatural."
"Really, now? That's unfortunate." Elysium readily admitted.
I shot him a doubtful look but,
"—However, you're slightly late, it seems."
Stab! Elysium thrusted his Sacred Treasure into the ground.
"!?"
At that moment, some kind of shining formation emerged under my
feet.