"You're in enchanted sword range now, Mestelexil."
Mestelexil had chosen to attack Atrazek with guided missiles. Hence, he had stopped moving, confronted with Toroa at close range. He had gotten that close to Toroa the Awful, to the land's most powerful enchanted swordsman. Mestelexil opened up the vents of his front jet propulsors—
"Too late."
Flames erupted from within Mestelexil's armor. An explosion went off inside his body.
"Wh-whaaaaaaah?! F-Fire! It's, fire!"
The Grim Reaper had already followed through with both his sword strokes.
In one hand was Nel Tseu the Burning Blade. In the other was a sword he was using for the first time during their battle.
"…Nel Tseu the Burning Blade. Mushain the Howling Blade."
Riding the air current created by the Howling Blade, it drove the heat from the Burning Blade into the golem. Forcibly sending air back through the golem's jet propulsors, it mixed with the fuel itself and exploded inside him. Kiyazuna shouted.
"Mestelexil!"
"I've brought down your precious golem, Kiyazuna the Axle. You're next!"
Kicking Mestelexil's motionless frame, Toroa aggressively jumped into the air. He drew the Divine Blade Ketelk. He would kill Kiyazuna inside her Chariot Golem with its long-range stab. Then a new gun barrel faced him. It was the Chariot Golem's machine gun.
The long-range attack from Divine Blade Ketelk, fully launched in midair, diverted the gun barrel. Crossing over its firing line, Toroa's massive body landed in the Chariot Golem's cargo bay.
"The Blasting Blade! Hand it over!" "Like hell I will, fool!"
From his flank, an enormous metal hand grasped at Toroa.
Toroa ducked to avoid it and slashed with the Frostvenom Blade, still strapped to his upper arm.
"Wh-whooooah.… G-Get away, from, Mama!"
It was Mestelexil. He had self-repaired his propulsors and reached Toroa in an instant. The golem had unbelievable vitality.
Toroa knew that the crystalline substance he left with the previous attack should be starting to extend deep inside his body. That meant the golem's life core was somewhere else instead. However…
"That's a bad move. At this range—"
He dodged away from the sight line of the gun barrel that opened up around Mestelexil's knee. Toroa once again slashed with his enchanted sword. The golem feigned a punch with his left arm before fire erupted from the hidden gun on his neck. Evading the shot, Toroa effortlessly followed up with his next attack. It was exactly as he expected.
"You can't use your fancy guns because Kiyazuna'll get caught in the blast."
"O-ohhh! Wh-whoooaa!"
The single-shot surprise attacks woven into their melee-range clash were tactics that Toroa hadn't yet seen during their battle, but none of it was beyond his expectations. This golem could rebuild any part of his body into a weapon at will.
"Dammit! We don't got time for any of this! That Particle Storm's coming!"
With both fighters continuing their fierce battle in the cargo bay, the Chariot Golem aggressively took off. Behind it, the wind was hot on their heels, destroying everything in its path as it went.
Amid the scenery flashing by and kicking up a cloud of dust as it went, Mestelexil was panicked.
"I-I, need to, defeat Particle Storm! But, I have, to beat, Toroa, too!
But…"
His monstrous strength and full-body artillery arsenal were barely able to keep protecting Kiyazuna from Toroa's ferocious attacks. While half the surface of his inner flesh was being covered in the corrosive crystals, his ultimate priority was still Kiyazuna's life.
Complete mechanical recovery was possible. If his golem part was
completely covered in crystals, as long as they had their shared curse, the homunculus inside couldn't be killed at the same time. However, in the second it took to finish reconstructing himself, Toroa the Awful would be able to kill Kiyazuna the Axle.
"There is nothing to be afraid of. Little ones."
The declaration from the very weather itself echoed across the whole ravine.
"Seeing you fear, flee, baffled, it is truly a comical and wretched sight."
The Particle Storm's mantle visibly accelerated. With his true form being that of a wurm, he was the strongest terrestrial creature in the world. Thus, just as the wyverns in the skies, the wurms, a draconic race that evolved most adapted to the surface, possessed mobility far outpacing the other species of living creatures on the surface.
If their enemy felt like it, it was questionable whether the Chariot Golem, rushing at full tilt, would be able to shake him.
"Hey, Toroa! Get the hell off my golem!"
Eroded by the crystals, Mestelexil at last dropped to his knees. Ever since the legend of Toroa the Awful began to spread…no matter how formidable a champion there ever was, none of them had ever been able to defeat him while in range of his enchanted swords. The invincible weapon of war was losing.
Kiyazuna shouted as she hurriedly operated the driving controls.
"It won't speed up! That Particle Storm bastard's gonna catch up to us!
Just how heavy are you, dammit?!"
"…Hand over the Blasting Blade! Is it worth losing your life over?!"
"Ab-so-lute-ly not! Doing what some vagrant asshole tells me to? That'd be the same as dyin' anyway!"
The Blasting Blade was just a sword in the end. Both of them were well aware of the fact.
"Kiyazuna the Axle doesn't bend to anyone, y'hear me?!"
The scythe-like enchanted sword pierced through Mestelexil's torso. The armor, eroded by the minute crystals, had grown brittle enough for a normal blade to pass through. Even if he could chant Word Arts, the golem's body would be unable to keep up.
"Ungh… M-Mama…"
Toroa reversed his ascent then took advantage of the maneuver to grab a
new enchanted sword.
Next, turning around, he cleaved behind him. "…Howling…Blade!"
With a single slash, the dust creeping up behind them was driven away from the Chariot Golem and scraped into the ravine rock surface.
If Toroa hadn't reacted with the Howling Blade, they would have been wiped out.
Contact with the Particle Storm meant instant death. A realm of slaughter, taking both Kiyazuna and Toroa down together.
Now it catches up with us?! Right when I finally beat Mestelexil…!
Actually, wait…
Toroa sent his next slash flying. Straight behind the Chariot Golem.
He needed to incessantly slash with the Howling Blade to defend against the Particle Storm's air currents. If his hands stopped, it meant instant death. In order to defeat his opponent, Kiyazuna, he now had to defend her.
Kiyazuna slowed down on purpose! In order to force me, her enemy, to deal with the Particle Storm! Then…while I'm stuck handling this wind—
"—emfectas neos yactectenaoathal bagneteha usvasvetmotosye inqdorteae—" (—collect in the bottomless light vortex that binds twin heavens pierce the vast gloom and falling blossoms and castle columned rocks turning eternally—)
Mestelexil's supernatural Craft Arts could even reconstruct his own body. However, it was not his own body he was creating.
"Keep it up Mestelexil! You got the right idea!"
An iron fingertip tried grabbing hold of Toroa's ankle. With the Lance of Faima's reaction, he picked up on the attack and countered with the Frostvenom Blade. He turned his attention to the seated Mestelexil. The finger wasn't his. Mestelexil wasn't moving, all active functions still deactivated.
"OOOOOOOOOOOOOO—"
"Impossible!"
It was a different golem. Different as well from the Chariot Golem they were riding, the golem was bronze-colored and hollow. He swung the Howling Blade. He defended against the Particle Storm that was closing in right before his eyes.
"ROOOOOOW."
He sensed a new presence appear behind him. The Burning Blade. Setting the golem's interior ablaze, it was knocked off the speeding cargo bay.
It was the second one. The golems that hadn't been in the cargo bay mere moments ago were multiplying—
"Harq icketems senka didenket mou odasdionrinser fines opponiswem seltegnes tia—" (Deep blue daydream palace drown in mercury walk and remember in fantastical landscapes the nine thousand words that fulfill immature crystal prophecy—)
"Mestelexil… Wait… This thing's…!"
The soil and rocks of the Gumana were being shaped one after another with Craft Arts, giving birth to an army.
Mestelexil, concentrating wholly on his Word Arts and with his combat capabilities still disengaged, could do even this.
"…a golem that makes other golems?!"
The soulless golem army foolishly advanced straight into the Particle Storm, swarming in to bring an end to Atrazek's true form inside.
"Oh, turning your hand against me, now? Fragile, so horribly fragile your bodies are… Excellent. Truly excellent. I, of course, shall allow your meaningless resistance. It is a bit of a shame you shan't be able to scream in sorrow."
The Particle Storm's advance slowed. Metallic squeaks and gunpowder explosions echoed from inside the whirlwind.
With the durability of the golem's composite armor, as long as their survival was considered meaningless, it was more than possible to advance through the Particle Storm and make an attack on Atrazek's true body.
The conclusion Mestelexil came to was not to regenerate himself. It was to handle all the enemies facing him at once.
"…How 'bout I give you a rundown on Mestelexil's functionality, Toroa the Awful. There is only one main body that can exist in this world at one time. Otherwise, his shared curse that references each part of him won't function, see? But what if you thought about that another way, eh?"
"Kiya…zunaaaa!"
"It means he can produce an infinite number of soulless base bodies!"
The Chariot Golem, accelerating further, momentarily escaped from the Particle Storm's range.
However, if anything, the threats Toroa needed to contend with were
growing in number. The golems overflowing the cargo bay swooped down on Toroa the Awful.
Just how many of these things are going to pop up. If this really does keep going on forever…!
The Divine Blade Ketelk's slashes gouged out the life core inside a golem's armor. One of the golems collapsed from the attack. Still, he couldn't attempt to use this method to take out so many golems.
Though they weren't immortal, and they didn't possess the Word Arts to create supernatural weaponry, their physical abilities and armor were on par with Mestelexil's own.
"…Actually. It looks like—"
As he was driven to the edge of the cargo bay, Toroa the Awful still discovered an opportunity to come out victorious.
"There's a limit…after all. Kiyazuna the Axle." "Huuuh?!"
There was a loud shatter.
Atrazek's voice made itself known. "Take a good look for yourself."
The shatter was the sound of wreckage sent flying from inside the storm, crashing into the Chariot Golem. They were golems with over half their frames shaved off. In the exact same way this same weather phenomenon had annihilated the entirety of Kiyazuna the Axle's army in the past.
Even golems boasting the firmest of armor would die the moment they reached the main body inside the storm. Once they got through the storm, lying in wait at the other end of the obstructed view were the tough jaws and massive tail of the wurm within.
"See with your own eyes if the fire and trickery of you minia can get through to me. If knowing that answer should satisfy you, I shall oblige."
The Particle Storm was gaining on them.
"Tch, trying to weight us down, eh? That bastard…"
"What are you going to do now?! Keep this endless golem spawning up, and logically we're going to slow down with it! You can't keep up this onslaught against me forever! Planning to keep it up until I've run out of energy, eh, Kiyazuna the Axle?!"
Even going face-to-face against a machine, it was exactly what Toroa the Awful wanted.
He had repeated it all many, many times before.
"I promise, I can keep swinging these enchanted swords of mine long into the night!"
"Dammit! Mestelexil, stop ramping up production! You're turning into a damn chain 'round my neck…!"
She hadn't imagined a situation like this. Originally, this Chariot Golem had been prepared so that only Kiyazuna could withdraw from the battlefield.
As long as she was nearby, there was no way for Mestelexil to display his true power.
If I was just a little farther away from Mestelexil… VX gas, thermobaric bombs, he would've been able to try them all out, dammit!
Toroa continued to fight. On top of a vehicle sprinting away at high- speed, all by himself against an endless army of golems and the Particle Storm. He held super-powered weapons, the full extent of their abilities unknown, and could wield them all with perfection.
As long as this man was here, Mestelexil was forced to protect Kiyazuna.
This bastard… He's completely beyond any of my expectations!
Amid the disorder of the battle, at first glance, it seemed Kiyazuna's camp had built up an overwhelming advantage, but in fact, from the very moment they were forced into this situation, Toroa the Awful held their lives in his hands.
Toroa had the option to destroy the Chariot Golem itself at his disposal. If she lost her way to escape from the Particle Storm, Kiyazuna the Axle's death was guaranteed.
It meant, from the very beginning, he was a man who was able to assess the tide of battle. Even against weapons from the Beyond that no one in the world had seen before, he could match them with similar attacks and counter them, as though he already knew everything about them. Though he had the voice of a young man, he showed an ability to respond to any situation like a shura who had spent a lifetime with an enchanted sword at his side.
From somewhere unknown, he had acquired such an enormous wealth of battle experiences that seemed impossible given his youth.
"Toroaaaa…!" "—Gah!"
Yet, Toroa the Awful suddenly gasped as he continued eradicating the golem army.
"Your time's up, Kiyazuna the Axle." "Huuuh?!"
"This vehicle's actually a golem, right?! I didn't intend for this to happen, either… This vehicle's going to collapse!"
"And why's that?!"
"Vajgir, the Frostvenom Blade. The crystalline substance this sword releases, it eats living organisms! Whether its bone, metal…even soulless constructs, anything with a life of its own will corrode away! In other words…"
Toroa looked beyond the swarming golem arm, where Mestelexil sat slumped over and motionless. His own faculties disengaged, everything was focused on golem production. His body was completely covered in the fine crystals, and they were now spreading directly down to the cargo bay at his feet.
Before long it would reach the structural and mechanical sections of the golem. Kiyazuna understood that, as well.
"Damn you…!"
"…I'm not planning on committing suicide with you! Hand over the Blasting Blade!"
The Grim Reaper extended out his arm to the driver's seat as he fought against the surging golems.
"Like hell I am!"
"I'll get the Particle Storm!" "...!"
"I… I should be able to use the Howling Blade to push through and advance through his wind! No matter how tough the main body inside's armor may be, with the Blasting Blade, I can kill him! Because I'm Toroa the Awful!"
Toroa the Awful was her enemy. Under some irrational pretext, he was after Kiyazuna's treasure and had backed her this far up against the wall.
However, he was serious. There was no doubt in her mind about it. "Don't you…dare order me around!"
The Chariot Golem shook violently. Mechanical damages had dropped its speed significantly, and the realm of death, the Particle Storm, was gaining on the vehicle's frame. Atop the now unbalanced vehicle, Toroa tried to draw the Howling Blade. Golem remains swooped in on him, as if taking careful
aim to prevent him from doing so.
The enemy was the strongest Force Arts user in the land. The swarming army of metal itself was being launched like cannonballs toward them.
"Tch…!"
Toroa staved off the attack with an explosion from Nel Tseu the Burning Blade. He was one step too slow. A few grains of sand slipped inside and tore his trachea. They were already within the Particle Storm's range.
"Quite a stunning performance, really. You are the first I have seen hold out so long against my storm. And yet, if you simply let me hear your tearful wails and see your terror, I would have shown you mercy."
Toroa tried to draw his next enchanted sword.
Only those who stood within the storm, moments before death, saw its form.
A shadow that floated into view among the storm blocking out the sky above—the mere silhouette of the ancient and godlike wurm, head raised up in the air.
"A pitiful end."
A large circle ripped open in the blotted-out sky.
The Particle Storm, which prevented any and all attacks against it, was pierced through, and meteoric destruction thrust into the ground.
Sound.
Tremors.
Rumbles.
The ground exploded and the world shook. "Wha—"
Even Atrazek's massive body was sent in the aftermath, his colossal form smashing the steep ravine walls.
The overwhelming destruction split open the ground's crust. It pierced down deeper. So deep, it was impossible to see the bottom.
The god was unable to utter a single word. It was the first time the land's supreme absolute being had experienced being dumbfounded.
"…Hng…Oooh."
Unable to maintain his Power Arts, he let out four rough gasps of air. Finally, he spat out a single phrase.
"What was that?"
The Chariot Golem was overturned. Such was the power behind the shockwave following the attack.
"Nrrgh… D-dammit! What the hell?! What happened?!" What had happened?
No one there had understood the latest development, but a single person among them, Toroa the Awful, saw the truth behind the attack. The thing that flew in from high in the sky was neither a meteor nor a bomb.
"A pillar…a pillar, of iron."
Yet even the strongest Grim Reaper of them all was mistaken in his assumption.
That pillar of iron was, in fact, an arrow.