Alus the Star Runner had stopped attacking. It had become a fruitless endeavor.
Although he had tried several methods of attack while Tu the Magic was isolated, it only led him to conclude that it would be impossible to crush her with the magic items he possessed.
On top of that, Shalk the Sound Slicer had linked up with her now. Shalk hadn't chosen to escape but had purposely come back to fight him.
He had come back even after being made painfully aware that not a single one of his attacks would reach the wyvern.
"…You're both in the way."
Two aberrant monsters, each individually possessing more fighting strength than a dragon.
Amid Alus's waning sense of self, his tremendous combat experience, and the accumulated tactics that accompanied it were the few areas that had been left untouched in order to maintain his combat abilities. But he could determine that Shalk and Tu were, without question, enormous obstacles in front of him, on par with Lucnoca the Winter and Toroa the Awful.
Although this simply stemmed from the difficulty he had defeating them— the high-speed mobility to evade even his lightning magic bullets and the incredible tenacity to endure a direct hit from Ground Runner.
He didn't need to aim to beat them. This was how Alus had begun to think.
The goal of his adventuring wasn't to kill legends, but simply to amass his treasure hoard. He would fly low, set up a surprise attack, and steal away Heshed Elis the Fire Pipe. After that, he could just ignore the enemies in front of him.
…Flying lower. Is that…what they want me to do?
The reason the two of them still hadn't landed a decisive blow on Alus was because he was constantly in an advantageous position on this three-dimensional battlefield and could handle attacks from the surface with ease.
Particularly when he tried to dispose of Shalk the Sound Slicer, Alus had showed the skeleton a majority of the magic items at his disposal. Since his enemy was enticing Alus down closer to the ground, it would be correct for him to consider that to mean Shalk had some sort of strategy to overcome Alus's methods of attack once he did.
These two…what's their reason for still getting in my way…?
He looked across the area. The district below him was dyed in an ominous dark red from the flames, but the city of Aureatia stretching out across the edge of the horizon still remained totally untouched.
If I destroy that area instead, I wonder what they'll do... Guess I'll give it a try…
Shalk's determination to keep his hold on Heshed Elis the Fire Pipe despite how fiercely Alus was attacking meant that he had a reason not to let it go. In which case, if he erased that reason without killing the man himself, Alus could get ahold of the treasure he was after.
There was no need for him to enter into his enemy's attack range. Alus instead increased his flight speed in order to gauge his route.
…The air was quivering ever so slightly.
From far off in the direction of the fortress, there appeared to be a light of some kind.
"..."
The upper quadrant of the sky exploded, and Alus descended.
A deathly beam of light, brighter than the midday sun, cut through the clouds and passed right above Alus's head.
He had been forced to make an evasive maneuver by decelerating in midair. Burning the atmosphere. Destruction. Heat.
A light beam magic item that accumulated solar light and allowed for fierce intercity bombardment.
Cold Star…!
"You didn't think I just ran away, did you?"
Shalk's voice. Had he already requested backup from Aureatia before returning to the battlefield?
After Alus slowed down to evade the light beam—there was someone waiting for him at his point of descent.
"I'm not going to kick you!" yelled Tu. "..."
Tu had jumped, as if galloping through the air.
Her long braid flowed behind her like a tail. Her eyes, glowing with green light, traced lines through the sky.
"I'll grab you!" she declared confidently.
In the middle of his descent, Alus couldn't evade Tu, who was now closing on him faster than a bullet.
Even if he strengthened his defenses with the Greatshield of the Dead, if she simply grabbed on to him instead of trying to destroy him, he would eventually be forced to release the Greatshield's protection.
"Rotting Soil Sun."
He dropped the magical item.
The mud bullets were mostly fired at random—it didn't possess any method capable of stopping Tu the Magic. Still, if he was able to obscure her line of sight for just a second, he should be able to escape.
Alus felt her grab on to the tip of his left wing.
…She avoided it.
Tu the Magic wasn't wearing any clothing.
The cloak she was draped in… She was no longer wearing the leftovers of a street stall's tent. She had caught Rotting Soil Sun in the fabric after Alus had dropped it below him, and she wrapped it up, suppressing it right before it could fire.
Tu had a grip on his wing. The only choice was to cut it off himself. "Kio's Hand…!"
"You're not getting away!"
Alus's arm, already moving to unleash his magic whip, chose his musket instead.
In that instant, Alus's combat judgment was warning him of something,
That skeleton.
Shalk the Sound Slicer was quietly lingering in the rear behind Tu. Carrying Heshed Elis the Fire Pipe, with his rags pulled down over his eyes, he remained motionless.
In the middle of this momentary clash, he might have chosen to act as a decoy.
That's not it.
The musket's gunshot echoed. "..."
"If you're planning on cutting off part of your own body—"
He had the sensation of something cold and rigid passing vertically through his eyeball.
A blade fired out from a completely blind angle. Alus's cranium had been pierced by a spear.
…He could see Shalk's body. Behind Tu, he still remained completely motionless.
"—you can't use the Greatshield of the Dead thing, can you, Alus the Star Runner?"
"You're…"
However, at the same time, Shalk the Sound Slicer was up above Alus, skewering his head.
From his sternum up…his head and right arm were now linked together by a chain.
"The game of cat-and-mouse is over." Consider the source; take countermeasures.
Shalk's body, which he saw down below, consisted only of his left arm and everything below his chest.
He could separate his bones and re-form them. That was this skeleton's ability.
…Of course. That big piece of cloth that Tu had stripped off.
Shalk had clung to the back of that fabric while his bones were scattered.
Making himself into a weapon at Tu's control, he put everything on the line for that one moment of opportunity.
Alus figured out the source.
If he knew that, he could counteract it.
No matter what sort of legend he was up against, if he fought them a second time, he could defeat them.
As long as he could fight.
He fell into darkness. His thoughts were dissolving away.
"We did it…" Tu quietly murmured after she landed.
Their final strategy had succeeded.
The world's strongest rogue was now pinned into the ground by Shalk's spear.
He may eventually start regenerating, but Tu had a firm hold on Alus. She wasn't letting him escape.
The destruction and losses were enormous, but they had been able to hold him at bay.
The speed of Alus the Star Runner's assault had been abnormal. Shalk the Sound Slicer and Tu the Magic were the only hero candidates who had gotten there in time after being summoned to take him down.
"Now we can end this, without letting anyone else die… Right, Shalk?" "…Tu, I'll say this just in case, but…"
Shalk's skull and right arm groaned, still piercing Alus's head through with his spear.
There was something slightly off in Shalk's tone. "You can't let go…of Alus's body no matter…what." "I know that. Why would you say…?"
Then she realized.
Tree branches growing out from Alus's body were wrapping around Shalk the Sound Slicer and beginning to absorb his body into their tangle.
Tu knew what this attack was. The magic tree bullet.
In the moment the fight was decided, Alus hadn't fired his musket at Shalk.
He'd fired it at himself. "N-no…!"
"Impressive. This guy really was…one hell of an…abomination. I can't believe, in that single moment, he thought of a way to turn the tables like this…!"
Before she could think of something, she went to rip the rapidly growing branches away from Shalk's bones.
"…It's not working!"
It wasn't enough. Tearing off the parts that she could grab with only one hand proved meaningless.
Shalk didn't possess the same invincible physical body that Tu did. If the magic bullet tangled around him and ate away at him, he was bound to be
destroyed.
The sole chance that Shalk's strategy had created for them…ended up creating an opportunity for Alus as well, to put an end to the Sound Slicer.
"...!"
She needed to release the other hand holding on to Alus.
There was a strong possibility that Shalk's final attack had killed Alus anyway. His brain was run through.
"Shalk!"
"Don't let go!" "How…how could I not?!"
Tu was fully aware that she was a fool. She let go of the hand gripping Alus.
She used both arms to tear away the branches entangling Shalk. A single second.
In that moment.
Kio's Hand, which the dead Alus still held fast, flitted up into the air and cut Alus's own skull. Sacrificing half his head, he had escaped from the white spear pinning him to the ground.
"Not yet…!"
Even as the branches she tore off Shalk were enveloping her arms, she immediately turned around.
Mud exploded right before her eyes. "…!"
Rotting Soil Sun had fallen on to the ground during the previous clash. The magic item that endlessly generated mud bullets was lost…
Overcome by a terrifying amount of mud and with her vision blocked off, she barely managed to touch Alus's arm.
She couldn't grab hold of it. The tree roots she'd grabbed earlier were now blocking off Tu's fingers.
He'll be able to escape!
"Tu! Throw me!"
In the blink of an eye, the roots entangled around her fingertips were sliced off.
Shalk the Sound Slicer, now just his head and one arm, had lost his mobility, but he could still swing his spear.
With her sight still obstructed, Tu clenched down on the white spear tip.
I have to judge this for myself. If Alus is still alive, which direction is he
going to fly?
Rique the Misfortune would have definitely thought about it. Everyone else besides Tu was desperately thinking things through.
They used their experience to get a grasp on how their foe would act next.
That's right. In Alus's case, he'd steal treasure!
Tu flung Shalk, now transformed into a single spear.
In the direction of Shalk's torso decoy—toward Heshed Elis the Fire Pipe. This motion scattered the mud covering one of Tu's eyes.
She could see the scene in front of her. Shalk connected with his body and extended out his spear.
It didn't reach.
…It can't be.
Alus, recovering his ability to fly, had flown off in a completely different direction than she had predicted.
Tu's decision had come too late.
There was a single point that was outside Tu the Magic's expectations. The world's strongest rogue, who was more obsessed with treasure than any other, in that moment, hadn't been a rogue at all.
Alus the Star Runner, his skull destroyed by Shalk, moved solely on the instincts directly following his regeneration.
Tu the Magic had failed.
Shalk shouted from outside the sea of mud.
"Tu! Unless you want to turn into a fossil, you have to get out of there! The mud's not stopping!"
"No!" Tu shouted. She held on to Rotting Soil Sun, trying to curb the constant torrent of mud.
"I have to put a stop to this thing! If…if there are any survivors still left, I can't let them get swallowed up by this mud! I won't let any more harm come to this district…or anyone beyond it!"
"There aren't any damn survivors! You think you can get that magic item under control right now?! That's like trying to use Word Arts on a guy you just met for the first time!"
Her lower body was sinking completely into the mud. Her feet found no purchase.
The amount of mud pouring from the discarded Rotting Soil Sun was a veritable ocean. Tu's body was covered in muck, her eyesight was being sealed in darkness, and the insides of her respiratory organs began to drown in mud.
Even then, Tu was able to endure it. She believed so.
I won't give up.
She was an abomination who had been created without the ability to feel fear.
She could continue fighting however long it took.
In this hellish city, engulfed in raging fire and sinking into mud…right now, Tu the Magic was the only one capable of continuing to hold on to Rotting Soil Sun.
She could hear a voice from far away.
This time, she wanted to be sure to save someone. She wasn't going to abandon anyone to die.
I won't give up, I won't give up, I won't give up…!
Her fight was over.
Together with her strong will, the Demon King's Bastard sank into the depths of the mud.
The sun of calamity, rising up into the skies of Aureatia, refused to set.