A strange scene was developing in front of Jorge's eyes. It was a fight at a speed the eyes couldn't track, clearly well beyond the level of ordinary humans. But no matter how one-sided the battle appeared, it showed no signs of ending.
With each strike from the Hero, the castle shook and broke apart. The countless swings of the Hero's blade sliced apart Lain's body, and bright white bolts of energy scattered her insides. Lightning fell from the sky, striking her dead on. As one would expect, the state of Lain's body was horrifying to behold.
But, in the next instant, Lain was standing in the middle of the room as if nothing had happened. The only indication that she had been attacked at all was the sorry state of her clothing.
And still, she did nothing.
Making no attempt to dodge or defend herself, she calmly absorbed the full force of each and every attack. Even as her arms were severed and flung away, her head smashed to pieces, her entire body engulfed in flames, it took only an instant for her to re-form."What is going on here...?! Is this what a Hero's battle...no, is this what a Sage's battle looks like...?" Edelgart's voice shuddered as she spoke.
Jorge and Edelgart could do nothing but watch the fight from the corner of the room. As if to say he was only interested in fighting the Sage, the Hero was making a small effort not to harm the others around him. If it hadn't been for those small efforts, Jorge and the rest of them would have been killed at the start. That being said, they still had to protect themselves from the waves of shrapnel and debris raining down on them.
"Is this even a battle? It seems like the Sage isn't attempting to defend herself."
"Perhaps the Hero's Gift is being nullified?"
Jorge found it hard to believe that, given the scene before them, but he could understand the need to rationalize what they were witnessing. That's how unbelievable the situation was."No, the Hero's Gift is from a Swordmaster, so it doesn't fall under the Sages' authority. It appears she is actually taking the attacks head-on and simply regenerating afterwards."
The Gift was something that had to be given, so those who handed it out had full control over those who received it. But since the Hero's Gift was from a different line, it had no connection to the Sages.
The Gift given by the Sages had a tendency to lean towards magical disciplines, while the Swordmasters' Gift tended towards physical attacks. In keeping with that trend, the Hero's primary weapons were swords.
As the two guards commented on the fight, the Hero broke off his attack for a moment. He must have realized that he wasn't making any progress.
"Hmm. If you plan on giving up and going home, that's fine with me," Lain said, still without a scratch on her. At some point she had even used some kind of magic to repair her clothes."You monster!" Even as the Hero seethed with rage, he recognized that it was pointless to continue his blind attacks. He settled on glaring at her instead.
"If we're going to take a break, mind if we talk?" Lain spoke without a care in the world, as if she hadn't just been handily dismantled multiple times in a row.
The Hero didn't reply. But the fact that he was holding back may have merely been an effort to buy some time.
"You seem to be a Hero. Why is a Hero attacking me? Isn't there some Demon Lord somewhere that you should be fighting?"
Jorge had also wondered the same thing. The Sages were the ones who ruled over and protected the world. What point was there in trying to kill them?
"Like hell! You people are nothing but a blight on this world!"
"Maybe it's not so convincing coming from me, but I feel like the Sages are doing a pretty good job. The amount of intervention varies from Sage to Sage, but you still have a considerable amount of freedom, don't you? And above all, we're the ones protecting you from outside enemies. What will getting rid of us accomplish? Aren't you better off using us to protect yourselves?""What freedom?! Just how many people have died thanks to your pointless whims?!"
"Well, I suppose that's true. But without us, considerably more people would have died, you know?"
"What reason is that to forgive your tyranny?!"
"Hmm. I thought Heroes fought for the sake of bringing about peace, but you seem to be different. Was someone close to you killed by a Sage? Or were they taken away? Manipulated somehow? At any rate, attacking me won't help your cause. I barely spend any time on the surface. There's basically no chance that I've personally done anything that impacted you."
"I will eradicate the Sages! What you've done personally is irrelevant!" Apparently content with whatever time he had bought, the Hero once again fell into a fighting stance. Lifting his sword, he hurled it forward. The wide blade pierced the ground at Lain's feet — but he hadn't been aiming at her at all.The sword began to shine. At the same time, the ground around her began to glow as if in response. Around Lain's feet, numerous smaller blades sprouted from the floor. Each reflected the light of the glowing sword, and in short order, beams of light stretched out from each of them to draw a complex pattern around the Sage.
"It doesn't matter if you're immortal! I'll just have to incinerate you all at once!"
The pattern carved into the floor began to expand, building up into a three-dimensional figure. All at once, the lines snapped together to form a cage around Lain.
Reaching out with his trembling right hand, the Hero grabbed his own left hand and pressed it down. It was clear that he had been pushing himself to the limit from the very beginning of the exchange, but there was nothing Jorge or Edelgart could do about it. No matter how open the Hero may have looked to attack, the difference in their abilities was just too much. The moment they tried to approach, they would have been blown away."Take this!" the Hero roared as the prison of light began to shine brighter.
It only lasted for an instant. When the light subsided, the cage it had formed was empty. The small blades protruding from the ground, the storied longsword that the Hero had been wielding, the beastkin lying on the ground, even Lain herself — they had all simply vanished. Whatever had vaporized them had also melted the floor, turning the stone into a bright red liquid reminiscent of lava.
"Ariel...finally...I've killed one..." Muttering to himself, the Hero fell to his knees. He appeared to have completely exhausted himself. It didn't look like he could even muster the strength to stand.
"What...should we..."
"You idiot! Killing a Sage is a capital crime! Arrest him immediately!"
With Edelgart not thinking straight, Jorge was at a total loss. No matter how shocked he was, he knew there was no way they could simply arrest a Hero. Jorge looked over to the lord, who was standing by the wall opposite them.
If you're one of the Sages' attendants, then please, do something!
Jorge wanted to say it out loud, but the lord was already shaking his head. There was nothing they could do.
"So, was Ariel your lover or something?"
And then there was no need for them to do anything. Lain was once again standing in the same spot that she had occupied moments before. The Hero's face twisted in despair.
"How did you avoid it...?!"
"I didn't avoid anything. I just don't die. So what would be the point of moving?"
"Impossible...at a temperature high enough to completely destroy the Holy Sword Cartena, there should be nothing left..."
The truth was that Lain had, in fact, been completely incinerated.
"If leaving nothing behind was enough to kill me, I'd be a lot better off. Immortality like this is honestly more of a curse than anything else at this point. How much longer am I going to have to live this way? Every time I think about it, I lose all hope."
"Kill me..." The Hero had fallen into despair.
"Why? You're the one who attacked me. What reason would I have for killing you?"
Lain's answer was tinged with disbelief. Apparently, being attacked out of nowhere wasn't reason enough in her mind for killing someone. Even someone as tolerant as Jorge couldn't help but feel she was showing a bit too much lenience.
"Umm, if that's the case, then what are we supposed to do?" Jorge asked. Killing the Hero would solve a lot of problems but it didn't seem like that was going to happen.
"Just deal with him like any criminal. Breaking and entering, murder, property damage — there's plenty of grounds for an arrest, don't you think?""But...he's a Hero. There's no way we could arrest him against his will."
"Hmm. Then let's do this."
Lain reached down and grabbed the Hero's arm. She then spun on the spot, hurling him through a hole in the wall as if he were no more than a piece of trash.
"Wha—?!"
"You guys can't arrest him and I don't feel like killing him. In that case, having him around is just a pain in the ass. So why don't we act like he was never here in the first place?"She may have said that she hadn't felt like killing him, but this room was fairly high up. Any ordinary person would die instantly from the fall."Very well. No one ever came here, then."
A Sage's word was absolute, and that was more convenient for them anyway. Jorge was relieved yet again.
"Well, it seems the dog beastkin was completely annihilated, so I guess that's it for today. Edelgart, about what we were discussing earlier... Go track down this Yogiri Takatou. Contact me once you've found out where he is."
"Understood!" Despite the circumstances, Edelgart seemed relatively undaunted.
Jorge gave a bitter smile. It had to take an impressive dullness to be so nonchalant in a situation like this.
◇ ◇ ◇
Three days after they'd left the city, Yogiri and Tomochika were still on board the train. Unlike back home in Japan, the trains here didn't operate on set schedules, but even so, their destination should only have been a few hours from their starting point.
"Why do I have to be stuck here, spinning the charger while trapped in the stomach of some fat ghost?!" Tomochika complained from inside Mokomoko's translucent form, still spinning the device connected to Yogiri's handheld.
Oblivious to her discomfort, Yogiri was happily enjoying his game once again. "Well, the battery is dying. If you don't charge it for me, I can't play."
And I do not occupy physical space, so there is no need to worry, is there? I certainly don't mind.
"Well, I feel like I'm being smothered! If you don't care, then go sit on Takatou!"
No, he's far too scary.
The tickets that the concierge had given them were for a luxurious personal compartment with seating sufficient for four people. Yogiri and Tomochika sat opposite each other, and Mokomoko was technically sitting beside Tomochika. But as wide as she was, she covered most of the other seat as well. Therefore, the two of them were basically overlapping."Why don't you just go float over there, then?!"
That would not do. If I were to try to float in a moving object, I may be left behind. I need to maintain a solid image, which requires that I be sitting on a seat.
"Man, ghosts are a pain! Why don't you just go back to being invisible then?!"
It's not that I'm actively showing myself to you. You are simply able to see me now.
Apparently, at some point Tomochika had developed the ability to see spiritual entities.
"That's mostly because she became aware of your existence, right?" The moment Yogiri had been made aware of Mokomoko's existence, he had also been able to see her immediately.
Precisely! Like when you first meet a person, you think nothing of it, but when you notice their ear hair, you can't see anything else! Actually, that makes me seem like I'm just ear hair, doesn't it?!"Are you on the level of ear hair, then?"
No, forget I said anything. I'll think of a better example.
Mokomoko folded her arms and sank into thought.
"Well, I kind of owe you a lot, so just spinning the charger isn't that big of a deal. But this train is really taking its time, isn't it?"
"Apparently the monsters aren't normally supposed to approach the barrier."
One of the Sages' attendants was on board the train, maintaining a barrier to protect it. That sort of deterrent was normally enough to make most monsters lose interest the moment they took sight of it. But for some reason, the monsters this time around had formed ranks and attacked the train anyway. They had managed to pull through to the next station, but it had completely exhausted the resources of the mage protecting them, so they were stuck in place for the moment.
Apparently, this was a regular enough occurrence that there were emergency stations set up along the train line. These stations had lodgings for the passengers, so that's where they had stayed. At around noon on the third day, they had finally managed to get moving again. Now their goal of Hanabusa was a short distance away."It's a much more dangerous world than I first thought," Tomochika said, looking out the window.
A sharp sound reverberated from the barrier as another monster bounced off it. It was common for one or two monsters to attack at a time.
Turning her gaze forward again, Tomochika saw that Mokomoko had begun spinning in the air, arms still crossed.
"You're so annoying! Why do you have to spin like that?!"
"Why don't you just come sit beside me, then?"
"Oh, yeah!"
There was plenty of space for Yogiri and her to sit side by side. For some reason, she had gotten it into her head that they needed to be facing each other. The moment that he suggested it, she jumped across to sit beside him and began watching the screen of his handheld. As always, he was doing terribly. His passion for the game wasn't the least bit matched by his skill at it.Tomochika suddenly realized just how close Yogiri was, almost pressing up against her. Just as it hit her, Yogiri suddenly stopped playing his game and looked up.
"What is it?!"
As Tomochika began to panic, he pushed her over.
"Hey! Stop it! What are you doing?! Mokomoko is watching, you know!"
Oh, don't mind me. As a guardian spirit, I'll always be here, so you might as well get used to it.
"Wait, you too?! Are you seriously always going to be around me, Mokomoko?!" As Tomochika grew more and more flustered, something passed by overhead. "What...?"
Over Yogiri's shoulder, she could suddenly see the sky. The roof of the train car had been blown away. Looking around, even the top halves of the seats they had been sitting on were gone. If Yogiri hadn't pushed her over, Tomochika's head would probably have been gone along with them."Why don't you just explain what you're doing?!"
"I suddenly saw the line of killing intent." The killing intent that Yogiri spoke of was just a placeholder term. Yogiri could see a concrete image of any danger to his own body. "I wonder what that was. I can't imagine the two of us are being specifically targeted."
They had no way of knowing what sort of attack it was, but the train appeared to have been struck by a number of objects all at once.
At that moment, the engine ground to an emergency stop and a loud siren began to blare.