7DP 183.1
１８３． The Final Reckoning
TL : Cnine
ED/PF :
R1: [1-3], R2[4-7]
Part 1
――When Alvar Auril Reiju opened his eyes, he realized that he was walking along a dark path.
『Where... Am... I?』
It felt both nostalgic and eerily frightening.
The place looked eerily familiar, yet unfamiliar at the same time.
A strange cityscape――Or was it really a city at all? The towering stone structures that stood side by side might have been towers, or perhaps gravestones. Alvar couldn’t tell.
『But man, this place is freezing cold...』
――Winter should have been over by now, so why was it still so bitterly cold…?
『... Big bro~!』
『Bro~~~!』
And then...
He heard the voices of his little brothers echoing from somewhere.
Upon looking ahead, Alvar saw a great bridge spanning his path, and on the other side the Night siblings were waving to him.
『Oi, you lot! So that’s where you were!』
Alvar waved his hand back at them.
『WAIT FOR ME, I'LL BE THERE!』
He quickened his pace, walking toward them.
『Big bro~~~!』
『Big brooo~!』
The two of them seemed to be frantically beckoning him over.
『Hey, what’s with the long faces? I’m coming right away, so don’t panic!』
Alvar crossed the bridge, calling out with a loud, laughing voice, but far from calming down, the two only grew more desperate in their frantic beckoning.
――Wait a second, that's...
――Are they by chance, not beckoning to me?
――Could it be that they were actually telling me――To 『Not come to them』?
――Or 『Come here』... Which one is it?
The thought struck him, "Were they not beckoning at all?", yet his feet didn’t stop on the bridge. On the contrary, his pace only quickened, as if he were tumbling down a slope, unable to stop no matter how hard he tried!
『STOP RIGHT THERE, ALVAR!』
Just then, his sister’s voice suddenly rang out from behind him.
『YOU MUSTN'T GO THERE! TURN AROUND!』
A warm hand seized Alvar’s shoulder and pulled him back firmly.
At the very end, within his whitening field of vision...
What left the strongest impression was the sight of Okke Night and Seyrey Night looking visibly relieved――
†††
「... Cough... Cough...」
Alvar coughed violently, choking as he nearly drowned in the rust-tasting liquid.
It was only a moment later that he realized it was blood. It was the taste of blood. His body was shivering from the cold, and the pain was unbearable.
What happened? What on earth was going on with him…? Turning his head, he realized he seemed to be lying on a stone-paved floor. When he tried to sit up, he noticed his arms wouldn’t move... Rather, he had no arms at all.
Even now, blood was gushing out in torrents. His breathing was laboured, and it felt as though his chest had been cleaved straight through, armour and all.
And yet, as if to dull all that pain, there was a faint warmth in his chest――
（I see… I took—the Sword Saint’s strike—）
His memory came rushing back. Right after the human swordsman had brandished his greatsword, a tremendous shock had struck his whole body, and his consciousness had been torn away. He was wondering what had happened to everyone else!?
（YOUR HIGHNESS!!）
Only now did he realize the sounds of battle, clashing steel, crashing blows, were echoing all around. Or perhaps his hearing had simply returned with a delay.
When he finally managed to lift his head, he saw a demon clad in silver armour being beaten down by a swarm of human and forest elf warriors!
「YOUR HIGHNESS!」
――I have to go. The rest could wait, the most important thing now is... I have to save His Highness, to save Jilbagias!
He wove magical power of darkness, stretching it out long and thin like a thread. His maternal bloodline magic was far too plain, with little practical use, but thanks to that he excelled at the delicate control of magical power――！
Like a spider spitting out its thread at its prey――
Alvar’s magical power of darkness coiled around the nearest human, the female swordswoman attacking Jilbagias.
（Please! Let it work!!）
And he invoked his lineage magic, as if praying.
「【Transpose】」
――Sure enough, the swordswoman’s arms were severed, and blood seeped through her clothes from her chest. As she collapsed helplessly to the ground, meanwhile, Alvar sprang up with newly grown arms.
… He felt a bit light-headed from the blood loss, but that was something to worry about later!
「I’m sorry, Your Highness! I passed out!」
Jilbagias’ eyes widened in shock as he looked at Alvar… He probably never expected that the other party was still alive. And then, blue blood was flowing out from under Jilbagias’s hand that was pressed on his neck.
（Your Highness is injured too!?）
――So that’s why he was being cornered!!
「I, I'll help you right a――！」
Groping around, he picked up the nearest spear and, while casting a defensive ward, Alvar took off running.
「OH NO!!」
The armed priest, who had been about to strike at Jilbagias, screamed as if in terror.
「【Flash(Let there be light)!】 It’s no use, leave this to me and fall back!」
As he fired a bolt of light at Alvar, the armed priest spoke to the forest elf beside him.
The female forest elf, her face on the verge of tears and biting her lips tightly, bolted like a startled hare. Alvar thought to himself that while it was good she seemed to have given up on His Highness, letting her escape would pose a future problem.
He unleashed magical power of darkness, cancelling out the priest’s bolt of light. The residual pierced his skin a bit, but it was only the sting of being showered with sparks. Nothing serious.
Behind the armed priest, who stood in his path radiating a resolve to die if need be, the forest elf seemed to be preparing to flee while carrying the unconscious sage.
――Clearly unwilling to flee.
「「【Arishida Endron(Chain of Restraint)!】」」
As the priest offered up a prayer, chains of radiant magical light bound tightly around Alvar.
However.
When it came to Alvar, that had to be called a poor move.
Alvar easily slipped through the restraint.
Alvar, who had made a pact with the 【Unrestrained】 Devil, could be bound by nothing――!
「Eh!?」
The priest’s eyes bulged as he hastily prepared his next spell. Alvar thought, "I’ll finish him off no――" only to slip at the very last moment.
「Woah!?」
As he nearly stumbled, he saw at his feet the female swordswoman, who had become the scapegoat for Alvar's wound, barely managing to stretch out her leg to trip him up.
（Uwa~）
Alvar felt a sense of reverence for her desperate expression, for the tears welling in her eyes, and for her determination to struggle on to the bitter end.
（Man, what a terrifying enemy she is.）
If his memories served him right, she was supposed to be a Sword Saint as well. Even after losing both of her arms and being on the brink of death, her threat level may be low, but the terrifying thing about a Sword Saint was that you never knew what they might pull off.
That's why.
He brandished his spear.
Following Jilbagias’ example, he had fashioned the spear’s tip into the shape of a sword. Well-sharpened, its edge was extremely sharp.
Snap.
In an instant, the female swordswoman’s head was severed.
Her black hair danced in the air, and the unicorn-shaped helmet clattered across the cobblestones.
――"Now, how to deal with the armed priest," Alvar brought his gaze back forward just then.
A shudder ran through him as a horrifying surge of magical power erupted.
「Y-Your... Highness!?」
Even before he turned around, he knew. He realized. Jilbagias’s clouded gaze was piercing right through him. It was… Something akin to anger, but――Far more terrifying.
Alvar instinctively shrank back, but those eyes quickly turned away from him.
Just like Alvar, the armed priest had also stepped back in fear. Shrouded in dense magical power of darkness, Jilbagias heaved a long sigh.
―― Was it just my imagination, or did his magical power of darkness flicker with a silver light for an instant?
「――【Taboo to Resistance】」
Alvar froze on the spot. Something... Was amiss. He felt as if the authority of 【Uninhibited】 was cowering, shrinking back in fear.
――Did he just say 【Taboo to】? Isn’t it supposed to be 【Forbid】?
Ignoring Alvar’s doubts, Jilbagias’s magical power of darkness enveloped the armed priest.
「【Transpose】」
Blood sprayed from the priest’s neck with a splash. At the same time, Jilbagias closed the distance as if gliding on the ground, raising his spear-sword. Seeing that the fight had already been decided, Alvar pulled himself together and shifted his focus to the forest elf.
She had already escaped with the sage on her back. Alvar could sense the presence of wind magic, probably a spell for swift movement. If so, that could be a bit of a problem――
He levelled his spear.
Just like when he fought at the fortress.
「Hrrraaah!」
――Since His Highness might take offence again, I hurled it with the last of my magical power.
His spear flew with a heavy sound.
Trailing threads of magical power of darkness behind, the spear traced a perfect arc, baring its fangs at the forest elf’s back like a bird of prey diving upon its quarry――！
「ARGH!?」
The forest elf sensed something amiss and glanced back slightly, but it was already far too late.
With a wet, splattering sound, the spear skewered the forest elf along with the sage on her back.
「Bull’s eye!」
When Alvar gave his arm a sharp pull, the threads of magical power contracted, and the spear flew back into his hand. Just like when he had thrown it at the fortress before, despite his lack of experience, it flew almost exactly as he intended.
…It was probably because, without realizing it, the threads of magical power had remained connected. According to his mother, there were people back in her clan who could freely control threads as if they were their own limbs. If threads could be manipulated at a distance, then there should also be some leeway in handling whatever those threads were attached to.
Maybe.
One way or another, the result was all that mattered.
「Um… Your Highness. They might still be breathing, shall we... finish them off?」
Alvar asked, a little nervously.
「... Yeah. Let’s get this done with.」
Jilbagias nodded in agreement as he replied with a flat, cold voice.
「But since they’re your trophies, and you saved me earlier, I’ll leave the rest to you.」
Jilbagias dashed off like the wind and, without mercy, drove his spear-sword into the two fallen forest elves, delivering the finishing blow.
「...」
Seeing that, the tension drained from Alvar’s shoulders. He nearly collapsed to the ground then and there, but managed to hold himself up.
After all, Kvirtal had drilled it into him over and over. On the battlefield, a single moment of carelessness could be fatal. The very moment you feel yourself relaxing was when you must be most on guard――