Death March — Fixed

POV: Ringrande

 

Good grief, what a farce.

 

Even if the King is attending, who do I have to have a mock battle with the prince?

 

Moreover, the prince is using the Holy Sword, Claiomh Solais--which is a sword that embodied the ‘Invincible’ Shiga Kingdom. There’s no was I can win.

 

The person who holds the Holy Sword Claiomh Solais must never lose--to do so means suggesting that the invincible Shiga Kingdom is defeated.

 

Losing is not permitted, even if it’s just a fantasy.

 

Although, even if I don’t deliberately try to lose, the prince should be slightly stronger than me if we exclude Magic. I can’t win unless I use my trump card--if I use it, I would undoubtedly kill the prince, which is bad.

 

Aah, this is depressing.

 

***

I can hear the people from the audience seat cheering my name. There are also people cheering for the prince, but it’s probably just because he’s a prince.

 

I’m wearing the Magic Armour Chaftar, which I got when I became a follower of the Hero, while shouldering the Lightning great sword which I got when I was a labyrinth explorer. The armour grants me the same effect as Physical Reinforcement Magic; I can produce a Magic Shield, as well as Magic that blocks sniping--if I put Magic Power into the Magic Circuit.

 

I enter the circle for the match.

 

Right as the match starts, I invoke Magic Shield. Following that, I put Magic Power into the Lightning great sword, and activate the lightning edge.

 

Feeling a bad premonition, even before I can activate Physical Reinforcement, I jump to the side.

 

A Fireball goes through where I was.

 

Fireball Wand?

 

That’s not a military weapon.

 

It’s not something that you should use without chanting, you know?

 

“Nostalgic, right? This is the thing you made in the school, after all.” The prince attacks while drawing blue trails with the Holy Sword.

 

What speed.

 

The legend that states the user of Holy Sword Claiomh Solais can fly in the sky, might actually be true.

 

I ward off the Holy Sword with my great sword.

 

Heavy!

 

My wrist is really hurt.

 

The Lightning Clad aura on the great sword tried to transmit to the Holy Sword, it got scattered uneventfully in the air. Even though he would have fainted, or been paralyzed, if he had used a normal sword.

 

Returning the favour, I swing the great sword at the prince’s legs.

 

He invokes the Barrier of the Holy Knight armour, which blocks the great sword.

 

As expected of the equipment of the Kingdom’s strongest knight order, the Holy Knights.

 

This time, I’ll trust my armour to block the prince’s sword, and focus all of my attention on attacking.

 

Executing the Heavy Blow Skill. The aim, and accuracy are lower than a normal attack, but I need the might.

 

Executing the Magic Edge Skill. I don’t usually use it since it’s a waste of Magic Power, but there’s no meaning in preserving Magic Power right now.

 

The great sword is tinged with red light.

 

Executing the Sharp Edge Skill. I don’t want to kill the prince, but if I don’t fight with the intention to kill, I won’t be able to penetrate his armour’s defence.

 

“Furious Whirlwind Blade!” I shout out the technique’s name, even though there’s no reason to do that. It looks like I’ve been accepted by Hayato’s foolishness.

 

I was sure that it’d be blocked, but it easily breaks the prince’s armour’s Barrier.

 

This is bad, he’ll surely die if I don’t stop.

 

I managed to stop the blade before the prince received a fatal hit.

 

However, the prince doesn’t miss my unstable posture--I was splatted to the arena’s ground like a ball.

 

***

Cheering, screams, and jeers.

 

It seems that I’ve lost consciousness for an instant.

 

The prince shoots pursuing Fireballs rapidly. Are you trying to kill me?

 

It appears that his enormous pride is hurt because I stopped his sword earlier. His eyes have turned bloodshot.

 

I chant Quick Burst to destroy the Fireballs.

 

However, our fight ends here--summoning circles are beginning to form in the sky.

 

This is dangerous.

 

My intuition tells me that I’m in danger--so loudly that it feels like my head is split. I begin to chant Break Magic Magic.

 

Not good, the prince hasn’t realized that there are summoning circles in the sky, he only looks at me--I have to stop chanting in order to avoid the prince’s attack. I shouldn’t have stopped the blade earlier if I knew that it’d turn out like this.

 

I wasn’t able to stop the summoning.

 

A yellow-skinned Demon appears from the Circle in the sky--that presence and coercion, it’s unmistakably an Upper Demon. The vibrations caused by the massive body, taller than five meters, as it lands on the ground--almost causes me to fall.

 

Hayato said before, that he had only run away from a Demon once. At the time, half of his companions sacrificed themselves in order to enable him to escape--he looked both frustrated and agonized as he said this.

 

Back then, I couldn’t believe how that absurdly strong Hayato could lose, but now I understand. It’s an order of magnitude stronger than any Demon I have ever seen.

 

Is a Demon Lord even stronger than that?

 

It’s impossible--absolutely impossible!

 

My soul, not reasoning, is screaming…I want to immediately escape from here, right now. But the words that help me to not suffer from a complete breakdown, came from an unexpected person.

 

 

***

“Demon, no, Demon Lord--your plan ends here!”

 

Prince, how are you not able to measure the opponent’s strength. He doesn’t seem to be bluffing.

 

If, at this time, I had any interest in a man who can bluff to a person with absolute strength, I might not had canceled the engagement.

 

The Demon Lord tilts its head to the side, and looks at the prince’s sword with interest, “That sword is Claiomh Solais, right? A descendant of Yamato, eh.”

 

At first, I am curious as to what the howling sound I hear while the yellow-skinned Demon is talking, I realize that its the chanting of the Demon’s second head.

 

In order to interfere with the summoning, I cast Quick Burst to the yellow-skinned Demon.

 

It’s no good.

 

The Demon casually defends against the weak Elementary-Grade Magic with its hand. I need more speed!

 

I execute Chant Shortening and chant Explosion, it probably won’t make it. However, I won’t let this spell go to waste.

 

When the yellow-skinned Demon complete its chanting, Monster begin to appear from Magic Circles that form on the ground. Centipedes, Scorpions, Praying Mantis, and even two-horned beetles.

 

It won’t be easy fighting them while dealing with the yellow-skinned Demon. The Magic Explosion just now didn’t do much damage either.

 

Oh right, there are the participants of the main match, and their friends, are still here. Let’s leave the Monsters to them.

 

I call out to the warriors in the place, using amplification Magic, “Brave warriors, let’s cooperate to subjugate the Monsters. Mages, prioritize supporting the warriors with Reinforcement Magic, instead of using attack Magic.”

 

The people who have been fighting separately begin to cooperate together.