The all-out assault on Deboa, already impaled by countless stakes, continued unabated until Titan’s colossal blade of ruin cleaved its head clean off moments ago, finally bringing an end to the monster’s life.
"Did we... win?"
Oliver Akinashi, lord of the Akinashi Domain, muttered under his breath as if asking himself.
"Yeah. Go on and celebrate. This is a victory for Felice and all of humanity!"
When I threw up my arms and made the declaration in a ringing voice, a tidal wave of cheers roared from the watching residents of Akinashi.
"Kotetsu Akinashi’s long-cherished wish... has finally been fulfilled..."
Oliver dropped to his knees, tears streaming uncontrollably down his face as he laughed out loud.
If the legends held true, the evil dragon Deboa was the hated enemy that had slain Kotetsu Akinashi's beloved. To be forced to sit by and do nothing while that sworn foe slumbered right under their noses must have bred an unimaginable frustration. For the Akinashi family, who kept the memory of Kotetsu's bitter regret alive, slaying Deboa had surely been a generational yearning.
Above all, they had shouldered the burden of keeping watch over a monster for hundreds of years, never knowing when the barrier might fail and unleash its fangs upon their people. Their thirst for release from that crushing responsibility ran far deeper and stronger than any of us had realized.
"Does this mean everything went according to Kai's plan?"
Standing beside me, Rose gave me a half-lidded, skeptical look as she asked.
Just moments earlier, Girimehkala had reported that the Wind Cats completely crushed Count Ketzer’s domain army and captured their commander-in-chief, Mudite. The plan was proceeding with unmatched perfection.
"Nah, not just yet."
We still had to forcibly remove the fool who orchestrated this whole farce from the stage. Until Rose could get Eastend’s governance running smoothly, we needed to root out as much interference from the other claimants to the throne as possible. Count Ketzer was in the way of that. I planned to permanently purge him from this world right here.
"Well then, let's go appraise that thing. We'll have to split the take with the Akinashi family, but it should provide enough operating capital for the time being."
Deboa came with the grand legend of an evil dragon capable of destroying the kingdom. Between the bounty and selling off its claws, fangs, scales, and even its internal organs, it was bound to fetch a handsome price.
"So that's what you meant by maximizing our profits?"
Just as I shifted my eyes away from Rose—who let out a long, weary sigh—and looked back toward Deboa...
"Master, something is coming. It is using that giant lizard as a medium."
It was a stiff, tense voice, entirely uncharacteristic of Asta.
Centering on Deboa, which began glowing a bright crimson, a three-dimensional magic circle coalesced. The script forming the geometric pattern looked familiar. If I remembered correctly, it was the language of fairy tales—the Ancient Divine Language.
"Nemea, pull everyone in Akinashi into your domain."
"Sir! And what of His Excellency?"
"I'll handle that thing, of course. It might turn out to be a bit troublesome, so you lot stay put and protect these people."
"As you command."
Nemea placed a hand over his chest and bowed. I handed the wolf pup Fen over to the fox beastfolk, Nine-Tails, then stepped out of Nemea's domain and descended to the earth below.
Blood seeped from every pore of Deboa's body, gathering into a sphere suspended in midair. That might be the Incarnation I had read about in books. If I recalled, it was a forbidden art that transferred only a soul from another realm, using the flesh and viscera of creatures meeting specific criteria to fabricate a physical vessel.
A visitor from another world, huh? Nine times out of ten, it was bound to be formidable. If I just stood here watching the spectacle unfold, a fight was inevitable. And that meant...
"Master, you appear to be in quite high spirits."
Startled by that uncharacteristically grave voice, I turned around to find Asta glaring at me with furrowed brows and a severe grimace, making an utterly preposterous remark.
"High spirits? Don't talk nonsense. This is just a massive pain."
"Then why do you wear a grin as though you are setting off on a pleasant picnic?"
"A grin?"
Frowning, I touched my face. Sure enough, my cheeks were relaxed, and the corners of my mouth were curled upward. Viewed objectively, I suppose I really did look like I was having the time of my life.
Come on, now. You don't honestly think I'm looking forward to trading blows with some powerhouse, do you? Now that I had my past memories back, I knew for a fact I wasn't some incurable battle maniac. Besides, this world had more people stronger than me than you could shake a stick at. There was no need to go needlessly putting my life on the line here.
"As I suspected... you truly did not realize it. Master, you bear an uncanny resemblance to my former master and friend. No matter how sensible you pretend to be, your true nature cannot be changed."
"That's a rather cruel thing to say."
Whether he heard me or not, Asta stared at me, a profound melancholy clouding his gaze.
"And going forward, it is unlikely that utterly mad desire will ever be fulfilled."
He delivered the verdict with absolute certainty.
"What on earth are you babbling about—"
Before I could finish the question, Asta cut in.
"Master, pray do as you see fit."
Placing his right hand over his chest, Asta gave a deep bow and vanished into thin air.
He had completely thrown off my rhythm, but he was right that fighting whatever was in that sphere was entirely pointless. Since it was almost certainly a visitor from another realm, defeating it wouldn't even help me gauge my standing in this world without a standard for comparison. That was why I ought to smash that sphere to pieces right now. The current me had the power to do it.
That was what I should have done, and yet...
"You've got to be kidding me..."
My right hand was simply resting loosely on the hilt of Murasame at my waist.
At this rate, just as Asta had said, it really did look like I was longing for a meaningless, unproductive brawl.
No, I was going to kill it either way. Maybe it would at least offer a small hint as to where I stood in the grand scheme of this world. Right. That had to be it.
The mottled red-and-white orb gradually took the shape of a massive beast. As if in resonance, the magic power radiating from it grew progressively thicker and more suffocating.
What had incarnated using the giant lizard as an offering was a three-headed dragon. Possessing a mountain of a body several times the size of Deboa, it sported three heads lined with massive fangs and three pairs of wings. In appearance, it was the spitting image of a dragon straight out of legend. The only bizarre detail was the oversized, otherworldly military caps perched atop each of its three heads.
"Is this... the Human Realm? Seeing as I have incarnated through the demise of my kin, the game has commenced. May I take it as such?"
The colossal lizard posed its nonsensical question with its needlessly bloated frame.
"Who knows."
Damn it all...
"I am Azi Dahaka. In accordance with the Rules, I shall commit every conceivable atrocity across this Human Realm.
—I shall burn the nations, towns, and fields of mankind,
—I shall trample upon the dignity of mankind,
—I shall bring ruin and despair upon mankind.
For that is our very—"
Again with this crap?!
"Enough already. I couldn't care less about your grandiose delusions that you can't even pull off. More importantly, can you even put up a decent fight against me?"
It looked like nothing more than an overgrown lizard to me. If it had placed severe restrictions on its own power, that might be another story, but I wasn't holding my breath.
Lately, it was always like this. The powerhouse who had overwhelmed Arnold was already gone by the time I arrived, and now, after getting my hopes up again, I was left with just another oversized lizard. Utterly exasperating.
"Can I put up a fight, you ask? Are you truly asking that in earnest?"
Judging by the slight quiver in its voice, it seemed to feel insulted.
Not that I had any interest in reptilian psychology. I couldn't care less about a giant lizard's delicate feelings.
"Yeah. You reek of nothing but small-fry."
"T-To call me a small-fry—"
Kicking off the ground, I instantly closed the distance between us, unleashed a blinding flash of Murasame, severed one of the three screeching heads, and snapped back to my original stance.
"See? You couldn't even react."
A heartbeat late, the giant lizard Azi Dahaka let out a shriek of the sort I had heard far too many times before.
"Getting my hopes up for nothing..."
It was repulsive. Utterly repulsive. Everything about this creature's existence rubbed me the wrong way. I knew full well how selfish and unreasonable I was being, yet I couldn't stop the long-forgotten flame of irritation from flaring up within me.
"You insolent, bottom-feeding insectttt!!"
Crimson fluid cascaded onto the earth from the severed stump. From the neck, the splattered chunks of meat, and the pooling blood, lizards of every shape and size came pouring forth. Hundreds of them bared their fangs at me in unison. Meanwhile, the stump swelled and instantly regenerated without a single blemish.
"Devour that maggot! Leave not a trace of bone, blood, or flesh behind!!"
The swarming legion of lizards rushed me all at once.
"True Kai-Style Swordsmanship: One-Sword Style, First Form—Death Line."
In an instant, the lizards were blown to smithereens. A fraction of a second later, pseudo-dragons tens of times greater in number erupted from the scattered gore.
"It's futile! The more you cut, the more my kin multiply!"
Apparently, this oversized lizard named Azi Dahaka could clone itself from a single scrap of meat or droplet of blood.
"You really take me for a fool."
Did it honestly believe brute numbers and sheer bulk were enough to win a battle? If so, the sheer absurdity of it was enough to make me weep. Besides, even back in that Easy Dungeon, there were plenty of monsters with bizarre traits just like this. It was hardly a rare trick.
With my brand of swordsmanship, exterminating every last trace of this thing was child's play. After all, I had spent the last several tens of thousands of years doing nothing else.
Uncoupling Murasame's scabbard from my hip, I held it in my left hand. Then, resting my right hand lightly against the hilt, I dropped my center of gravity and shut my eyes tight.
A dome-shaped barrier rippled outward in concentric rings, completely engulfing the monster's massive frame. Now, the fool was firmly inside my belly.
As the air groaned and warped under the pressure, I gripped Murasame's hilt with my right hand and channeled my magic. A crimson aura spiraled off the blade, churning into a raging vortex.
"What's the matter? Ready to surrender—"
"True Kai-Style Swordsmanship: One-Sword Style, Sixth Form—Zero."
To the pathetic clown who didn't even realize it was already trapped in the belly of the beast, I uttered the ultimate death knell.
Murasame's blade cut through the air at divine speed. In that split second, sound vanished first. Then color was stripped away, washing the entire world in blinding white.
It was a realm of pure white nothingness where all existence was wiped clean. Then, the colors rushed back, sound crashed in, and the world began to breathe once more.
ROOOOOOOAAARRRRRR!!
A deafening shockwave and a tempestuous blast of wind swept across the northeastern plains of Akinashi in massive, concentric rings, obliterating everything in their wake.
"Guh... gah..."
Before my eyes lay a bottomless crater carved into the earth. Hovering in the air above the pit was a single, lone lizard head.
"Hah! Look at that, you've slimmed down quite a bit."
It had probably snapped its own neck off to escape destruction, just like a lizard dropping its tail.
Not that it made much difference.
"Id... can'd be... You basdard... whad... did you do... do me...?"
Far from regenerating, its very form was horribly warped and melted, teetering on the absolute brink of death.
"Nothing complicated. I just compressed my magic power and discharged it alongside the slash."
Everything, living or inanimate, held magic power within it. It was, in essence, the blueprint that allowed an object to exist. And dense, overwhelming magic possessed the fundamental trait of overwriting and neutralizing weaker magic. The technique that weaponized that principle was the Sixth Form—Zero.
The strike flooded the inside of the barrier with an infinite number of slashes, each infused to the breaking point with my compressed magic. You could call it a long-range version of Death Line, saturated with pure, concentrated magic power.
It had the power to systematically unravel any miracles wrought by an opponent's magic. On top of that, the raw destructive force was massively amplified, leaving a gaping crater in the earth wherever it struck—which meant it wasn't something I could throw around casually.
"Imbossible... Wid zomeding lige dad... I, of all beoble—"
"Still running from reality, even now? You really are a hopelessly pathetic wretch."
Shrugging my shoulders, I leveled Murasame's edge toward it.
"Whad... are you going... do do do me...?"
"Oh, carve you to pieces until you literally die, of course. You were bragging about trampling our dignity and bringing ruin and despair, weren't you? So you can hardly complain when the exact same thing happens to you."
I might as well use this thing to vent some of my pent-up frustration.
"S-Sdob iddd!"
"Not a chance. You annoyed me far too much."
"Helb—"
Using the giant lizard Azi Dahaka's ear-splitting shrieks as a lullaby, I set to work carving it to pieces.