He who Protects the Transforming Heroines from The Shadows - Chapter 20 - Reizeroll Showdown (Part 1)

With a loud crash, the barrier was broken.

As the top of the barrier shattered, moonlight poured into its interior.

And with the moonlight, the intruder appeared.

““““!?””””

The four who had steeled themselves to fight Reizeroll looked shocked at the sudden intruder.

“…So you showed up after all.”

Only Reizeroll, as if having foreseen this outcome, muttered those words.

With the brim of his long hat and black cloak fluttering, Spriggan uttered the words to guide his landing.

“—O’ Darkness, catch me.”

As those words dictated, darkness swirled beneath where Eito would land. The darkness solidified into something elastic and supported Eito.

Having killed his momentum, Eito landed successfully without taking any damage. The place where he landed was precisely the midpoint between Reizeroll and Akatsuki, Youka, Miya, and Scarecrow.

“Spriggan…!”

As if it were her role to call his name, Youka spoke.

So he really was alive. Not having seen Spriggan since the battle with Feliet, the unease that had been lingering in her heart finally began to dissipate.

“…So you really were safe after all.”

The same was true for Miya. In the battle with Feliet, Miya had nearly died but was saved by Spriggan. Knowing her benefactor was safe truly brought joy.

“…He’s the one, huh.”

Akatsuki, encountering Spriggan for the first time, kept an eye on Reizeroll while looking at Spriggan with interest. She had said before that she wanted to meet him someday, but hadn’t expected it to happen so soon.

“………”

Only Scarecrow remained silent, just staring at Spriggan. At first, he had been just as surprised as the other three, but quickly regained composure. Gone was the usual flippant demeanor—he now observed Spriggan with the eyes of a watcher.

“………”
“………”

Neither spoke. Spriggan and Reizeroll simply exchanged gazes.

Spriggan with his golden eyes. Reizeroll with her freezing ice-blue eyes.

“…Spriggan, I ask you once more. Who are you?”

It was Reizeroll who spoke first. The question was exactly the same as what she had asked Eito before.

“…I told you already. I’m Spriggan.”

Eito answered just as he had before. He would not give out information about himself, about Spriggan, lightly. That was something he had to remain firm on.

“…So you won’t talk. Then—I’ll kill you.”
“…Try it, if you think you can.”

At her sudden declaration of murder, Eito gave a fearless smile.

“—But before that.”

Eito raised just his right hand toward the four behind him.

“O’ Wall of Rejection, rise.”

Imagining it in his mind and giving it form with words, he shaped the darkness. Immediately after Eito murmured that, a massive wall of darkness rose between him and the four.

Thus, Eito and the four were separated.

“!? Spriggan!?”

Youka pounded on the wall, wondering what was going on. The wall Spriggan had created, like Reizeroll’s barrier, was translucent—slightly blurry, but you could see what was happening on the other side. She could still see Spriggan and Reizeroll.

“Hmm, looks like this wall’s the same as the barrier—it’ll be hard to break. That said, only the top part of the barrier was destroyed, so… what now, I wonder.”

Like a true senior Lightguide Princess, Akatsuki calmly reassessed their current situation. Panicking in this situation would do no good.

“…So we’re just in the way, is it?”

Miya didn’t understand Spriggan’s intent. Still, just like before, he had shown up to save them in a dangerous moment. This time as well.

But Spriggan mustn’t have trusted anyone. The proof of that was this wall.

Miya felt sad that Spriggan thought that way, and at the same time, she was filled with helpless anger at her own lack of power to do anything but be saved again.

“…This is definitely the power of Darkness.”

Scarecrow touched the wall that Spriggan had made, confirming the rumor that Spriggan used the power of darkness. Once he’d verified that, he turned his gaze to Spriggan’s back.

(Let me see it—what your power is really like.)

Scarecrow thought that in his heart and continued to observe how the situation would unfold.

♦

“—Armament Creation.”

The one who made the first move was Reizeroll.

With a light wave of her hand, several skeletal soldiers made of darkness emerged from the ground.

Armed with spears and swords, the summoned soldiers clacked their teeth as they lunged toward Eito.

“O’ Darkness, become handguns.”

Eito formed the twin pistols he had used in the fight against Feliet out of darkness and opened fire with dark-colored bullets at the skeleton soldiers.

Though taking hits, the soldiers kept charging toward him. Clicking his tongue, Eito landed a fierce kick on the first one to reach him.

With his enhanced physical strength, the blow sent the soldier flying.

Dodging the stabbing spears and slashing swords, Eito pulled the trigger of his pistols at point-blank range. The skeletal soldiers, pelted with bullets without end, had their dark-formed bones shattered and collapsed to the ground.

“Form Shift, Katana.”

Transforming the pistol in his right hand into a katana, Eito pushed off the ground in a straight line, aiming directly for Reizeroll.

“Hmph…”

Reizeroll swung her hand horizontally again, summoning even more skeleton soldiers made of darkness.

Just like before, they charged at Eito. In response, Eito used his left-hand pistol and right-hand katana to counter them.

First, he slashed straight across at the one coming head-on. Though the katana was made of darkness, it had mass. Normally, it would be too heavy for Eito to wield, but in his Spriggan state, he could swing it one-handed with ease.

With that strike, he separated the soldier’s head from its torso. Against the one attacking from the left, he pulled the trigger two or three times, neutralizing it.

“Tch. O’ Darkness, Become Chains.”

It was getting tedious to deal with them individually, so Eito summoned spiked chains from the void.

The chains wrapped around the soldiers, and the spikes pierced through the concrete floor, anchoring them deep into the ground. Now the soldiers couldn’t move.

“Let’s make this a one-on-one, Reizeroll.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, brat.”

Eito tried to close the distance with his gun-and-sword setup.

However—

From the void behind Reizeroll, countless arm-like tendrils stretched out, attacking Eito to stop his advance.

“Armament Creation.”

With a snap of Reizeroll’s fingers, more and more skeletal soldiers were summoned. With their rattling laughter echoing like mockery, they brandished their weapons toward Eito.

“Tch! Form Shift—Twin Swords!”

To respond to the incoming arms, Eito quickly transformed his katana and pistol into a pair of short, maneuverable twin swords.

He also summoned additional spiked chains from the void to handle the soldiers.

“—!”

With a sharp breath, Eito slashed at the attacking arms using both swords.

The skeleton soldiers were handled by the semi-automated chains. Meanwhile, he focused entirely on slashing down the endlessly approaching arms—again and again and again.

(Stay calm. If I stay calm, I can handle this.)

He knew how to use his power. He knew the specs of his transformed body. If he responded with a clear mind, he could withstand attacks of this level.

(My victory condition is getting them out. I’ve already thought of the method.)

When this barrier had first appeared, Soleil had said she analyzed it through his eyes and figured out what it was.

According to her analysis: it was impossible to break from the inside, and teleportation was disabled within. That was the barrier’s function, according to Soleil.

So either they needed to be physically removed from the barrier, or the entire barrier had to be destroyed. If they could get out, teleportation would be possible again.

(So far, Reizeroll doesn’t seem interested in doing anything to them. That’s a relief.)

Eito glanced at the four trapped between the barrier and his own wall of darkness, considering this. Even while thinking, he continued to slice through the dark arms.

(I just need a moment’s opening. If I can make that happen, I’ll fulfill my objective.)

There was no need to win. What he had to do now was survive without losing—and give the impression of fighting back.

However, the real problem was deeper than that. To create an opening against Reizeroll, close combat was the only option. That’s what Eito believed.

“…Nothing ever goes smoothly, huh.”

It was a risky move, but to break out of the one-sided assault from Reizeroll, Eito redirected all of his chains to focus solely on countering the arms.

♦

“…He’s amazing. I can’t believe he’s holding off that volume of attacks.”
“I’ll agree with you there. That power of his is seriously dangerous, though. From what I can tell, it looks like some kind of matter creation ability, but its versatility is off the charts.”

Akatsuki and Scarecrow murmured as they watched Spriggan fend off Reizeroll’s attacks with movements like a demon god.

“He’s wrecking those summoned soldiers so easily. Even though each one of them is a force on its own…”
“Eh? They don’t really look that way to me…”

Youka reacted to Scarecrow’s exasperated comment. The summoned soldiers being taken out one after another by Spriggan looked like nothing more than cannon fodder.

“They’re actually strong. Kakashi and I fought Reizeroll recently, and she summoned those same soldiers. They look like weaklings, but they’re seriously tough. We had a hard time with them.”

Akatsuki responded to Youka’s words. She and Scarecrow had fought Reizeroll when she appeared in the city center—the same time Youka and Miya were fighting Feliet.

That’s why Akatsuki and Scarecrow hadn’t stopped sweating since earlier. But it wasn’t from fear. It was because they were Rankers. Because they had fought Reizeroll.

They could tell just how absurdly powerful Spriggan was.

(His ability is ridiculous, but his physical prowess is just as insane. And those movements… you can’t move like that unless you can see everything around you. I don’t know what he’s after, but I definitely wouldn’t want to fight him.)

As she analyzed Spriggan, Akatsuki thought to himself.

(…But still, I don’t think he’s a bad person. This wall, it’s probably not to trap us, but to protect us from Reizeroll. And… I don’t know how to explain it, but even though I don’t know him, I feel like I can trust him.)

It was just a feeling, based on no evidence whatsoever. Just intuition. But there was a certain unexplainable certainty to it.

“…Hey, Red Shine.”
“What is it, Blue Shine?”

With her lips pressed into a line, Miya continued, clenching her fists as she watched Spriggan’s battle.

“…Let’s get stronger. So we don’t need to be protected by him—so we can be strong enough to help him instead.”

Tsukishita Miya was a cool-beauty-type ditz. But she was also loyal and strong-willed—in that sense, she was a solid person.

That’s why she couldn’t stand the idea of constantly being saved by Spriggan. Or rather, she couldn’t accept it. Her childhood friend Youka understood Miya’s personality as if reading a book.

“…Yeah, you’re right. Let’s get stronger together.”

Youka took Miya’s hand. Miya squeezed back. With their new resolve in place, the two of them quietly watched the battle between Spriggan and Reizeroll.

♦

Because he had redirected the chains to deal with the arms, the summoned soldiers now came attacking Eito from all directions.

(Let’s roll the dice…)

Eito lowered his stance and twisted his body. Then, timing it precisely for the moment just before the soldiers attacked, he swung both of his dual swords with all his might.

With a full-power strike in his Spriggan state, the surrounding soldiers were shredded to pieces in one blow.

“—O’ Darkness, clad my legs.”

In that opening, Eito spoke words to give form to his image.

His power was darkness. A formless force—thus, a power that could become anything. Though Eito usually used it to create physical weapons, just earlier, he had wrapped the darkness around his legs and converted it into destructive power to attempt to break the barrier.

This time, he would convert it into explosive acceleration.

By intentionally drawing the soldiers’ attention and crushing them all at once, he created a straight path to Reizeroll.

Then, with explosive force, Eito shot forward.

“—!!”

The sudden burst of speed caused the body of his Spriggan form to groan under the strain. This forceful tactic to close the distance was modeled after Feliet’s method, but as someone who was originally a regular human, it was clearly taking a toll.

Even so, it allowed Eito to move at an unbelievable speed.

A speed far beyond what any normal human could react to. With both hands crossing in front of him, Eito hurled his twin blades at Reizeroll with all his strength.

“Tch…”

Reizeroll clicked her tongue lightly and used newly summoned arms of darkness to block the approaching blades.

“O Darkness, become my sword—!”

Eito created a new sword in his right hand and successfully closed the distance, slipping into Reizeroll’s guard.

“…!”

Because Reizeroll had spent a moment reacting to the thrown blades, Eito had succeeded in getting close. For the first time, an emotion flickered across Reizeroll’s otherwise expressionless face.

(A sudden close-quarters attack! You’ve only ever attacked from long range—there’s no way you can handle this!)

Eito gripped his sword with both hands, raised it from the left, and unleashed a horizontal slash.

A slash delivered from super-acceleration. It wouldn’t be enough to kill Reizeroll, but just like with Feliet, it should at least deal damage. If that forced Reizeroll to retreat, all the better. Even if she didn’t, if she took damage, she would eventually show an opening.

Eito’s strike reached Reizeroll—or so he thought, at the exact moment she spoke quietly:

“—Did you really think I couldn’t fight in close combat?”

GAKIIIIIIIIIN!—the sound of hard steel clashing echoed.

“—!?”

Eito’s strongest attack had been blocked—by a sword Reizeroll was suddenly holding without him even noticing.