He who Protects the Transforming Heroines from The Shadows - Chapter 21 - Reizeroll Showdown (Part 2)

Eito’s most desperate strike never reached Reizeroll.

Reizeroll had stopped it with her own sword.

“…How insulting.”
“Damned monster…!”

The blow he had been half-sure would land was caught with ease, and Eito couldn’t help but spit out the words.

“…Who do you think I am? My mastery over the power of darkness far surpasses the likes of you.”

Then, with unbelievable strength, Reizeroll began to push Eito’s blade back, inch by inch.

“Kh…!?”

Eito mustered every ounce of his strength to resist, their clash turning into a fierce deadlock. But little by little, Reizeroll’s sword crept closer toward him.

(She’s reinforcing her body with the power of darkness!)

Seeing the black aura swirling around her, Eito understood the secret behind Reizeroll’s overwhelming might.

(Damn it! I can reinforce my body with darkness too, but only for an instant—and only for a single blow! I can’t maintain it the way she does!)

Unlike creating weapons, cloaking one’s own body in darkness required extremely delicate control. Eito could manage to cloak one part of himself for a moment, but to maintain it constantly over his whole body as Reizeroll did was almost impossible for him.

And while those thoughts ran through his head, the pressure on his sword continued to increase.

“You clearly lack the skill to wield darkness properly. The very fact that you’re being overpowered here proves it.”
“Talk all you want—O Darkness, burst forth!”

Realizing he was about to be crushed, Eito deliberately let the darkness composing his sword erupt.

Suddenly, the released energy exploded outward, creating a shockwave.

“—!?”
“Guh…!”

Reizeroll, with her body reinforced by darkness, took almost no damage. But the sudden point-blank blast still sent her sliding back a short distance.

Eito, on the other hand, though his Spriggan body was superhuman, had not reinforced himself the same way. He was thrown back violently, taking noticeable damage as he tumbled across the ground.

“…hah, yeah, that one hurt.”

Barely managing to roll into a safe landing, Eito staggered but fixed his eyes on the distance he had gained from Reizeroll.

Pain coursed through his body, but it was still responsive. He would be fine—for now.

What mattered more was recalculating his strategy.

(I thought close combat might give me a chance, but it’s tougher than I expected. Then how the hell do I get out of this…?)

His true condition for victory was to buy time for the four behind him to escape. To do that, he needed to create an opening in Reizeroll. That opening was essential, because the method he was planning required at least a little time.

But now that even close combat had proven ineffective, things looked grim.

That left only one path—

“…The answer’s simple enough. O darkness, become my sword. And one more—dark chains, come forth.”

Like with Feliet before, the only choice was to force damage on Reizeroll and make her retreat. Resolving himself, Eito once again summoned a sword of darkness and chains that extended from the void.

(This is Reizeroll. An opponent absurdly beyond me. Driving her off is practically impossible… but I have no choice.)

Eito steeled his resolve and dashed forward.

With him, about five summoned chains tipped with spikes flew alongside, circling him like hunting hounds.

“So, you come again… Fine. If you insist on challenging me in close quarters, I shall indulge you.”

Reizeroll summoned more arms of darkness, lashing them toward Spriggan as a feint.

Eito had his hovering chains intercept them, black chains clashing violently with black arms. Meanwhile, he charged straight at Reizeroll with his blade.

Reizeroll blocked the blow with her sword, unfazed.

Eito had expected as much. He immediately followed up with a diagonal slash from the right.

That too was stopped with ease.

Then came a flurry: left diagonal, reverse right, horizontal slash, reverse left. A furious storm of blows—but every single one was met and parried by Reizeroll.

And now it was her turn. With a movement like cutting the air itself, she struck back.

Her body enhanced by darkness, her sword arm and even the gleam of her blade moved at speeds no normal human could ever follow. Even Akatsuki or Scarecrow would have struggled to react to such ferocity.

(I can see it…!)

But the golden eyes of Spriggan clearly traced every arc, every line of her attacks.

Among Spriggan’s gifts, his eyes were exceptional. Because for Eito, the act of seeing was the foundation of everything he did.

And if he could see, then he could react.

With his ordinary body, even if he perceived the strikes, he could never have avoided them—his reactions simply weren’t fast enough. He lacked the specs.

But Spriggan’s body far surpassed even the Lightguide Princesses or the Guardians. Eito did not know this fact. His given knowledge only taught him how to use the power, not how his vessel compared to others.

Still, with those golden eyes, he tracked the blows; with Spriggan’s body, he parried with his sword or slipped aside; and when the weight of her strikes was overwhelming, he redirected them, sliding his blade to deflect the force.

(I’m holding my own for now, but just blocking won’t win me anything. The real question is—how do I land a hit on her?)

With a faint glint of killing intent flickering in his eyes, Eito pressed onward. Thus began the true close-quarters battle between Eito and Reizeroll.

♦

(…What’s going on here?)

As she swung her blade, Reizeroll felt a question gnawing about this unnatural situation.

The very fact that the Spriggan was still drawing breath at this moment was already abnormal.

The moment she learned that this Spriggan had driven back Feliet, Reizeroll knew she was dealing with an opponent of unusual caliber. That was why she had not held back in this battle.

Because of that, she had believed he could kill the Spriggan swiftly. Even in her weakened state, her power was still (__)’s power. To kill a single lifeform shouldn’t take her this long.

And yet—Spriggan still lived. Worse, he was deflecting and evading attacks enhanced by Reizeroll’s darkness.

(His eyes must be exceptional. And his reaction speed… it far surpasses those of ordinary Lightguide Princesses or Guardians.)

In the split-second gaps between Reizeroll’s strikes, Spriggan even managed to return counter-blows. Reizeroll narrowly evaded them by a hair’s breadth.

With almost no visible movement, she followed her evasions with a thrust of her sword toward Spriggan—but even that was reacted to and dodged at the last possible instant.

(…As I thought, this one is dangerous. I don’t know his goals or his purpose, but if left unchecked, he will become a threat.)

Reizeroll summoned another sword of darkness into his left hand. Now wielding twin blades, her offensive grew even more ferocious as he pressed the attack.

“Tch! Sword of Darkness!”

To keep up with that relentless onslaught, Eito too manifested another sword in his left hand.

Twin blades against twin blades. Their clash became even more intricate and heated.

“…Kakashi can you follow any of that exchange?”
“Not a damn bit. Those two are beyond humans…”

Akatsuki and Scarecrow, watching the melee between Spriggan and Reizeroll, spoke with voices tinged half in awe, half in fear.

(So far away…)

Youka thought. She had once said she wanted to become strong enough to help Spriggan, and that sentiment remained till now. But between who she was now and who Spriggan was, the gap in “strength” was an unbridgeable gulf.

(I want to know you. I want to talk with you. I want to fight alongside you… If I can someday reach the same place you stand, will I finally understand you?)

Clutching her chest tightly, Youka fixed her eyes on Spriggan’s back as he fought, her gaze filled with a tangle of emotions.

She hated being able to do nothing but watch. Yet that was her role now. The Lightguide Princess who was no different from an ordinary girl who could only be protected.

She knew this. Deep inside, she told herself it couldn’t be helped, that it was simply who she was at the moment. But her heart refused to accept it.

“…Do your best, Spriggan.”

Coming from someone being protected by him, those words were irresponsible. And yet, knowing that, Youka still couldn’t keep herself from saying them.

♦

(Damn… at this rate, I won’t be able to hold out.)

Clashing blades with Reizeroll in close combat, Eito realized his movements were gradually slowing down. For now, he was barely managing, but if things continued like this, sooner or later Reizeroll would land a fatal blow.

He didn’t know how much stamina Reizeroll had left, but the enemy’s movements hadn’t lost any sharpness. If he didn’t try to end this soon, he would lose.

(But how? I thought maybe I could find a weakness or a habit in her style through close combat… but there’s nothing.)

The reason Eito had rushed into melee was to strike hard and fast. But when he discovered Reizeroll could fight up close as well, he chose to continue the sword fight partly to observe her more carefully.

Yet, even pushing the power of his golden eyes to their limit, he found nothing. Of course, Eito was no trained fighter—if a seasoned warrior with the same eyes were watching, maybe they could have spotted an opening or flaw.

But he couldn’t. That was the reality.

And even during that fleeting thought, Eito’s stamina was being rapidly consumed.

Finally, one of Reizeroll’s blades grazed his body.

“Tch…!”
“What’s wrong? Your movements are growing dull.”

Swinging the sword that had just sliced Eito’s cloak, Reizeroll continued his twin-bladed onslaught without pause. The fact that he bothered to say that was likely to emphasize, *“I know your stamina won’t last.”*

“You’ve got a nasty personality, you know that…!”
“…I’ll take that as a compliment.”

As though to finish it in one go, Reizeroll’s strikes suddenly grew even faster.

(She can still get faster!?)

To keep up, Eito strained his golden eyes further, forcing them to read the speed of Reizeroll’s movements.

But the price was steep—his stamina drained at an alarming rate.

“Gh—…!”

Just looking was exhausting. Using his eyes to their fullest, while focusing to avoid every blow in such a deadly exchange, burned through his strength even faster.

Bit by bit, wounds he couldn’t completely block or dodge began to pile up.

Small sprays of bl00d burst from his body.

(Haha… damn, that hurts. As expected of the enemy’s boss, she’s insanely strong. My stamina’s almost gone… In that case, it’s all or nothing.)

Eito poured every last ounce of focus into his eyes, preparing to stake everything on the next exchange.

Reizeroll swung her left sword in a diagonal slash. Eito blocked and deflected it with his right blade.

Immediately, with a flick of his wrist, Reizeroll reversed the left sword and slashed horizontally. At the same time, her right sword came down in a vertical cut.

(A simultaneous strike. Normally I’d have to block with both my swords—but that won’t work here.)

Eito made a true gamble.

As the horizontal slash came from his right, he suddenly reached his left hand behind his back and threw away his left-hand sword.

The dark blade spun through the air, landing perfectly between Reizeroll’s horizontal strike and Eito’s own body.

“…?”
“…Yeah, doesn’t make sense to you, does it.”

Just as the slash was about to carve into him, Eito spoke a single word.

“Burst.”

The discarded sword exploded in a shockwave.

“Another a cheap trick…!”

This time the shockwave didn’t radiate from the center—it erupted to the left. Reizeroll’s left-hand slash was knocked away, but the vertical cut from her right blade remained.

“…Then that works just fine.”

Last time, Eito had deliberately let himself be blown back. But this time, that wasn’t the goal.

Bracing with all his strength, he resisted the shockwave as much as possible. Still, the force shoved his body slightly to the left.

And that was exactly what he wanted.

“What—!?”

Because of that small shift, the vertical strike that had been aimed at Eito’s head instead only tore through his shoulder.

“Ghh—…!?”

Agonizing pain tore through his right shoulder—but Eito had won his gamble.

Reizeroll’s left hand, forced back by the shockwave, was now behind him at a diagonal. Her right hand had already slashed open Eito’s shoulder, ending her attack.

That was where Eito’s chance lay.

(Lose the battle to win the war. Never want to do this again, though…)

Ignoring the wound he had just taken, Eito gripped his sword with both hands and swung it down in a reverse left diagonal slash, aiming straight at Reizeroll.

An unavoidable strike—the result of Eito’s gamble.

His slash reached Reizeroll.

—But that was all it did.

*Clang!* An unnatural sound rang out.

“…Huh?”

It felt like swinging a cheap knife against a metal pillar.

Eito’s dark sword had struck Reizeroll’s side—yet nothing happened.

“…What are you staring blankly for?”

Reizeroll tossed aside the sword in her left hand, and with that now free hand, grabbed Eito’s neck in a crushing grip.

“Gah—!?”

His throat was squeezed shut, air forced out of him. With the strength of a vise, Reizeroll lifted Eito off the ground.

“If one can enhance physical ability with darkness, then it follows that one can harden the body with it as well.”
“Gh… gghh…!”

He couldn’t breathe. Agony. That sensation made him fully aware that he was being dragged toward death.

(…She’s right. I rushed to finish this fight.)

Through his fading consciousness, Eito realized it. Thinking back, Feliet had also been able to harden his body. Then, of course the boss—Reizeroll—would be able to do the same. He had been too desperate, and forgot something so obvious.

“Still… you did give me some trouble. In the end, I never learned what you really are, but now that you’re about to die, I’ve lost interest.”

Without the slightest emotion in her frozen ice-blue eyes, Reizeroll continued to squeeze her left hand.

Then, glancing briefly toward Youka, Miya, Akatsuki, and Scarecrow, she muttered:

“Hm. While I’m at it, I may as well erase them too.”

Though Eito couldn’t see them, Reizeroll had spotted Youka and Miya desperately pounding on the wall, their faces twisted in panic, and decided his next course of action.

Originally, she had ordered Feliet to dispose of those two Lightguide Princesses, but thanks to Spriggan, that attempt had failed. In that case, it was only proper that the master herself cover for his subordinate’s failure.

Of course, she wouldn’t stop at those two—the rest of the Lightguide Princesses and their Guardians would also be eliminated.

“Well then, time for you to die.”

Reizeroll leveled her right-hand sword horizontally, aiming to drive it through Spriggan and finish him.

(—Yeah, that’d be the end of me.)

As death loomed before him, that was all Eito thought.

If it were only his life ending here, so be it. Full of regret, yes—but it would simply be the price of his own recklessness. That was something he could accept.

But letting the two he was supposed to protect be killed because of him—that was unacceptable. To die bearing that truth was unbearable.

Reizeroll’s blade drew closer to his defenseless body. His golden eyes caught the attack in slow motion.

(If only… If only I had the power to break this guy, anything at all, I’d take it.)

Not the power to protect—
The power to destroy.

On the edge of death, that was the strength Eito craved.

Clear killing intent. A human’s negative emotions. And, fittingly, the same kind of negative energy that gave rise to Darkness.

In the instant he embraced that emotion—

Something stirred within Eito.