บท 110: An Outstretched Hand Part 2
"Oh! Thanks, Inaba-san… I guess I got too wrapped up in my thoughts."
Suzu could interpret his squeaks, so she knew he was saying "Don't be so nervous,
Suzu my girl. Ye've got me on yer side and there ain't nothing that can stop me."
She let herself relax, and Inaba patted her forehead with his foreleg as if to say, "Good
girl."
Smiling a little, Suzu nevertheless remained on guard for surprise attacks. A second
later, Inaba let out a startled squeak and did a flip on Suzu's head, messing up her hair.
He then pivoted on his forelegs and delivered a powerful kick to the rear with his hind
legs.
There was a burst of sparks and a loud clang of metal clashing against metal as Inaba's
greaves hit a glowing gray claymore.
"God, that bunny's annoying."
"Eri," Suzu said, turning around. Her eyes met Eri's, which were full of murderous rage.
Had Inaba not blocked that swing, it would have taken Suzu's head clean off. Eri had
used dark magic to hide and rush Suzu with a surprise attack. She was dead serious
about killing Suzu.
"Squeak!"
Inaba twirled atop Suzu's head like a break-dancer and launched another kick with
his second leg that created a spiraling shockwave. He was using one of his special
magics, Air Dance's derivative skill, Cyclone Burst.
Eri flapped her wings and somersaulted away to avoid the attack.
"I heard it takes a lot of time to power up monsters with evolution magic. How'd you
make that one so strong so fast?" Eri asked, narrowing her eyes in irritation.
"Oh, Inaba-san's just special. I haven't powered him up much; he was just this strong
to begin with."
"Sounds like a load of bullshit to me. Either way, I've got you outnumbered. I bet you
don't have too many other familiars that are that strong! Gloom Field!"
Inaba's sense of sight and hearing were obscured by Eri's spell. A black sandstorm
blocked his vision, while his ears were assailed by a cacophony of scraping noises.
Meanwhile, Eri unleashed a disintegration beam at Suzu and a barrage of disintegration
feathers at the butterflies fluttering around her.
"Hallowed Ground - Etherian Citadel!" Suzu exclaimed, casting another original
barrier spell. However, this was one she'd come up with on the spot. It was a multifold
barrier that created a status-cleansing aura within it.
Five of the barrier's layers were shaved off instantly, but it bought enough time to cure
Inaba's vision and hearing. However, since Suzu was riding on her cherry blossoms,
she couldn't brace herself against the attack, so she was sent flying. That left her
butterflies bereft of her protection, and the disintegration feathers started tearing
through them.
"Ngh, I see you took your time to prepare!" Suzu shouted.
"Not just me!" Eri replied, and a second later, a horde of Corpse Apostles swarmed out
of the buildings behind Suzu. All of them had fully charged their own disintegration
magic. Their mana surged as they prepared to launch a simultaneous assault on Suzu.
Unlike before, they were going all out.
Suzu used Aerodynamic to create a platform for herself midair and braced herself. The
storm of disintegration magic cut through half of her twenty layers of Hallowed
Grounds in an instant. But in that same instant, another ten appeared from within her
adaptable citadel to replenish those that had been lost. Suzu's fortress was powerful
enough to keep up with the rate at which disintegration magic shaved it away. She was
taking on the combined attacks of nearly eighty Corpse Apostles as well as Eri's own
punishing bombardment without any trouble at all.
Fucking hell, how are her barriers this sturdy?! Eri thought, fuming. If she didn't know
from experience how dangerous it was to let her emotions control her, she would have
flown into a rage already.
"Break already—Scatterdust!" Eri exclaimed, using her strongest mana disruption
spell, which not only disturbed the mana of the magic Suzu was using, but even messed
with her internal flow of mana.
The twofold interference spell should have sealed Suzu's fate, but—
"Nnnnnnnnngh! I can't lose heeeeeeeeere!"
"You've gotta be kidding me…" Eri murmured, shivering in fear. Despite her best
efforts, Suzu's fortress remained unbroken. In fact, Suzu seemed to be bringing her
barriers out even faster than before.
"You're good, Eri! I guess I'll have to go all out after all!"
"All out? Don't tell me you were holding back before?!"
"No, not exactly. It's just now that I don't have to worry about protecting everyone, I
can focus on my own fight!"
Regardless of the veracity of that claim, Eri was forced to admit she'd misjudged Suzu.
True, Suzu had a lot of artifacts helping her out, but her own magical skills were also
far greater than Eri remembered.
How hard did she train to get this good?
Eri was so shaken that, for a moment, her control over her own magic wavered. Her
disintegration beam weakened, as did her mana disruption spell. And since Suzu was
within her own status-curing barrier fortress, the effects of Eri's mana disruption
were cured instantly.
"Dance, my petals!"
The cherry blossoms that had been lying dormant around Suzu rose as one and
swallowed the Corpse Apostles.
"Hah, those petals are impressive, I'll give you that! Still, they're too puny to break
through a disintegration magic barrier!" Eri shouted.
Eri knew the disintegration barriers surrounding the Corpse Apostles would work
just as well on Suzu's cherry blossoms as they had on the butterflies' paralyzing scales.
And as she had expected, Suzu's petals couldn't break through the Corpse Apostles'
defenses. However, that hadn't been Suzu's aim to begin with. She hadn't brought
these petals here to cut up her enemies.
"Bloom into flowers of light—Stardust Flowers!"
There was a blinding flash of light, followed by a deafening explosion. Suzu had made
the mana within her cherry blossoms explode all at once. She'd effectively cast a
Barrier Burst from all sides and all angles on every single Corpse Apostle.
Momentarily blinded, Eri instinctively backed away. She covered her face with her arm
and cocooned herself with her wings. After a few seconds, her vision cleared up, so
she unfurled her wings… only to discover that half of her Corpse Apostles had been so
badly mangled that they were barely recognizable. And of those that remained, a good
chunk were damaged enough that they couldn't fight effectively.
Eri gritted her teeth in frustration, but she didn't even get a chance to curse before
Inaba came bounding toward her.
"Squeak, squeak!"
"Tch!"
Inaba's eyes glowed angrily, and he seemed to be saying, "How dare ya hurt my girl!
I'mma make you pay!" The rabbit hurtled toward Eri with such speed that she could
barely even follow his afterimages.
Inaba twirled three times and launched a blisteringly fast roundhouse kick at Eri's
head. With how much speed he'd built up, Inaba's kick was nearly as strong as a blow
from Shea's war hammer.
Relying on her enhanced reflexes, Eri brought her swords up to block. Unfortunately,
that wasn't enough to absorb the impact of the blow, so she was sent flying with such
force that it felt like she'd been hit by a train.
"Squeaaaaaaaaak!"
"You stupid beast!"
Ears fluttering in the wind, Inaba chased after Eri. And as soon as he caught up, he
blasted her with a barrage of highly precise kicks.
High kick, low kick, back kick, roundhouse kick—Inaba didn't let up for a second.
Spinning like a top, he threw in a series of spin kicks next. Eri wasn't able to block
them all, and more than a few of the kicks hit her reinforced dress. With each blow, it
felt like her internal organs were being run through a blender.
Finally, Inaba finished the assault with a kick so fast that it broke the sound barrier
and caused a sonic boom. The sword Eri used to block it was pulverized by the blow.
"This is ridiculous. Even Freid doesn't have a monster this strong!"
Despite how quickly Eri was flying away, Inaba was able to keep up with just
Aerodynamic.
This is one sick joke.
By the end of Inaba's second assault, Eri's dress was in tatters and she was on her third
sword. Had she not used necromancy to inherit the swordsmanship of a dead
swordmaster famed for his defensive techniques, she would have been turned into
mincemeat already.
Incensed, Eri let one of Inaba's kicks shatter her arm, and in return, she unleashed a
wave of disintegration magic all around her. Not even a monster as powerful as Inaba
could withstand disintegration magic, so he quickly leaped back to Suzu's side.
Panting, Eri glared at Suzu through the gap in her bangs. Her remaining Corpse
Apostles had, of course, been unable to break through Suzu's citadel. In fact, their
numbers had been whittled down even further as Suzu had isolated the injured ones
and destroyed them with Barrier Bursts. There were barely twenty Corpse Apostles
left in fighting shape.
"How? How am I the one being pushed back?" Eri muttered, prompting Suzu to face
her. "I have a new body, new abilities, and an army of Corpse Apostles, so… why? Why
am I the one who's losing? I'm not even fighting that insane monster Nagumo. It's just
Suzu. I just have to beat the dumb idiot who's always smiling and doesn't have a care
in the world… so why? Why are you the one standing there?"
Eri shouted hysterically. She tore at her hair with so much force that Suzu thought she
might actually pull a few strands out. She would have looked like a spoiled child
throwing a tantrum if she didn't seem so utterly insane.
Suzu stared directly into Eri's madness-stained eyes, her own eyes as serene as the
surface of a lake. Then, in a gentle, soothing voice, she said, "Well, that's a simple
question to answer. I'm standing here because I want to talk to you."
"Huh?" Eri mumbled, confused. Then, after thinking about it for a few seconds, she
drew her own conclusions and said, "Oh, I get it. You want me to grovel at your feet as
punishment for what I did to you, right? That's what you worked so hard to do? Ha ha
ha, I guess you've become just as twisted as me! Fine, go ahead and laugh. I'll grovel
all you want."
Eri sneered at Suzu, her eyes full of venom. Suzu might have considered them best
friends, but Eri had seen her as just a tool to be used, so once Suzu had outlived her
usefulness, Eri had thrown her away. On top of that, she'd even laughed at Suzu's belief
that they'd ever truly been friends. If Suzu had come for revenge, that made things
simple. It proved to Eri that Suzu really was just a shallow, stupid girl, and that made
her easier to manage in Eri's mind.
But contrary to Eri's expectations, Suzu replied, "Laugh at you? That's not what I came
here for. After all… I used you just as much as you used me, Eri."
"What do you mean?" Eri asked, narrowing her eyes. As Suzu had hoped, Eri was
genuinely curious.
Inaba switched his attention to the Corpse Apostles to make sure they didn't interrupt
this important conversation. However, Eri had also commanded them to stand down
for now, so they remained at a distance. The battle had come to a halt.
In a heartfelt voice, Suzu said, "You're right, Eri. I was a smiling, shallow idiot who only
cared about making sure no one hated me. The thought of being alone scared me.
Loneliness was the one thing I couldn't stand, so I made sure I was always surrounded
by a circle of friends."
"Yeah, that's the Suzu I know."
"Right. But that wasn't enough. I needed a 'best friend' as well. After all, what's the
point of being hated by no one if you're not close to anyone either?"
The idea of treating everyone equally and fairly sounded nice, but normal people
weren't like that. Besides, being labeled a people pleaser was something Suzu had
wanted to avoid as well.
"Of course, I didn't make a conscious choice to make you specifically my best friend,
but ultimately, you're the person who filled the role of 'best friend' in my life."
Suzu had tried to pretend she didn't realize it, but even before Eri had betrayed
everyone at the palace, she had suspected in the back of her mind that Eri might not
really have been her best friend. Back in the Great Orcus Labyrinth, when she'd seen
Shizuku and Kaori struggle to stay together even when their death was all but assured,
Suzu had realized she and Eri didn't have that kind of truly close-knit relationship.
"So? What's your point?" Eri replied brusquely, making Suzu lower her head.
"I'm sorry," Suzu said quietly. "You said I was just a tool for your own ends, but I don't
even have the right to be angry about that. After all, I treated you the exact same way."
"Hang on. Don't tell me you came all the way here just to tell me this pointless crap.
You really think I give a shit? If so, you're even stupider than I thought. Now that I have
Kouki-kun in my grasp, you're less than worthless to me, Suzu," Eri stated, shooting
Suzu a condescending look. She couldn't believe Suzu had come here to waste her time
with this.
But then, Suzu looked up at her, grinned, and replied, "Yeah, I know. I'm doing this for
myself, not you. I just wanted to apologize to clear my conscience."
"Well, you've definitely gotten cheekier since the last time I saw you, I'll give you that.
So, are we done here?"
"No, there are still some questions I want to ask you. Hey, Eri, why did you fall in love
with Kouki-kun?"
"Huh?"
Suzu had brought that up as if they were just making small talk on their way home
from school. Eri honestly couldn't believe that was Suzu's big question, but before she
could even say anything, Suzu fired off a barrage of follow-up questions.
"Also, were you having trouble at home? You came over to my house a bunch, but you
never let me visit your place, so I figured maybe things weren't so great there. You also
never talked about your mom or dad. Did they not get along? Oh, wait, did Kouki help
you out when you were having family problems? Is that why you fell for him?"
Suzu was really tempting fate by asking all of those probing questions. She hadn't been
this bold in the past, so she'd never worked up the courage to ask such personal
questions before. Moreover, her guesses were surprisingly close to the mark.
While Suzu had pretended not to notice anything, she had actually been paying quite
a lot of attention to Eri. She just hadn't wanted to strain their relationship, so she'd
avoided saying anything. Contrary to appearances, she was rather perceptive. In fact,
the reason Suzu had unconsciously chosen Eri as her "best friend" might have been
because she sympathized with Eri's plight.
Suzu's own family situation hadn't been the greatest growing up. Thus, she'd sensed
something similar from Eri, which might have been why she'd chosen Eri.
Either way, Eri was not at all happy that Suzu was reopening old wounds with a smile
on her face. And so, instead of answering, she blasted Suzu with disintegration magic.
Suzu's smile grew even bigger, as Eri's reaction told her that she was guessing
correctly. She then casually summoned her citadel to defend herself.
A haphazard attack launched in frustration had no chance of breaking through a
barrier master's defenses, so it obviously failed to reach Suzu.
"Come on, Eri, tell me. I want to know more about you. I called you my best friend, but
I never really tried to get to know you, so now I want to change that."
"You've turned into one mean bitch since I last saw you, Suzu. Or wait, were you always
like this? Either way, I—"
"Quit changing the subject, Eri. What happened? What made you so twisted? Why are
you so obsessed with Kouki-kun? Please, tell me."
"Oh, shut up!"
Calm down! I need to keep a clear head. My enemy's just a weak human. I don't need
huge attacks to take her down. One concentrated, precise burst is all I need… Eri
repeated such calming thoughts over and over in her head as she started gathering
mana at the edge of her blade.
"Haaah!" Eri roared. Gritting her teeth, she rose high into the sky and reversed her
grip on her sword. She then launched herself at Suzu, sword held out in front of her.
This was one of the sword techniques she'd inherited through necromancy, Falling
Fang. Normally, you were supposed to use wind magic to launch yourself up and then
use your body weight to accelerate the falling thrust and break through the enemy's
barrier at a single point, but Eri could, of course, fly instead, and she was also
enhancing her thrust with concentrated disintegration magic.
"Even this isn't enough to break through?!" she exclaimed in shock as Suzu's barriers
halted even her prized thrust.
"I can focus all my mana on a single point too, you know?" Suzu replied cheerfully.
There was no scorn, anger, or hatred in Suzu's expression. It was clear that she
genuinely did just want to learn more about Eri. However, that just pissed Eri off even
more.
"Besides, you said you've been apostleified, but you're at least twenty, no, thirty percent
weaker than an actual apostle. Kaori showed me firsthand what real disintegration
magic can do."
"Are you saying I'm inferior?!"
"It's just an objective analysis. You're not even using two swords at once. That's
because you can't, right? You weren't able to copy a real apostle's swordsmanship. It
looks like you used necromancy to master Meld-san's instead, but his swordsmanship
was focused on defense. Well, it's thanks to that defensive swordsmanship that you
were able to survive Inaba-san's assault, so it's not like it's useless."
Once again, all of Suzu's conjectures were right on the mark.
"Don't get cocky!"
A tendril of fear crept into Eri's voice, but she quickly shook it off, unwilling to accept
that Suzu, of all people, could have overwhelmed her. She then put even more strength
into her thrust and added more mana into her disintegration magic. And yet, she
couldn't pierce through Suzu's sturdy barrier. It was like facing off against a physical
manifestation of Suzu's resolve.
"I'm not going to avert my eyes any longer. I'm tired of losing the things I care about
because I pretended not to see the truth. I'm tired of losing the things I care about
because I didn't try to fix my own ignorance! So please, Eri, tell me more about
yourself!"
"Shut up! There's no point in learning about me now!"
Eri kicked off Suzu's barrier and flew away. Realizing her sword couldn't break
through, she fired another disintegration beam at Suzu. She was trying to force things
into a battle of attrition. Her limitless supply of mana was the biggest advantage she
had over Suzu, after all.
Eri's Corpse Apostles also jumped into action, as did Inaba.
"Yes there is," Suzu said firmly, heedless of the disintegration beam striking her citadel.
"I want to learn more about you, to know about how you think so that… I can be your
friend once again."
Eri was so shocked that her disintegration beam faltered and she asked, "What did you
just say?"
That was the last thing she had expected Suzu to say. After all, she'd betrayed Suzu in
the cruelest way possible, killed a bunch of people, and was trying to kill her right now.
Only an insane person would ask to be friends again after all that. If this was some
kind of new mental attack, then it was working. There was nothing that could have
caught Eri off guard as much as that statement.
"Do you think it's weird?" Suzu asked. "I mean, it definitely is. You did all those horrible
things… and you're trying to kill me even now."
"Did you finally lose your mind?"
"No, I'm perfectly sane, thank you very much. I know it's weird to still want to be
friends after everything that's happened, but it's how I really feel. I mean, I still
remember…"
"Remember what?"
"Your smile."
Eri seemed even more confused by that response, but Suzu didn't seem to mind. Her
smile turned nostalgic and she added, "Your smiles were normally so reserved, and I
realize now that those were probably all fake, but you know… there were times when
you came to sleep at my house, or when we were talking on our way home from school,
or when we went to the park on the weekends to kill time that you'd make these kinds
of lazy smiles, or give me this sardonic grin, where it felt like you really were having
fun. I remember those smiles."
"...…"
"If you really were just putting on an act the entire time, you wouldn't have smiled like
that, right? Weren't those glimpses of emotion that showcased your real feelings?
Wasn't the only time you were even a little happy when you were hanging out with
me? I think that's the case, at least."
Eri said nothing in response. Her bangs hid her eyes, and the light of her disintegration
beam made it difficult to make out her expression.
Now that Suzu was no longer afraid of being hated, her words carried an immense
amount of weight. She was willing to risk losing Eri completely because she knew that
if she didn't force herself down this thorny path, she'd never truly get what she
wanted.
"Come back to us, Eri. You and Kouki-kun can still join us. Living in a world with only
you two in it is far too sad. I want to be with you, Eri. For as long as possible, even. And
I want us to be actual best friends this time around."
"...…"
Suzu flicked one of her fans closed and put it in the holster at her waist. She then held
her hand out toward Eri.
"If you take my hand, I swear I won't let anyone hurt you. No matter what anyone says,
even if Nagumo-kun turns against me, I'll protect you, Eri!"
Suzu's determined voice echoed through the ruined city. She was dead serious. This
was her true heart's desire. If Eri took her hand, she would never go back on her word.
Eri's disintegration beam continued to grow weaker and weaker, dwindling into a thin
thread and then disappearing altogether. The Corpse Apostles stopped moving, and
Inaba likewise stood in place, waiting to see what would happen.
Suzu dismissed her citadel. She didn't want any walls between her and Eri. The black
butterflies were all that remained, fluttering gently between the two girls.
It was like a scene from a fairy tale, the two of them staring at each other as butterflies
fluttered through the air like cherry blossoms.
Suzu stretched her arm out as far as it would go, hoping, praying that her feelings
reached her. She kept her gaze fixed on her as well, determined to make Eri her best
friend once more.
After what seemed like an eternity, Eri finally looked up. However, her eyes were filled
not with joy, but with cold, hard scorn.
"You really are a moron."
"Ah!" Suzu yelped and stiffened up. Her fingers trembled, and her eyes welled up with
tears.
A second later, a bright light appeared far overhead. She reflexively looked up and saw
a huge magic circle filling the sky above her.
"That gray light… When did you—?"
Indeed, that magic circle was made up entirely of gray feathers. In other words, Eri
had made it herself. She'd realized that she couldn't break through Suzu's barrier a
long time ago, so she'd decided to play along to get her to lower it herself.
"Honestly, I wanted to fuck you up with my own two hands, but you deserve this for
getting so damn cocky."
Thick black miasma started spewing out of the magic circle in the sky. It looked exactly
like the stuff that had flowed out of the fissure in the sky that had appeared above the
Divine Mountain. And much like that one, this magic circle was a summoning spell.
After a few seconds, what looked like black rain began falling on the city. And as the
downpour grew closer, Suzu realized what she had thought were droplets were actually
monsters. Eri had summoned forth a horde as strong as the swarm of monsters that
inhabited the abyss.
"I'm tired of your crap. Drown in a sea of monsters and die."
"...…" Suzu remained silent, refusing to respond to Eri's remark.
How does Eri truly feel? Does she really not care at all about anything I said?
Suzu couldn't figure out the true meaning of Eri's cold, inscrutable stare.
The monsters had fallen far enough that Suzu could make out their individual
characteristics. Most were wyverns, but there were also four-legged beasts that were
using special magic to create footholds in the air for themselves. Hundreds had already
come out of the magic circle, yet more spilled forth each second. For as strong as Inaba
was, even he couldn't handle such a huge army on his own.
Based on the explosions in the distance, Shizuku and Ryutarou were in no position to
rush to Suzu's aid either. At this rate, she would be overwhelmed with numbers.
Eri had thrown away her pride and resolved to kill Suzu by any means necessary, even
if it meant relying on more than just her own abilities. But even though Suzu's words
had failed to sway Eri's heart, even though the hand she'd offered had been brushed
aside like dirt, Suzu refused to give up.
"Inaba-san! Take care of the magic circle!"
"Squeak, squeak!" Inaba exclaimed as he kicked off his aerial platform and shot up
toward the magic circle. As he rose, he kicked against the air multiple times,
accelerating his ascent to ludicrous speeds.
Meanwhile, Suzu pulled out the fan she'd put away and spread it out in front of her,
shaking away the tears in her eyes.
"Was it really a good idea to send your bodyguard away?" Eri asked with a sneer,
ordering her Corpse Apostles to attack while she gathered her mana to fire another
disintegration beam at Suzu. She wanted to end this farce as soon as possible, so she
chose to go all out.
However, Eri never managed to actually shoot that beam.
"What?!" she exclaimed as a few of her own Corpse Apostles turned to fire their
disintegration attacks at her. She sidestepped out of the way, then noticed that the
Corpse Apostles that weren't attacking her rose up to intercept the wave of monsters.
"How? Why aren't they following my orders?!"
"They spent too long looking at my butterflies," Suzu replied.
"What's that supposed to mean?!"
Eri had made sure to shoot down as many butterflies as she could, and she had kept a
close eye on them to ensure their paralyzing scales didn't incapacitate her Corpse
Apostles. Those paralyzing scales should have been the butterflies' only special magic,
since monsters were only supposed to have one variety of special magic. They could
have had derivative skills that stemmed from that root special magic, but whatever
was going on clearly had nothing to do with paralysis.
Suzu swung her fan down, and one of her butterflies landed on her hair, adorning it
like an accessory.
"These butterflies' real special magic is the power to cause hallucinations in anyone
who sees the patterns on their wings. The paralysis scales were just a front," she
explained.
"No way…"
"Yep. Right now your Corpse Apostles think you're me and that your monsters are my
familiars."
The special magic didn't activate immediately when someone saw the butterflies'
wings. It was a slow hypnosis that took time to take root in the victims' minds. The
paralysis scales had been nothing more than an illusion, a holographic projection that
was one of the derivative skills of the butterflies' main hypnosis special magic.
Once again, Eri was shocked by how prepared Suzu had been. However, she still held
the upper hand. While the Corpse Apostles were powerful, they were vastly
outnumbered. A mere twenty apostles weren't enough to protect Suzu from the horde.
Eri kept telling herself that to shake off her unease, but then she heard a series of
massive explosions. Fireworks bloomed in the sky above the ruined city. The butterflies
that had flown up to meet the army of monsters had exploded upon coming into
contact with them.
Eri covered her face with her arms as a wave of heat washed over her. When she could
finally look up again, her enhanced vision showed her a torrent of blood and flesh
raining down, while Inaba smashed through the magic circle she'd worked so hard to
build.
Inaba had charged straight through the army of monsters, so his armor had taken
quite a beating, but he'd successfully reached his destination and completed his
mission nonetheless. Due to his efforts, no more monsters came through the
summoning circle, and only five hundred or so of the initial army remained.
As blood and gore rained down around her, Suzu quietly murmured, "Did you really
think I'd managed to turn thousands of butterflies into my familiars over just three
days?"
"If the paralysis was a front, then… Oh, I see. The rest were all fakes. They were golems,
like those swords, right?"
Suzu nodded with a smile, admitting to her ruse. The vast majority of the butterfly
swarm had been made up of biological golems that Hajime had made. The paralyzing
effect of the scales had actually come from the toxic spray that they'd been spreading
constantly.
"Oh, and all of the fake butterflies have tiny Treasure Troves attached to them filled to
the brim with explosives. Nagumo-kun said the explosives could blow up anything a
dozen meters around them. It's pretty scary stuff, honestly."
Suzu's fans began to glow as she spoke. Orange light radiated from their center,
spreading out to the ribs of the fans in a beautiful geometric pattern.
"Hmph, I've still got more than enough monsters to bury you," Eri replied dismissively.
"As long as I keep them away from the butterflies, you—"
Suzu didn't even wait for her to finish before chanting, "Enclose them all, great barrier
of isolation. Bring forth a dimension of unending desolation. Heed my call, inescapable
cradle of death—Hallowed Ground - Shrine of Oblivion!"
That was the longest incantation Suzu had recited yet. Orange mana spread out
radially around her, covering everything up to a kilometer out and two kilometers
above her. Then, a huge, cylindrical barrier shimmered into existence at the edges of
her mana burst. All of the monsters Eri had summoned were encased within it. Only
Inaba—who'd known what was coming—had managed to escape the barrier's reach.
Panting, Suzu waved her fans with trembling hands to draw a barrier around herself
as well.
"This is a spatial barrier. Trying to break it will cause it to destroy the space around
you."
Suzu had whipped out her ultimate trump card. It was clear from how pale she was
that she'd used the vast majority of her mana on this spell, but it was well worth it.
Eri lowered her sword and stared at Suzu. Even though her Corpse Apostles were
killing her monsters and Suzu's butterflies were exploding periodically, the battlefield
felt eerily silent.
"Is this really the end of the line? Ha ha ha, I don't believe it. To think it'd be Suzu, of
all people, who'd mess up my plans. You should have just been cowering in a corner
while Ehit destroyed the world. This is all that unstoppable monster's fault."
"You're right. Nagumo-kun helped us out a lot. Honestly, I wouldn't have gotten this
far without his artifacts. But you know…" a note of longing mixed with determination
entered Suzu's voice as she trailed off. "I'm here because this is what I decided to do.
I'm here because I knew that if I didn't force my way here, I'd never see you again. And
if that happened, you'd lose even the smallest traces of happiness you used to feel."
"So, what, you're saying you did all this for me?"
"Yeah, that's right. Though I also did it for my own selfish reasons. I want to be your
friend again, so…"
This was the last chance Suzu had to get through to Eri. She didn't know why, but she
was certain it was. Not caring if she screamed herself hoarse, Suzu shouted with all
the determination she could muster, roaring, "Take my hand, Eri!"
Eri once again fell silent. She looked up, her empty eyes reflecting the sky and her lips
curled up in the faintest hint of a sardonic smile.
"I'm done…" she muttered, gray mana flaring up around her. She once again prepared
to launch a disintegration beam, her face twisted into a painful snarl as tears of blood
streaked down her cheeks.
Eri had never tried to harness this much mana at once, but she knew unless she did,
she'd never break through Suzu's defenses. Thus, she sent her feathers out to create
yet another extremely intricate magic circle.
"I'll grind you into duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuust!" she exclaimed as she
unleashed a composite dark spell that messed with all five senses at once and also
disrupted the flow of mana within her target to make it go berserk.
As soon as she fired off the spell, she desperately charged at Suzu with her claymore,
yelling, "Dieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"
Eri had poured everything she had left into this final attack, and it was her strongest
one yet.
She wanted to make it crystal clear that Suzu had only two options. She had to either
let herself get killed or kill Eri first. No matter what happened, Eri refused to grab hold
of Suzu's hand.
Sensing her resolve, Suzu bit her lip so hard she drew blood. Unfortunately, her
determination hadn't been enough. Despite how hard she'd struggled, her hand hadn't
reached Eri.
"Why did things have to end up like this…? Actually, I guess that's too cliche even for
me."
Forcing a smile through her tears, Suzu watched as Eri's claymore tore through her
barrier and pierced her chest. An insane smile appeared on Eri's fearsome visage as
she grew sure of her victory. But then she watched Suzu break apart and turn into a
flock of black butterflies.
"Ah!"
Eri's eyes widened in surprise. She then caught sight of another flock of butterflies at
the edge of her vision and turned to see the real Suzu appear behind them. This was
the Suzu who'd actually cast Shrine of Oblivion.
It took Eri only a moment to realize what had happened. She'd been staring at the
butterflies too, so it only made sense that she'd been affected by the hallucinations.
While Eri had been gathering her mana, Suzu had had ample time to leave a decoy in
her place and get behind Eri. The concentration that was required to cast such a
powerful spell had worked against Eri.
While Eri was fuming, Suzu looked surprisingly dispassionate as she raised her hands
into the air. However, her fingers were trembling… and not just from exhaustion.
"Return to the light from whence you came—Shrine of Oblivion - Final Seal," Suzu
proclaimed as she swung both her fans down, prompting the massive barrier Eri and
her monsters were encased in to flicker.
Eri lowered her sword in defeat shortly before a blinding burst of orange light
overwhelmed her. The accompanying explosion and shockwave stopped at the edges
of the Shrine of Oblivion, and no sound escaped the barrier either. Nothing could have
survived that maelstrom of spatial destruction. Except, of course, Suzu, who was
protected by her own spatial barrier.
Eventually, the storm of orange light faded, leaving silence in its wake. Lumps of
monster and Corpse Apostle flesh littered the ground, covered by the rubble of
pulverized buildings. The remains of Eri's undead creations were barely recognizable.
And Eri was there as well, bleeding out atop a pile of rubble.
Inaba lightly hopped on top of Suzu's head and tenderly patted her forehead with his
foreleg. Suzu tried to give him a reassuring smile, but all that came out was a choked
sob. And after a few seconds, she finally flew down to Eri's location.
Thanks to the sturdiness granted by her apostleification, Eri had managed to barely
cling to life.
"Gah… Kill… me…" she gasped, her empty eyes gazing off into the distance.
"Eri…"
"Friends? Hah, don't make me laugh… I'd rather die than… be your…"
"...…"
Eri had made her choice, and unfortunately, she was just as stubborn as Suzu.
"This is all so stupid. I just wanted…"
"Just wanted what? Tell me, Eri."
"...…" Eri clammed up, refusing to divulge any more of her inner thoughts to Suzu.
Vitality slowly leaked out of her, and if Suzu did nothing, she really would die in a few
minutes.
Suzu pulled a small vial out of her Treasure Trove. The restorative draft inside wasn't
quite as powerful as Ambrosia, but it still had the power to save Eri from the brink of
death. But when Eri saw what Suzu was trying to do, she glared at her with more
strength than Suzu thought she had left in her.
Though Eri said nothing, her gaze spoke volumes. She refused to accept charity from
Suzu, even if it meant her death.
Suzu squeezed the vial tight, gritted her teeth, and thought, Is this really how things
are going to end?
Of course, she'd come here prepared, knowing this might be the outcome, but that
didn't stop it from hurting. Feeling a stabbing pain in her chest, Suzu nevertheless
prepared to deal the final blow.
If Eri didn't want to be with Suzu, then dragging her back by force would accomplish
nothing. Suzu had to make peace with that fact. Half-assed measures would simply
lead to a repeat of the tragedy at Heiligh Castle.
Suzu knew from painful experience what happened when you averted your gaze from
reality and clung to convenient lies. If her words had failed to reach Eri, the least she
could do was put an end to this herself. After all, for all that their relationship had been
built on lies, Suzu and Eri had still been best friends. And it was precisely because Suzu
still wanted to be a true friend to Eri that she steeled her resolve and stowed the vial.
Gripping her fan instead, she looked Eri in the eyes. However, before she could deal
the finishing blow, an explosion of mana resounded out in the distance.
Kouki's giant white dragon grew to even larger proportions, then transformed into the
shape of a man.
"Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
It was hard to tell whether that roar was one of defiance or a pained cry.
"Kouki-kun?" Eri muttered, her eyes fluttering open. If nothing else, she'd clearly
interpreted the roar as the latter.
The light giant swung its fist at the ground, causing an earthquake that could be felt
all the way over where Suzu and Eri were. For a few seconds, they just stared in awe,
but then the light giant dimmed and vanished… almost as if that attack had been its
owner's last, desperate attempt to struggle for his life.
"Kouki-kun… Kouki-kun!"
"E-Eri?!"
Despite her mortal injuries, Eri managed to wreathe herself in mana and materialize
her wings. Forcing herself to her feet, she lumbered into the air and flew off toward
where the giant of light had vanished, toward Kouki.
Suzu simply stared in shock for a few seconds, but then she regained her senses and
hurriedly pulled out her Skyboard. Forcing her exhausted body into action, she flew
after Eri.
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