From Sharcarl’s perspective, how did it look that we were cooperating? Suddenly, two powerful foes were joining forces against him; it was a situation that could get a bit scary, but…
“Ah! It’s the Privilege of the Strong!”
He was rolling around with uncontainable pleasure, swinging his staff like a kid in a candy store.
From a distance, violent magic still surged, and if you got close, the hands of magical beasts whipped around dangerously.
“That’s a true calamity.”
“Sharcarl tends to fight like he’s riding a wave. He must be thrilled that we two are joining forces to beat him.”
Just by us cooperating, he probably felt a strong sense of his own power. It was probably the outcome he wanted most.
“So, are you going to keep fighting like that?”
“What do you mean?”
I said to Kurika, who was sharpening his claws. He couldn’t seriously think he’d keep that up while being ignored like this, right?
“Draw your sword.”
It felt weird that I seemed to be the only one fighting hard. Kurika’s eyes sparkled at my words, then he gave a hollow laugh.
“It seems we truly had some kind of relationship.”
Creek…
The ground twisted.
As if a hole opened up, a great sword appeared at Kurika’s feet, about the size of a grown man.
Of course, that was just how it looked from my perspective. For the hulking Kurika, it was the perfect size to swing with one hand.
“I can’t remember the last time I wielded the Sword of Rest.”
“……”
“Do you happen to know the origin of this sword?”
Kurika pointed slowly to his sword. Sorry, but right now I was struggling just to evade Sharcarl’s magic and didn’t want to answer weird questions.
“No! The last time I saw that sword was when you were about to fight me and wipe out the apocalypse!”
“Huh, so that’s the case.”
Muttering that was a relief, he began to swing his sword fiercely, striking down the approaching magic and hands of magical beasts.
With simply Kurika now wielding a weapon and the start of our cooperation, the tide of battle began to turn.
As he advanced, I followed his lead, and whether it was Sharcarl’s fierce hands or invisible magic, nothing could touch us.
“Yeah, that’s right! We can’t face death so foolishly!”
Sharcarl’s roar echoed fiercely through the forest. We were getting closer to him, yet he attacked relentlessly without care.
Even yelling and trying to raise the atmosphere and momentum couldn’t stop our advance.
“……You are better than I thought.”
Kurika, watching me slashing alongside him, honestly complimented me.
“Heh.”
His soliloquy made me chuckle naturally. Despite the massive hands and feet of magical beasts crashing down from all sides, we felt oddly relaxed.
“What’s so funny?”
Kurika looked at me with genuine curiosity. As he swung his sword, everything in his path was merely cut apart.
“No, you said the exact same thing before.”
“……”
“Back then, it was a different situation where you and I were enemies.”
And it was also the moment I was acknowledged by you.
Kurika’s eyes swirled with various emotions. He seemed curious about my past life but cautiously asked just one thing given the situation.
“Why are you safeguarding the Earliest Apocalypse?”
I slashed through the hands of magical beasts, dodging Sharcarl’s invisible magic with the tip of my staff. I felt my dull senses as Sherpa awakening strongly in the fight against strong opponents.
“A while ago, when I ruled the continent, there were fanatics who worshiped me. They were convinced I would annihilate all races without a doubt.”
“Yeah, I know.”
We had shared a lot of conversations while exchanging glasses. The moonlight not often visible in the Forest of the Demon Realm shone particularly brightly that night.
“Do you think the same? You don’t seem like a foolish man from what I’ve seen.”
“No, you saw accurately. I’m not some doomsday preacher. I’m not safeguarding the Earliest Apocalypse to destroy the continent.”
“What then?”
Kurika’s hands quickened as he pressed for an answer. He seemed to snap impatiently, bursting with excitement.
“Rin. That child’s name is Rin.”
“……”
“I was the same. When I first learned that child would bring about the Earliest Apocalypse, I wanted to kill her.”
“Cough!”
“But I realized that wasn’t right. That child resists the apocalypse and fights to not lose herself.”
“And you’re gambling with the lives of the continent’s people just for that.”
“Exactly, I’m doing it to give her a chance.”
For a moment, Kurika fell into thought.
Of course, even amidst our conversation, Sharcarl’s heavy pressure continued.
But sometimes, the world couldn’t simply be defined as 1+1 equals 2.
It was like we had been breathing together forever; we were managing together nicely, and due to that, we had a surprising amount of ease even under Sharcarl’s relentless onslaught.
“Ugh!”
Of course, it must be incredibly frustrating for Sharcarl. It was good that two powerful foes had targeted him, but he couldn’t deal any real damage.
Kurika glanced at me again as if he had something to say.
“In a way, you are no different from opposing all the people of the continent. There’s no denying that you might be deemed worse than the still slumbering apocalypse.”
That wasn’t wrong.
After all, I was wrapped around the death that would eventually engulf the entire continent.
“That’s right. So be sure to remember this.”
I locked eyes with him as he looked at me.
“If you want to kill that child, you’ll have to kill me first.”
“……”
“Until then, it’s impossible.”
Upon my affirmation, Kurika sighed deeply as if his head were spinning.
“If you’re a wall like you are, this will surely be a difficult journey.”
“Conversely, I’m taking responsibility. Rin will become the apocalypse exactly ten years from now. If there’s no progress by then, and it becomes the apocalypse before that…”
I paused for a moment as if something were caught in my throat. But I mustered my strength and forced it out.
“I will kill her.”
The world had been destroyed once. But accurately remembering that and having actually experienced it, I was the only one.
I had no intention of passing the task of killing Rin to anyone else.
I wondered if Kurika might sympathize with me, but he shook his head violently.
“I can’t wait. For those ten years, I would be trembling with anxiety. I heard that even my past life lost to the apocalypse. Thus, I can’t afford to give any more time.”
Our positions and conversation remained on parallel lines.
I was standing by protecting Rin, and he stood by wanting to kill her.
Unless one of us broke, we wouldn’t change.
In the end, once this battle was over, we would most definitely end up fighting each other.
“That’s disappointing.”
As I poured out my bitter feelings honestly, Kurika nodded slightly.
“Quite disappointing.”
As our conversation seemed to conclude, I suddenly noticed something strange.
“Wait a minute, thinking back, there’s no fanatic like the Priestess of Time. You’re working with her?”
Isn’t something odd about this? As I shot him a glare, he nonchalantly swung his sword as he answered.
“To me, she’s just a guide.”
“A guide?”
“A guide to find the Earliest Apocalypse.”
I wondered if he would provide any further explanation, but Kurika’s face wrinkled into a frown as cruel evaluations poured out about her along with a sigh.
“Her ignorance of abandonment, crying out to the gods is truly pitiful. After finding the apocalypse, I decided to grant her an eternal death by my own hands.”
“……”
“This is something she asked of me.”
The Priestess of Time wanted her own death from Kurika?
That was an unexpected claim that caught me a bit off guard, but our back-and-forth did not continue.
“How splendid, monsters beyond this world!”
Sharcarl’s seemingly limitless mana began to dwindle, the spells that were pouring down started losing momentum.
“Cough!”
With a staff leaned on the ground, Sharcarl let out a groan. Clutching his chest and writhing in pain, it was clear his limit had come.
At that moment, Kurika and I both charged forward without waiting for the other.
The arms of magical beasts he summoned were no longer our opponents.
No matter how fiercely they resisted to protect their master, without Sharcarl’s invisible magic backing them, they were just like other beasts roaming the Forest of the Demon Realm.
And both of us were experts in facing such beasts.
Seeing us get closer, the light in Sharcarl’s eyes flared. He gathered mana from the depths of his dantian and struck the ground with his staff to block our advance.
Boom!
As the ground collapsed, Sharcarl hid his body among the immense debris. Realizing he couldn’t stop us with mere defensive magic, he attempted to resist with offensive magic instead.
That felt quite fitting for Sharcarl, but…
He probably understood as well.
This level of magic wouldn’t stop us.
At the same time, we stepped over the debris, dodging small stones that grazed our cheeks; with a few swings of our swords, we had no trouble locating Sharcarl.
Thwack! Thwack!
Our swords pierced Sharcarl simultaneously. He let out a breathless shudder while gnashing his teeth, making an agonized sound.
“Grrr! There can’t be defeat for my lord!”
“You’ve fought well. If it was a single fight, you would have lost. Don’t take it too shamefully.”
Sharcarl glared in fury as he responded to Kurika’s words with glinting eyes.
“In facing a strong person, what’s so strange about the weak joining forces? In the end, you acknowledged my existence, so you teamed up!”
Shouldn’t one go crazy to earn the title of Tyrant in the Forest of the Demon Realm? Honestly, his mania was starting to sting my skin.
“The strong never lose to anyone. They do not kneel. Do you think you can humorably grant me the unbelievably noble honor of taking my neck?”
Tap.
Sharcarl spread his hands wide.
His gnarled staff rolled and fell to the ground.
“What the hell!”
I exclaimed in panic.
“What is this…”
Kurika seemed to sense what was happening in front of him through his beastly instincts, his face twisting with confusion.
“My death is solely mine.”
Sharcarl was using magic without a staff.
The master of distortion had used the staff as a means to regulate his vigorous mana.
Without that staff…
He would be consumed by his own magic.
A violent whirlpool began to churn around Sharcarl’s heart. In a scene perfectly suited to describe space writhing, Sharcarl’s silver glare took on a peculiar color.
Soon, a condensed explosion engulfed the entire Forest of the Demon Realm.
