Chapter 177

“Gwaaaaaah!” H-he just cut Cerceus with a real sword! It doesn’t matter that deities can’t die! That was brutal! “Ow, ow, owww! Ristaaaaaa! Heal me! Hurryyyyyy!” Cerceus’s wound would end up healing on its own, but I can’t watch him bawl his eyes out like this anymore. “F-fine. Hold on.” I raise my hands near the cut on his back and cast a healing spell… Hm? Upon closer inspection, I realize that Seiya gave him only a light flesh wound. Cerceus always overreacts… While rolling my eyes and healing his paper cut, I realize that Seiya’s standing so close to me that I can feel him breathing. “…Memorized.” The moment Seiya mutters those words, he lightly pushes me out of the way. Even though I’ve stopped healing Cerceus, Seiya places a hand over Cerceus’s wound and begins to heal it! “S-S-Seiya’s using healing magic?!” “Wow! It doesn’t hurt anymore! You’re amazing, Seiya!” “I still need to perfect it, though.” Seiya thereupon slashes Cerceus’s back once more without a shred of hesitation. “Eek!” Seiya then holds his hands out before Cerceus’s back, and a faint light heals his cut. “Huh…? It doesn’t hurt anymore…” Seiya slashes Cerceus’s back yet again. “Gwah?!” He places a hand on the wound again. “Huh…? It doesn’t hurt… It doesn’t hurt…but can you quit it already?!” Cerceus pleads, but his cries fall on deaf ears as Seiya simply stares at his hands. “What’s the meaning of this? The rainbow aura disappeared.” “You can only Mimic a spell for a few minutes at most. After the aura vanishes, you need to watch the original move once more and memorize it again. The more proficient you become in creating the rainbow aura, the longer you’ll be able to maintain it.” “I see… Hold on. I’ve lost an obscene amount of MP. I only have two-thirds of my usual total left.” “It probably takes a lot of magic power for a human to use my special move.” “Dammit. This move has far more limitations than I thought,” Seiya mutters with a scowl. Not only does it have a short time limit, but it uses a lot of MP as well, which is probably a big problem for Seiya, since losing even 10 MP bothers him. “Oh, well. It looks like I simply need to focus on forming the rainbow aura with Joker so I can increase my Mimic duration.” Seiya spends the next few days with Joker to continue training in his tent. “I wonder if Seiya’s training’s going well.” “Who knows? But at least things are peaceful around here.” Cerceus is cheerfully stirring his meringue in the kitchen. As always, we spend our days idling in the Porta residence. “So can I ask what you’re doing?” “What does it look like? I’m baking a cake. I feel like I’m finally back to doing what I’m meant to be doing. This is my calling. I’d love to be able to open a café in the underworld one day.” “Cerceus, your calling is being a swordsman. Plus, you’re coming with us on our journey from now on, so you don’t have time to relax and open a café in the underworld.” “Tch. Always ruining my fun. Can’t Seiya just handle things himself?” Cerceus clearly isn’t holding back his complaints since Seiya isn’t here. But right at that moment, the kitchen door creaks open. It’s Seiya. “Oh, Seiya! I hope your training went well! I baked a cake for you! I hope you like it!” “I’d rather die. More importantly, I mastered Joker’s rainbow aura. Now I just need to practice.” “So you can use Mimic longer now?” “Yes. I managed to extend my time to a maximum of three minutes. I tried to increase my time limit beyond that several times, but I was unsuccessful. I was honestly hoping I could extend the time to around thirty years, but…” “J-just how long were you planning on practicing?!” “Uh… Anyway, I’ll just be over there baking a cake…” Seiya knits his brows, ignoring Cerceus as he makes his swift escape. “The skill has several drawbacks, though. Not only does it consume a large amount of MP, but I also need to see my opponent’s skill in advance before I can even Mimic it.” “Oh. Huh.” “In other words, I run the risk of being a step behind my opponent in battle. Of course, I’ve already come up with a countermeasure. For example, using Cerceus as a meat shield to see the enemy’s move first could work. In addition—” A plate suddenly shatters at the back of the kitchen. “I heard something extremely unsettling when I was trying to bake my cake! Could you please not say things like that?!” Seiya briskly walks toward the back of the kitchen and glares at Cerceus. “Cerceus, it’s time to train. Come.” “Eek! Don’t tell me you’re going to cut me again!” “I’ve mastered Rista’s healing magic already. Today, we’re going to be practicing something different. First, I need you to get into Demon Mode…” It’s been a full day since Seiya dragged Cerceus away. Feeling a bit lonely, I sip some tea on the veranda until Uno suddenly asks: “Where is Seiya?” “He’s apparently undergoing the final phase of training with Cerceus. He’s Mimicking Cerceus’s swordsmanship in Demon Mode.” “…Rista, you seem down.” She sees right through me, and I sigh deeply. “I’m bummed because Seiya can use my healing magic now. I know he can only use it for a few minutes, but it’s still depressing.” I’ve never been that helpful, and now the thing that only I can do is being Mimicked. Of course I’d be depressed. Plus, it doesn’t help that Cerceus is actually contributing more to Seiya’s training than I am. Uno suddenly smiles, a thought rising to the forefront of her mind. “Cerceus turned into a demon and learned the skill Demon Slash, right? Maybe you can do something now which you have never been able to do as well.” Oh yeah! I haven’t tried it once since the day I learned how to do it, but maybe I have new powers, too! “All right, I’ll give it a try!” I get into a handstand and use Type: Opposite to turn into a demon, transforming me into a sexy imp in a leather dress. “Let’s test your healing magic first.” Uno suddenly places a finger in her mouth and bites right through her skin! Fresh blood trickles down her arm and drops to the ground. “U-Uno?!” “Please do not let it bother you. Come, now. Give your healing magic a try.” She just bit into her own finger! Just how reckless are the people of the underworld?! Regardless, this is the perfect opportunity for me to test out my healing magic, so I give it a try. “Hm… It doesn’t seem to be any different…” “Really? Then let’s test out something else.” I decide to try out a few things, like testing if I can pick up heavy objects and flying, but unlike Cerceus, my physical capabilities haven’t really increased. I make fun of him a lot, but he is the God of Swords at the end of the day. His stats are way higher than mine. It seems that even multiplying the stats of a healer still won’t make them anything special. “Sigh… It’s hopeless…” Returning to my funk, I lower my gaze. My cleavage is bursting out of my sexy leather outfit through the generous boob window. Oh, hey. I think my breasts got a little bigger… Ugh! All I got from Demon Mode were bigger boobs?! I inwardly mock myself. While annoyed and staring at my enlarged bust, which seems easily achievable with supplementation alone, I notice that there’s something stuck between them. “Hey. This is Nina’s…” It’s the pressed flower that Nina gave us. However, the instant I grab it, I have a vision. “Sniffle… Dad… Daddy…!!” While I’m sure I’m standing on the veranda, I can see a dark room in front of me with Nina inside, sobbing all by herself.