Hijiri realized that Yomibito fought logically, never letting any of his resources go to waste. She intentionally allowed Yomibito’s attention to fade from her wind blades as he stopped seeing them as a threat.
“These are no danger to me.”
Hijiri had already confirmed during their fight that Yomibito had no feeling in his armor. He had not reacted in any way to hot or cold temperatures. From his reactions when she struck him, Hijiri determined that he was not even aware that he was being attacked unless the strikes were of a certain level. That is why Yomibito was unable to detect Hijiri’s wind blades drilling a hole into his armor. If he had had the opportunity to dodge, he might have thought it over and done so instead.
He might have considered that since Itsuki’s Lock End was capable of concentrating its power into an enhanced attack, Hijiri’s wind blades might also be capable of doing something similar. But all of this was just speculation on Hijiri’s part, nothing more. It wasn’t just their attacks that had allowed the sisters to create an opening—it was the fact that almost all of Yomibito’s danger sensing abilities had been focused on Itsuki at the moment that Hijiri’s attack came.
It goes without saying that Itsuki was the key to winning our fight. What was most unexpected was the evolution of her skill—the way in which she resolved her MP issues in the middle of combat. I believe she must have run out of mana for two casts of Lock End as we fought…
Hijiri had confirmed this with a glance at Itsuki and some speculation. It was in that moment that she decided to risk making up the difference of what one less Lock End would cost them.
I cannot blame Itsuki. She had to devote much of her MP to Unlock One just to evade Yomibito’s attacks. In any case, that last minute evolution of his was completely unexpected. That evolution completely changed the nature of our fight, and that change delivered us this result. Itsuki’s awakening caused our odds of winning the fight to soar.
Watching her little sister’s charge, Hijiri became sure that she had been right all along. Itsuki’s talent for battle far surpassed her own. Her sister engaged three of Yomibito’s blades all by herself, while also occupying most of his danger sensing abilities.
I expect that previous double strike of Lock End stuck bitterly in Yomibito’s mind. He was wary that Itsuki would once more blow a hole in his armor for my Gungnir to enter, or that I might open his armor with Gungnir to allow Itsuki’s attacks to make it in. If Itsuki had not awakened, this would not have been possible. There was a much harder path awaiting us…a path in which I was prepared to sacrifice my life for this victory. But Itsuki—my twin sister—found us a new path to the for us, one that led to me landing this strike and abandoning my intent to die for it.
I am so very proud to have been born as your other half. Truly, it was a miracle that we came into this world together.
Now, then—with the strength of my skill, be vanquished.
“Gungnir.”
Yomibito broke apart.
He exploded.
Parts of armor flew in all directions, followed by spurts of red blood. The white fleshy mass inside of him exploded too, flying through the air. His four arms tore off and fell limp to the floor. His waist and legs remained upright for a few moments, then crashed to the ground like a tower falling.
Yomibito began to dissolve, fumes rising from his body. It appeared that, unlike divines, disciples dissolved in the same way that eucharists did once they were dealt a fatal blow—a sign of death. The black pillars that blocked the three passages of the room also melted away.
We took no attacks from his pillars while those blockades were in place. Yomibito blocked off our retreat, even though it meant disabling one of his methods of attack. Was there some reason he could not let us get away from him? That much remains unclear…but it does seem evident that he removed his pillar attacks from the equation during our fight.
“W-we did it!” said Itsuki. She remained still for a few seconds, her arm outstretched where it had swung—though not for long. “Eh?! Aneki?! Your right arm!”
Hijiri’s arm was missing below the elbow.
Did Yomibito’s insides form a mouth to bite down upon my arm the moment I activated Gungnir? I feel no pain, so have no concept of what happened in there. My body, though…everything inside of me is screaming.
Hijiri’s cheeks were soaked with sweat, and her hair was stuck to her face. She took a length of rope from the pocket of her Fly Swordsman outfit and tied it around the stump to stop the bleeding.
“It’s okay… Luckily, I don’t feel any pain…”
Hijiri had initially asked for one of Asagi’s pain-blocking buffs for a slightly different reason.
To think it would prove so crucial to finding an opening to strike. This battle was the epitome of ferocious. Several light wounds, two fingers, and one arm is what it cost—but it might have been even dearer. My sister and I were not separated by death. We avoided that. That is enough.
“It’s over, Itsuki.”
“Y-yeah…”
Itsuki disabled Unlock One. Hijiri glanced down at Yomibito’s head, which had been blown across the floor toward them.
“Well? How are you? Can you keep fighting…?”
“Ah—ehm…I don’t think so. Actually my MP is…”
Itsuki’s MP was zero.
Unlock One consumed no MP while the skill was active but took its cost once the ability was deactivated. It wasn’t just MP—Itsuki herself was worn down.
“I, too, think this is as far as I can go in this battle…” Hijiri slumped to her knees.
“Aneki!” Itsuki ran toward her and caught her sister as she toppled forward. With both of them on their knees and Hijiri’s full weight in her arms, Itsuki embraced her.
“We… This is as far as we go.”
“We’ve done enough… Haven’t we…?”
“If Yomibito didn’t encounter anyone before he came upon us, then we saved the other entrants from running into a disciple and stopped him from finding anyone else in this labyrinth. Perhaps that alone is the best contribution we have made to this cause.”
“Yeah—yeah.”
But Mimori-kun or Sogou-san might have been able to defeat him much more easily than we did…
A flash of their faces appeared in Hijiri’s mind. All that remained of Yomibito was a single golden eye, the triumphant twins reflected in the pupil…until finally that too dissolved into nothingness. As her body slumped forward, Hijiri wrapped her left arm around Itsuki’s back.
“Once again… Well done, Itsuki. This battle… We won it because of you.”
Itsuki hugged her back. “You’ve gotta be kidding me… We did this together! Both of us! You said it, right, Aneki? We’re one and the same!”
“There you go crying again. But…fine. I’ll agree with anything you say now…”
Itsuki burst into tears. With the two of them on their knees in each other’s arms, Hijiri closed her eyes and gently patted Itsuki on the back.
“Once we’re back in the old world…”
“Hm…yeah.”
“We can really get started.”
“Nh… Yeah!”
“Right, then… Let’s just… Have a little rest for now.”
Hijiri hugged her little sister until she had calmed down. They didn’t move, still nestled in each other’s arms. It was only a few minutes, or perhaps even less than that. The twin sisters drifted together in their embrace, eyes closed. This time was theirs and theirs alone.
“Ah-ehm—Aneki,” said Itsuki hesitantly.
“Nh?”
“I couldn’t, er… I didn’t hear what you said earlier, so…” Itsuki looked a little embarrassed, mumbling the words. “I just, like, want to hear it for real… Er… Could you say it one more time?”
They were in sync. They each knew what the other wanted. Hijiri knew at once what her little sister was asking for. She understood.
Of course. There’s nobody else in the whole world who could replace my twin sister.
Hijiri smiled as she said the words.
“I love you.”
✦ ✦ ✦
