If Pluto’s already hurt...then I can’t rely on him here. Orphen returned his attention to the foe before him. He used every nerve in his body to sense his enemy.
“The Thirteen Apostles are done if Pluto dies. Anyone could come up with that. I thought you might show up.”
“The Red Dragons proved unreliable...as unbelievable as that is.” There was no reason for the man in priest’s robes, Jack Frisbee, to answer him, so Orphen was taken aback when he spoke up, expecting him to simply attack without a word.
The Doppel X went on, his tone downright amicable. “I remember you. I remember every foe I’ve fought. But hardly any have lived to face me again. Who are you?”
“I’m just me,” Orphen spat, clenching his fists.
At the same time, Orphen noticed something and hissed, not at Jack in front of him, but at Pluto behind him, “No! Don’t call anyone! This guy killed Seek Marrisk without breaking a sweat. If you don’t want to lose any more men, don’t call anyone.”
Pluto groaned. He seemed more speechless about Orphen sensing without looking back that he was about to speak than about him guessing what he was about to say.
Still, he seemed willing to listen to Orphen’s hasty command. Staggering to his feet, Pluto said, “This...isn’t a dragon. He’s just a human, right?”
“So what? Does that mean something?” Orphen spat, irritated, as he shifted forward slightly. He was in a dangerous, unnatural stance, but he’d judged that he wouldn’t be able to win if he fought fair.
“It does mean something...” Jack said. He raised his left arm toward Orphen, his right still lowered. “The last to stand in the way of superhuman sorcerers like you will be regular people like me. Isn’t that right? Demon of the Capital... I am an evil spirit.”
He leaned forward in imitation of Orphen, but so slightly that it was almost unnoticeable from the front. But if his fists struck even a few centimeters deeper, it could mean Orphen’s entire body being torn apart.
“An evil spirit?” Pluto repeated.
The man who called himself an evil spirit, Jack Frisbee, was totally composed as he responded. “An evil spirit possesses my body. That is the source of my power. A demon who nests in the mystery of the human body.”
“Move, Krylancelo! I’ll blow you to bits if you don’t!”
Orphen shuddered when he heard the voice from behind him. Injured and enraged, Pluto had lost his ability to make rational decisions. He might really do it. But...
Jack’s eyes, peeking out from under his hat, weren’t agitated at all. He’s waiting for the moment we rely on our sorcery, Orphen thought to himself.
They were the ones who were agitated.
The second Orphen blinked, his adversary disappeared from his field of view.
He exploded from the place where he’d been standing, but without sound. Those black priest’s robes he wore made the darkness his ally as well, allowing him to easily slip into cracks in Orphen’s perception. Before Orphen could even determine what direction Jack had moved in, he released his spell.
He leaped toward the one place his adversary wouldn’t be able to chase him—the sky. “I dash across thee, Snowcapped—”
He was too slow. No, the gravity nullification spell was already throwing his body skyward, but at the same time, he could already see Jack.
He was probably two meters into the air, but Jack was jumping that same distance. His body was balled up, taut like a bowstring, with his left fist extended.
Narrow the composition!
“—Mountain!” He transformed the spell with his last bit of breath.
Orphen groaned in pain, feeling like his insides were being squeezed by his midair change in direction. Still, his spell functioned. He rapidly switched from ascending to falling, spinning to avoid his enemy’s blow and landing on the ground. Crashing on the ground might be more accurate. He’d broken his fall, but he wouldn’t escape a few bruises.
When he got up, Jack was continuing his charge, straight for Pluto this time. He was fast.
I won’t make it... Still, Orphen took off, aiming for Jack’s back. Pluto stood with his arms extended, on guard.
“I witnessed a tragedy!”
Was it an incantation? Orphen lamented as he observed Pluto’s composition. The spell the Demon was trying to cast was without a doubt powerful, and its precision and speed were nothing to sneeze at either. But it wouldn’t be fast enough to beat Jack’s speed.
Pluto was about to be killed, but Orphen got an idea and swiftly wove a spell. He prioritized speed above all else and raised his right arm, facing off against Pluto.
“I release thee, Sword of Light!” He matched up his timing with the activation of Pluto’s spell. At almost the exact same time, white light expanded out from both his and Pluto’s extended hands.
He saw Jack glance back at him just before it happened.
Orphen’s spell burst, vying for supremacy with Pluto’s sorcery. The earth shook with the explosion and heat. The blast faded in an instant and Orphen hit his knees, buffeted by the aftershocks. Pluto was staring at him from the same position.
They didn’t have much time to exchange a glance. Orphen quickly noticed Jack standing unbelievably close to him.
He noticed the pincer attack before it happened and moved all the way over here before getting hit...? He didn’t even want to try dodging the left hook Jack was about to swing at him, so he leaped back before it came.