Should he have run back to the Ark after all, like Haru had told him to? Was that what he’d needed to do? Had he messed up?
“Gah!”
Suddenly, the sword flew out of Manato’s right hand.
The two-horned divine soldier captain straddled Manato’s chest. It raised its rounded stick, and looked down at Manato with its shining eyes.
There was something flying up in the sky. Was it a bird? It seemed too big for that. It was close, or perhaps it was better to say it was flying low. Was it just one? No. There were two of them, whatever they were, flying over the captain’s head, and they were soon out of sight. Birds. Who cared about birds?
“Alberalo Lumiaris rel!”
The captain was saying something. What, though? Manato had no idea. The female divine soldier brought its face close to Manato’s.
“Devote yourself to Lumiaris. If you do, you will be saved for eternity,” it said.
Manato looked into its eyes without meaning to. Unlike the priest or captains, its head wasn’t covered in shiny stuff, but the way that it looked like it had human eyes that were shining actually made it creepier. Deep inside the light, he saw a shape with six points. It was the same shape as the one on the priest’s banner.
“O weak one, devote yourself to the light,” the female divine soldier said. Its tone was strangely gentle.
Devote himself to the light. What did that even mean? He didn’t get it. But it probably meant something like submitting, becoming one of them.
Manato laughed. It made his body hurt all over, which only made him laugh more.
“No way.”
“Then die,” the female divine soldier whispered. It looked up at the two-horned captain and shook its head.
The captain nodded. Was it going to bludgeon him with the round thing on the end of its stick? How would it hit him with it? In the face, maybe? If it did, his face would get totally smashed. He doubted a wound like that would heal easily. He might even die. Ohhh.
Am I gonna die? Is that what’s gonna happen?
Manato tried to escape, but he wasn’t going to make it.
“Kh!”
Manato’s face would have been pounded to pulp, if not for Haru showing up and scissoring his daggers around the two-horned captain’s head to decapitate it.
Wait, when did that happen? You were there, Haru? I don’t think you were there a moment ago.
“Manato!”
Haru kicked over the now headless divine soldier captain, then beheaded the female divine soldier. How had he done that? To Manato’s eyes, it looked like the dagger in Haru’s right hand had stretched out. It had gotten longer for just a moment, and then the female divine soldier’s head had been sliced off. Was that possible? But the female divine soldier had been down on all fours, so Haru would have had to crouch in order to behead her. And yet Haru hadn’t done that. He’d been standing the whole time. So did that mean Haru’s dagger really had stretched?
“Can you get up, Manato?!”
Even as he was asking that question, Haru’s dagger reached out toward the green-skinned divine soldier.
There was no doubt about it. When Haru swung with his right hand, the blade got longer. The divine soldier managed to block the dagger with its shield, but it couldn’t move in any closer. Haru was whipping his dagger around, and was forcing the green-skinned divine soldier totally onto the defensive. It was more like a rope than a dagger. Well, no, ropes didn’t extend on their own either. What was up with that thing?
“Manato?!”
“Oh! Yeah!” He still hadn’t responded to the question about whether he could get up. Manato pushed off the ground and jumped to his feet. He hurt all over, sure, but that didn’t mean he was unable to move.
Haru stretched out his dagger to make the green-skinned soldier back away while simultaneously dodging a thrust from the pointy-eared soldier’s long pole. But by that point, he’d already reached out with a dagger and severed the pointy-eared soldier’s head.
Manato looked around for his sword. Where had it flown off to? It was gone. He couldn’t find it. Well, it didn’t matter for now. Okay, no, it did matter, but the more immediate concern was the reinforcements coming from the gap in the wall. How many of them were there? They kept on pouring through. And that wasn’t all. There was a divine soldier on top of the wall as well. No, wait, was that one a divine soldier captain? There were a bunch of divine soldiers with it.
“Damned orc’s tough!”
Haru was whipping his dagger around and forcing the green-skinned divine soldier to use its shield, then closing the distance between them. On the first step, Haru was fast. On the second step, he was faster, and because he didn’t move in straight lines, it was hard to follow his motions. What had he meant when he’d said that his opponent was tough? Haru was able to get behind the green-skinned divine soldier in no time. He then wrapped the stretching dagger in his right hand and the other dagger in his left around the divine soldier’s neck and severed its head. It was a brilliant move. It must’ve felt great to pull off.
Haru looked at Manato.
“Run—”
He must have meant to say more. But he didn’t because the two-horned captain stood up.
“Lumiaris! Propral!”
“Heh!” Manato was so dumbfounded that he laughed a bit. That was why his “huh” had come out as a “heh.”
The captain grabbed its two-horned head with both hands and pushed it against the stump of its neck.