“Then there’s only one thing to do,” Shizuka said.
“Leave your back to us, Blue Knight!” Alunaya cried.
“I’m counting on you!” Koutarou answered.
“You take care of that monster!”
“Let’s go, uncle!” said Shizuka. Despite the situation, she didn’t hesitate to turn her back to the gray monsters. Alunaya was very strong against physical and magical attacks, but he was a bad match for the power of chaos. So he’d decided that it was best for him to face the normal soldiers approaching them.
There was another who had made the same choice.
“I will come with you,” Nefilforan stated.
“Thank you, Nefi-san,” Shizuka answered.
“It is an honor, Princess Nefilforan,” Alunaya added.
Nefilforan and the soldiers under her command were a bad match for the monsters of chaos as well. Rather than being a hindrance, she believed it was more effective to join Shizuka.
“Nefilforan unit, secure the main gate! On our honor, do not allow anyone to get inside!”
“As you wish, my princess!” the soldiers answered in unison.
“Let’s go!” Shizuka declared with Alunaya’s voice, revealing her fangs. Alongside the Nefilforan unit, they headed toward the rear. The gray monsters were no longer on her mind. She was sure that Koutarou could handle them.
“Sounds like a heavy responsibility, Satomi-san,” Nana commented.
“Please take care of the defense, Nana-san,” Koutarou answered.
“You don’t need to tell me that,” Nana told him. “I already said I would.”
“Your angel will always protect you.” Those words hadn’t been a lie. She opened her artificial limbs’ exhaust ports and forcibly began cooling down. At the same time, a rainbow light started flowing out of her body. The safety device on her artificial limbs was released, and she would protect Koutarou even if it meant danger to herself. She had concluded that the enemy was dangerous enough for her to go that far.
“Yurika, your teacher is an amazing person,” Koutarou said in admiration. “Normally, a person can’t resolve themselves to fight that easily.”
Nana had calmly weighed the risk and odds of winning and decided to shut off her safeties. Normally, making such a calm decision was difficult. Most people would put it off until later.
Yurika laughed.
“What?” Koutarou asked.
“No, it’s nothing. It’s just...I was thinking that even you can have incredible misunderstandings at times, Satomi-san.”
Nana had indeed resolved herself, but it wasn’t to fight. Yurika had laughed because Koutarou didn’t understand that. And now their usual roles had been reversed, and Koutarou was the one to tilt his head in confusion.
“Fine. I guess we can talk about that later,” Koutarou said and fixed his posture in the War Emperor. The enemy was right before him, and they would surely attack soon. There was no more time for casual chatter.
The monsters of chaos hadn’t completely become one. Ninety percent had merged into one, while the remaining ten percent stayed at a human size and filled the surroundings. The giant monster attacked War Emperor while smaller ones attacked any openings.
“They are being pretty clever,” Koutarou said.
“They might be getting orders from the Gray Knight,” Yurika commented.
“Maybe. He could be nearby,” Koutarou agreed.
Unless the Gray Knight had spent all of his strength summoning the gray monsters, he would appear to attack. In that case, it was possible that he was nearby, giving instructions to suit the situation. However, his intentions were still unclear, which made the battle so suspenseful.
“But complaining will get us nothing. Let’s go, Yurika!” Koutarou said.
“Yes! Lightning Reflex, Reduce Friction,” Yurika answered, casting spells.
Koutarou advanced War Emperor toward the giant gray monster. As he did, Yurika cast a spell to enhance his reflexes and remove friction from the joints as she’d been advised to do.
“Keep it up!” Koutarou said.
“Yes!”
The massive monster of chaos was now more than twice the size of War Emperor, but Koutarou didn’t hesitate to charge at it. He had fought giant enemies several times, so that wouldn’t stop him.
“How about this for a start?” he shouted.
War Emperor’s sword glowed silver as he drove it into the monster of chaos. The glow came from Signaltin’s mana. Like with Warlord, Signaltin had been stored inside of War Emperor’s sword, with the mana being conferred to the blade.
The monster roared and raised its left arm to ward off the sword.
The sword and the monster’s arm came into contact, creating an intense shock and flash of light. The forces of order and chaos canceled each other out, emitting pure heat and vibrations.
“It turned out just like I thought! In that case, take this!” Koutarou shouted.
The monster was taken aback by the impact and flash, and its strength faded for a moment. In contrast, Koutarou was unfazed, as he’d experienced similar things before, and he forcefully pushed his sword forward using War Emperor’s strength.
“Sakuraba-senpai!” Koutarou called.
“Okay! Signaltin!” Harumi answered his call and elevated Signaltin’s power. By doing that, the sword glowed even more than before. Koutarou wasn’t going to overlook the monster’s opening and hoped to finish it immediately.
“Roooaaar...”
Instead, the remaining ten percent of the gray monsters that hadn’t merged attacked War Emperor. Some attacked physically, others used magic to create lightning, and others threw balls of spiritual energy. There were even some that created something like guns to open fire. There were all sorts of attacks, but they were all aimed at War Emperor.
“Satomi-san, get back!” Nana shouted. She ran across the battlefield with a rainbow glow, firing her guns, Over the Rainbow. They were special guns that could shoot mana, spiritual energy, and physical bullets. This time, she was only using physical bullets covered in magic for as much power as possible.
“Roaaaar!”
The bullets Nana fired burst on small monsters approaching Koutarou from behind. In total there were three. The bullets worked as expected, and the three monsters were blown away.
“Thanks!” Koutarou said. He distanced himself from the giant monster. Since Nana had taken out the monsters that would have gotten in the way, it wasn’t difficult for him to do.
Shortly thereafter, all sorts of attacks landed where he had just been standing.
“Jeez, this won’t be easy,” Koutarou said, in a cold sweat upon seeing the attacks. No individual attack was particularly powerful, but if he had taken all of them at once, even War Emperor would have been in danger.
“It’s okay; just fight like usual, Satomi-san,” Yurika said as she handled the magical equipment and ritual materials prepared within the Blue Knight. She was unusually calm.
“Yurika?” Koutarou said in a perplexed tone. “Yeah!” He soon shifted his focus back to the enemy. He didn’t have the time to hesitate, and most of all, he believed in Yurika’s strength when she was serious. “Let’s go, Yurika!” he said.