Oh wow, good work, Dáin! Sorry I called you a dumbass for getting stolen! You’re nothing like Muramasa! Who’s a good sword?!
I could take advantage of the situation, you see.
My enemy was super skilled, but while controlled by Muramasa, I was hella powerful too (even though it kinda destroyed my body). In a clash between two elite fighters, using an unfamiliar style can cost you your life.
“Fuck!”
Karen must’ve realized that, because she tried to let go of Dáinsleif. However—
“Haaaaaah!” I shouted.
Slash! Slice! Cut! Hack! Rend! Muramasa struck at her relentlessly, again and again, as if to stop her from parting with the crimson blade, rendering her unable to drop her defensive posture.
“Mmph!”
One final, fierce flash of the pitch-black blade was all it took, and Dáinsleif, weakened from Muramasa’s onslaught, split clean in half.
Karen instantly leaped back, but not fast enough—the blade tore her torso open, chest to abdomen, causing a crimson arc to gush forth.
She bellowed, “Fuck! Damn it!”
The woman stabbed her flaming sword into the ground. A wall of flames formed at her feet, and the heat was so excruciating that it felt as though it was searing my skin even from a distance. Before it could reach me, my body pulled back.
So that bastard of a sword had known how to retreat all along!
“Fuck, fuck, fuck! How dare you get in my way! I’m the great Karen! I’m supposed to destroy this country!”
Ugh, shut up already! I’m gonna break at this rate!
I couldn’t take much more pain, okay?!
Muramasa, however, ignored the furious Karen (and my pain, obviously) and stomped my feet so hard my joints all creaked.
Oh, I get it. He’s gonna wind up and make me kamikaze through the wall of fire at full speed, then land a hit on Karen before I burn to a crisp. I guess that’s a plan, and... Wait, no, that’s a horrible plan! I’m gonna get burned for sure! Even if I make it out alive, I’m gonna be covered in burns! Nope! No no no!
“Enough. We don’t need to fight,” I said.
“What?!”
I’m just gonna negotiate a truce! Yeah! I’ll get her to back down while Muramasa’s getting ready!
“Your name is Karen, correct? I can see in your eyes that you have your own reasons for doing this.”
She remained silent.
I mean, I said that, but the truth is, I had no idea whether or not she had her own reasons. I just blurted out the first thing that came to mind!
She’d probably have killed me if I told her that, though, so I carried on with the “I understand how you feel” spiel.
“I don’t know what happened exactly, but your gaze tells me that you once believed in justice. Am I wrong?” Please say I’m right!
“No, it is as you say. I was once a magus knight.”
“I see.” Yes! Hell yeah, my gamble paid off! So something did happen that corrupted her!
That meant I should be able to persuade her! If she’d been wicked from the start, that would’ve been different, but if she’d once been heroic, there was room for dialogue!
“Then—”
I was about to try and talk things out when suddenly, a shadow loomed over us, and a ragged-looking girl descended upon Karen.
Who the—
“Hey, Karen! Let’s get the hell out of here! That black-haired guy is a monster!” the girl said in a harsh, masculine tone as she scooped Karen up into her arms.
Her appearance was exceedingly ordinary. She wasn’t wearing the Wanpurgis’s black uniform, and had plain gray hair. Girls like her were a dime a dozen.
The only things about her that stood out were the fact she was covered in wounds, and...the stone bracelet wrapped around her wrist.
Wait, what? That looks like the bracelet the guy I cut in half earlier was wearing!
Ignoring my astonishment, and with a display of incredible acrobatics, she zigzagged her way up toward a hole in the ceiling and escaped with Karen.
I thought for a moment she must be amazingly athletic, and then I realized her legs were snapping and creaking just like mine. A kindred soul!
The girl clicked her tongue. “Tsk. I guess I can’t expect much more from a commoner. If only I’d managed to take over that silver-haired girl’s body...”
“Hey!” Karen demanded. “Nya! Is that you?! Where’s everyone else?!”
“They’re all dead!” Nya replied. “That black-haired guy killed them all! The knights we lured out will be back any second!”
From their conversation, I could tell they were allies.
Man, I’m so glad we settled that without a fight—
“SOUL!”
“Oh, come on!”
Muramasa’s hungry ass wouldn’t just let the enemy escape, of course. It immediately made me give chase and mimic the girl’s leg-breaking movements toward the ceiling. Ow!
“Fucking monster! He’s after us!”
“Haaaaaah!” It hurts! Everything hurts! I don’t wanna go after them!
Roaring in pain, I tried to catch up with the pair.
In response, the Nya girl loudly clicked her tongue again as she leaped from rooftop to rooftop. She pulled out a bunch of talismans from her pocket and scattered them across Salem’s skies.
Huh?
“I collected these from my old body! Time to use them!” She began chanting. “Kyu-kyu nyo ritsu ryo!”
At the girl’s command, dark energy began to overflow from all the talismans. Dancing in midair, the streams of energy swelled, shifted, and took the shape of giant ogres, all of which descended upon the surrounding area.
Wait, what? What the hell is that?! Nya, what are you doing?!
“Go, my ogres! Kill him!”
“Graaaah!” the ogres bellowed, all charging at me at once.
Muramasa sliced through the neck of one of them in an instant, but less than a second later, several of the others swung their fists at me. Though I managed to leap my way to safety, my body was slowly shutting down.
Panting heavily, I realized I was reaching my physical limit. Having fought in the middle of a raging fire, I was on the verge of oxygen deprivation. My joints were in severe pain, and my muscles were burning painfully hot. If you cut my skin open, all you’d see underneath was an inflamed, tattered mess.
“Wh-What’s with these things?!”
“Backup! Call for back— Aaaargh!”
Shrieks rose from below as the ogres rampaged with delight. Stunned at their sudden appearance, many people got trampled underfoot. Knights who charged at the monsters were swatted away like flies.
I was just barely managing to dodge their many attacks, but ultimately it was hopeless. My body was battered to the point it could no longer follow Muramasa’s orders.
I was going to die.
“Haah... Damn it...”
“ALAS... VESSEL...” Even the sword had given up.
As freedom returned to my body, my knees felt like they were about to buckle.
“I can’t...move. Is this...it?”
What about my dreams of living in peace? Of getting rich? Of finding a pretty bride? Was this the end of them all?
Ah, fuck it! I thought. If this is how it’s gonna be, I’ll at least die a legend! My death’s gonna be so cool kids are gonna read about it in their goddamn textbooks!
That was it! I was done!
Ignoring my body’s limits, I took up the sword of my own will!
Maybe some of Muramasa’s influence remained, because I managed to assume the stance of a warrior, confusing the ogres for a moment.
“Embrace...your doom, vile...fiends!” I yelled at the creatures, loud enough for the townspeople and knights to hear me too.
I would wear the mask of Condemner to the bitter end!
“Come at me, bastards! I’m still alive! As long as I draw breath, you’ll never have your way!”
With a battle cry, and under no compulsion, I charged! I leaped atop an ogre’s head and plunged Muramasa through its skull, twisting it in over and over again!
“Graaaah?!” the giant ogre roared in confusion. Hearing its cries, the other ogres lunged at me.
There was nothing I could do.
Ha ha... I’m finished. My body’s seriously done.
Still, I held out my sword at the enemy. I couldn’t move a finger, but I kept up the Condemner act.
“Graaaaaah!” The ogres’ fists flew at me all at once. I was about to be massacred.
And then—
“Crow! I’m with you!”
A blade of light cut through the approaching ogres!