Rei, the Reincarnator girl, smiled wickedly. Her eyes were trained upon the ancient hero trapped in her cage of phosphors. “You’ve got rotten luck, don’t you?”
With a strained smile, Nefritis responded. “Young lady—now, now, young lady. Let’s discuss this...”
“No can do. You bullied my kid brother.”
Since when am I your little brother...? Sid didn’t even have time to speak his thoughts before Rei pointed her thumb down, detonating the phosphors. The blast wave swept across the surface of Krios, leaving behind a small crater—but Nefritis’s body was nowhere to be found in the wreckage.
“Bah hah hah hah! What fun, this is just too much!” Nefritis, holding up two shields of flame, had leaped clear of the blast wave, though not without suffering burns all over his body The place where Sid and Rei had been was now right beneath him—but they were no longer there. Casting off his shields and readying a new spear, the hero stopped for a moment. Were they caught in the blast? Unthinkable. Where has the enemy—
“Here I am.” A voice came from behind Nefritis, who had foreseen this, and he wheeled around in an instant to drive his spear into the source of the voice. There he found a small teleportation gate, floating in the air at ear level—and nothing but the gate could be seen.
“My name is Orestes!” Deactivating the phosphors that hid his form, Sid slashed at Nefritis. Burning motes of light coiled around his sword, almost doubling the length of the blade. This was not Sid’s own Skill; this power belonged to Rei.
There was a metallic ringing sound, making it difficult for Sid to imagine that his sword had just cleaved flesh. The blade of phosphors had indeed sunk into Nefritis’s body, but had stopped cutting halfway through his arm.
The hero’s muscles, diligently trained, were as hard as bronze—and it was no ordinary blood that flowed beneath his skin. But Sid was not afraid any longer.
“Your wounds won’t heal, will they?” A lopsided struggle ensued between Nefritis’s arm, which was ultimately flesh and blood, and Sid’s burning blade, wreathed in phosphors. The flames from Rei’s Skill seared Nefritis’s bronze skin, and the blade slowly sank deeper into his arm as Sid added insult to injury, with words of merciless venom.
“Don’t tell me you’re weaker than Prodotis and Falaina?”
“...Kya hah hah...ah hah hah hah hah! You said it! Indeed, I am not the same as King Prodotis or Prince Kranos. I am but a warrior of a bygone generation who was made a hero by the power of the Nectar. Although I may lack the regeneration granted by the Ichor...” Nefritis here seized Sid’s neck with both arms, including the one with Sid’s sword buried in it. “The rest of the Seven Generals lack the godlike strength granted to me by the Nectar! In terms of brute strength, I can equal even the white whale Falaina! Now, let’s compare our power, pipsqueak!”
“Who are you talking to?” The Reincarnator girl smirked at Nefritis. The form of Sid Nefritis had seized became a swarm of butterflies and vanished. All of this had been no more than a visual deception created by telepathy—an imitation of the Skill utilized by Puppeteer, a Manager in the Reincarnators’ Project.
“My name...”
“...That isn’t playing fair!”
“...is Orestes!” As Sid ran, he thrust out his shield, entwined with phosphors, and smashed it into Nefritis. Nefritis weathered the blow from Sid’s shield on his cheek and withstood it for a full second with only the strength in his neck...and then he went flying.
Phosphors spouted from Sid’s elbows. This was his adaptation of Repeater’s high-velocity flurry of punches.
“Sid!”
“Got it!” At Rei’s direction, Sid leaped into the air. Phosphors collected at Sid’s back. The flames took the form of insect-like wings, which multiplied, forming two pairs, then four. The propulsion generated by the wings pushed Sid’s acceleration faster.
Nefritis, slayer of beasts, perceived his imminent defeat. He realized at that moment that this hero of a new age was about to strike him down. As Nefritis stood up, he did so knowing that Sid was about to claim glory from him.
The boy hero’s lips curled up in a smile. His blue eyes glittered with delight. “Achtida! With me!”
“Ἀλήθεια‡τετράγωνονσ»χιστός±λύωλύωθ΄φάκελόγοςÞσείωφάκε” The only heroine from amongst the Seven Generals of Krios released the arrow from her taut bowstring. As Sid slashed at Nefritis, advancing with his wings of phosphors trembling, a dazzling light flashed past the side of his face.
“—Sid!”
Sid, shot through by an arrow of flames fired with unerring aim, whirled wildly as he flew away from his target. Rei’s phosphors formed something like a net to cushion his fall; this slowed him down somewhat, but he continued to tumble until he was nearly at the edge of Krios’s floating landmass. Rei followed him with phosphoric teleportation. She threw herself forward, catching the boy as his transformation had come undone.
“Are you okay?” The arrow of flames piercing Sid’s chest disintegrated as soon as Rei touched it. The wound was deep—however, Rei’s Skill had unlimited potential. The rain of the Tower Capital also assisted her powers.
With damp footfalls, the two heroes approached. Rei and Sid, who was resting on her knee, were pressed against the cliff face of Krios.
“What fun! This time, it’s two against two... Achtida, it appears you are to be my salvation in this century as well.” Achtida, the heroic archer of light, nodded in response. The quiver upon her back bristled with arrows of flame, produced by Prodotis’s Skill from afar so that she would never run out of ammunition. The archer-saint of Krios nocked her next arrow warily.
“Sid. It’s okay. As long as I’m here, you won’t die...” Phosphors gathered and continued to swarm around Sid’s wound. The gash, which should have been fatal, closed up with abrupt ease. Sid looked up with a blank expression as he slowly regained consciousness.
“Girl...that really isn’t playing fair, you know?” As he spoke, Nefritis suddenly realized something. “What on earth did it cost you to do that?”
Rei did not answer; she had no obligation to do so. But even Sid had to wonder. No matter how talented she might be, wasn’t this a little over the top? Just as the Project’s Hero, as a Play Actor, had apparently resigned himself to his unstable mental condition, Rei, who had the same Skill, must be taking equal risks when she used her abilities...
Rei did not answer. Perhaps she didn’t know the answer herself.
“Don’t you know? Just as I drank deeply of the blood of the gods and toiled alongside Lord Prodotis to create his own concoction of blood, I know there must be some mechanism in place to make this kind of power possible... I just don’t understand you Reincarnator folk! Well, one day I’ll figure you out. Achtida, I will go with you until my adventure is at an end.”
The heroine Achtida smiled subtly, but lowered her eyebrows as if she felt troubled. Just like Falaina, it appeared that she was unable to speak in a manner intelligible to those present. Sid and Rei, Nefritis and Achtida—they were about to resume their battle.
At that very moment...
“Huh? What’s this?” Blue smoke rose up around them. Castle Krios, which had continued its mechanical advance up to this point, had suddenly stopped walking. In the direction it had been heading, there stood a half-real blue tower that pierced the sky. In front of that tower had appeared a young girl, even more colossal than the castle, who now looked down at the heroes.