Asu soared high in the sky. Lou used his front paws to smash the towering spears. My brother’s attack was focused on the human, Gillain. He leaped to evade it, but he cut his arm on the sharp edge of the third spear. Blood dripped from the wound. It seemed like his defensive magic meant nothing in the face of my brother’s power.
“Gillain!”
Gillain enveloped himself with wind and leaped, grabbing Asu’s ankle with his right hand. Asu flew with such grace that it was hard to believe he had a grown man hanging from him. My brother threw shurikens at the two endlessly.
Gillain held out the pointer finger of his left hand, which was still gripping Asu’s leg. Wind began to rotate around his finger and whir, then it shot out. The scalpel of wind blew away the shurikens and cut the sharp ends off of the earth spears, creating footholds around the battlefield before it dissipated. Gillain and Lou each got on top of one of the newly formed pedestals.
Lou jumped off to attack my brother! Larouza quickly pushed Maribelle, who had been in his arms, farther away, and threw shurikens at Lou with both hands. Lou deflected them with his tail and instantly surrounded my brother with sand. Lou’s eyes glinted, and the sand shone in rainbow colors. It was an illusion technique of Lou’s—Mirage! My brother began to shake and held his head with one hand. Lou hardened the sand around my brother’s feet to fasten him to the ground.
Miyu took the opening to come out and wrap herself around Maribelle. “My father, Erza, Elise, and now Larouza... I’ll never let you get away with what you’ve done!”
Miyu created a cubic barrier around herself and filled it with water. She was trying to trap Maribelle, along with herself, in a water-filled chamber!
“Hey, dragon! Come to your senses! The villainess is over there! Eeeek! Cough, cough...”
“You should come to your senses. Elise and my kind master have given you more than enough chances.”
Miyu dove into the water along with Maribelle. My brother blew away Lou’s mirage and tried to throw a shuriken to break the water cage, but the cage just wobbled like it was made of rubber and returned to its original shape. It wasn’t magical, probably to keep Maribelle from breaking it.
While my brother’s back was turned, Gillain shot what looked like thousands of blue comets from his left hand with a powerful magic force. Water? No, fire—fire so hot that it was blue! It must have been hot enough to melt gold, yet its color still reminded me of Gillain’s eyes. He must have learned the technique from Asu, since he was the god of flame. If he had concentrated all that power into one ball, it would have killed on impact. He’d split it up to avoid killing my brother. The reason he was using such a powerful technique to cut the fight short was for my sake.
I couldn’t think of any magic that could possibly counter these comets.
“Broth—” I tried to call out to my brother, but my father put his hand over my mouth. I couldn’t form my next words. All I could do was look on as the flames approached my brother.
The blue flames grazed my brother’s cheek, burning him. I vividly remembered the pain and the burning scent from being attacked with fire when I fought in the book. No! I don’t want my brother to be hurt!
Now sporting a noticeable burn mark on his cheek, he raised his right hand into the air and took a sword from his Magic Room. It was a one-handed sword, which was unusual for him. He gave it a practice swing, and it spun so fast I couldn’t visually keep up, deflecting the flames!
“How...?”
Of course, I didn’t want my brother to be hurt...but how was he using a sword to counter flames so hot that they were blue? Why didn’t the sword melt or break? Was it a magical sword? Did he enchant it somehow?
“What is that sword...?” My father watched warily.
“That wave motion... Could it be orichalcum...?” Asu murmured in shock.
Orichalcum? The legendary metal that can pierce anything if forged into a weapon?
“Larouza... The gods sealed away that material after the war at the dawn of creation, and it should have been unusable to humans...and you’ve dug it up and forged a weapon with it? All for Sere’s sake... That’s just like you...” Lou’s eyes drooped with sadness as he looked at my brother.
That’s my brother for you...a real treasure hunter. I smiled tearfully.
He continued to deflect the flames and began to break up Lou’s sand at his feet. Then he stepped over to Maribelle’s side and slashed the cage of water with the orichalcum sword. The water began to gush out. Orichalcum could break even Miyu’s water chamber.
“Larouza...”
Maribelle was wrapped up by Miyu, so I couldn’t see how she was doing. My brother swung his sword at Miyu. My Miyu!
“Stop right there!” Miyu knocked it away with her tail, but it still injured her scales, and she began to bleed.
“Miyu!”
Even my cute little Miyu is hurt... I was far from her, but I still used my “pain, pain, go away” charm. Her body, which she’d been clenching tight, relaxed slightly from the pain, and Maribelle’s face poked out. She was unconscious, possibly from lack of oxygen. Maribelle is down! Thank goodness. That means she can’t charm my brother anymore, right?!
But my brother swung his sword at Miyu again! Why?! And Miyu wouldn’t let go of Maribelle no matter what! Because I’d ordered her...
Lou hurled himself at my brother. “Larouza!” He got in front of Miyu and stood in my brother’s way.
He wasn’t going back to normal. Would he not stop attacking unless Maribelle told him to? I couldn’t handle that... Even if Maribelle did come to, she would only egg him on.
What can we do...?
Skreeee! There was a grating noise. I covered my ears and searched for the source to see Asu high in the sky, flapping his wings at a high frequency to produce the sound.
“These sound waves hinder brain functionality. Try not to let them into your ears!”
My brother covered his ears and glared into the sky. His target switched from Miyu to Asu. He ran at Asu and jumped into the sky...trying to slash at Asu’s rainbow wings!
“Emperor! Take this!” Ziek suddenly shouted and threw something from the stands. Gillain jumped up, grabbed it with his left hand, and drew out...a wide, black sword.
It was the Black Sword of Trundle, said to be unbreakable. We had kept it with my grandmother as a protective sword.
Did he bring it as a rule of thumb? To prepare for the unexpected? Nice thinking...
Can the Black Sword counter my brother? Gillain blocked my brother’s sword as he swung it at Asu in the sky. The heavy swing nearly hit his forehead, but he resisted and pushed back.
As soon as the two hit the ground, Gillain dashed for my brother with long steps and began to trade blows with him.
He was at a disadvantage. My brother wouldn’t hesitate to strike at any of Gillain’s openings with all his might, but Gillain was stuck on the defensive, trying to discover a weakness in my brother. Gillain was trying to strike a vital area to knock him out.
It was all for my sake.
Asu was maintaining the unpleasant noise. I felt sick. The technique may have been intended to bring my brother back to his right mind or to lower his agility, but it was a double-edged sword.
My brother suddenly stepped back. He hadn’t been pushed, so it gave me a bad feeling. He once again reached into his Magic Room with his left hand, pulled something out, and threw it!
A kunai hit the base of Asu’s wing! Crimson blood dripped onto the ground.
“Asu!”
How did it hit? I know it probably had some complex magic on it, but it shouldn’t have been able to get through Asu’s defense! Holy beasts aren’t that weak! Miyu was only hurt because the sword was orichalcum—
“Oh...”
The kunai was also orichalcum. Of course my brother hadn’t mined orichalcum just to make one sword. He must have made many weapons...
Gillain had only one human-forged black sword against an assortment of orichalcum weapons. He wouldn’t be able to hold up forever.
Asu lost his balance and began to fall, spinning in the air. Gillain dashed over and caught Asu just before he hit the ground. Asu’s blood soaked into Gillain’s uniform. The wound was deep, but Asu had the ability to heal himself. Still, that required time, and he couldn’t focus on healing with an opponent right before him!
My brother, eyes still blank, charged Gillain. Gillain remained motionless, still holding the full-sized Asu. He deliberately held Asu in his right arm and clutched his sword in his left, leaving his heart wide open, his eyes squinting. He was giving my brother a target. Was he planning to counter? Would it succeed?
Neither of them could possibly come out unscathed.
Please stop fighting... I don’t want anyone else to get hurt for my sake...
I can’t just watch my beloved older brother kill my beloved Gillain...
I’m sorry I’m so weak...and I’m sorry I took so long to come to this decision.
I squeezed my father’s hand with all the gratitude I could muster.
“Serephi?”
“Speed.”
I let go of his hand and dashed straight forward without looking back.
“Sere!” Lou yelled, still protecting Miyu.
The moment Gillain reacted to Lou’s yell, my brother closed in, gripping his sword in both hands and aiming to pierce Gillain’s heart. And just before he could, I stepped in between them.