“Lighto. ”
Sain shot off a light bullet. He’d held back considerably, keeping it to the size of a fist. The bullet flew toward the Founder, hit one of the bubbles in the way, and bounced back at him. He swatted it away with his sword.
“It’s almost a perfect rebound, isn’t it? It’d be fine if we could somehow absorb the ones that come back at us...” mused Sain.
“But if we start dodging them, they’ll cause even more damage everywhere,” said Cain, finishing Sain’s thought.
The goddess’s power was more or less inexhaustible. Even if the battle dragged on, they didn’t need to worry about running out. The problem was that a lengthy confrontation would result in considerable damage to their surroundings. Before they could formulate an effective plan, however, the Founder went on the offensive. It pointed one of its pincers at Sain. Magical energy gathered at the center of the pincer at an alarming rate.
“Watch out!”
The pincer became a cannon, letting loose a blast of blood-red energy. Sain quickly held up his golden sword like a shield and dug his feet in. The front of the blast splintered against the sword, sending stray fragments everywhere. A shockwave rolled through the ground, causing violent and destructive quakes that threatened to throw him off balance. He clenched his teeth and kept pushing against the blast.
“Hnngh! Damn... it!”
Even with the full might of the holy knight’s power, he couldn’t cancel out the tremendous amount of energy slamming into him. The force was so great that it began to flay his skin, leaving bloody streaks across his arms and face.
“Ray Javelin!”
Cain joined in, trying to stop the blast by launching his massive spear at it, only for a bubble to repel the attempt. The reflected spear flew past Cain, nearly grazing his side, and bore a large hole in the school building.
Eventually, the blast waned, and Sain let out a pained gasp.
“Sain, are you okay?”
“Yeah. That... was one hell of an attack. On top of that, none of our spells can reach it,” said Sain as he glared resentfully at the Founder.
Just then, the bubble that had reflected the javelin burst with a loud pop.
“I see. We can break those bubbles if we hit them with a strong spell,” said Cain. “But they’re still going to reflect whatever we throw at them at least once. It looks like the bubbles are finite, but if we try to break all of them like this, we’ll end up leveling the whole academy.”
Sain nodded. Even if he only counted the bubbles immediately in front of them, there were at least twenty. Breaking all of them with Cain’s Ray Javelin would mean subjecting the surroundings to the ricocheted destruction of over twenty of those massive spears. And that was when an idea came to him.
“Cain, can you take in a little more of my power?”
“...No problem. But what are you trying to do?”
Cain’s question was met with a toothy grin.
“The same thing I did during our match.”
Sain turned to the goddess.
“Goddess, move all of my power to Cain.”
“Huh? B-But, if I do that, you’ll be—”
“It’s fine! Just do it! Hurry!”
Magical energy was gathering in the Founder’s pincer again. The goddess, realizing that time was short, obeyed and began transferring the entirety of the holy knight’s vast power to Cain.
“Ugh! Th-This is...”
“Can you handle it?”
“You... bet I can!”
He answered in groans, but he stood his ground. The amount of power flooding into him had far surpassed conventional limits. Had this been Melia or Alicia, they would have surpassed their capacity long ago. Cain’s extraordinary affinity for the goddess’s power, however, allowed him to tolerate the process.
You are a marvel , thought Sain. If he was the most capable wielder of the goddess’s power in the world, then Cain was surely the second best. No one else would come close.
As the holy knight’s power drained from Sain’s body, the sword in his hand lost its golden glow and reverted to its normal black hue.
“With that, I’ve temporarily lost my holy knight power. But in exchange...”
He produced a bolt of Darku in his palm with an ease he’d never before displayed. The spell’s activation was incredibly stable.
“So that’s your plan... You’ve sure got some nerve.”
“Not as much as you.”
They traded a knowing smile. Then, Cain spun toward the Founder with his palm out.
“Ray Javelin! ”
He launched another massive spear at it. Like before, it hit a bubble and reversed course. The bubble popped, but the glowing spear kept coming.
“Dark Ray! ”
Sain pierced the reflected spear with his own dark lance. The two spells canceled each other on impact and vanished.
“Hit ’em with all you’ve got!” shouted Sain. “Go nuts! I’ll catch everything that comes back!”
“Now we’re talking!”
Being opposites, light and dark magic canceled each other out. Just like how Sain had negated Cain’s magic during their match, all he had to do was repeat the same process. Cain would hurl spells at the Founder. They would get reflected. Sain would then proceed to cancel them out and minimize collateral damage.
“Orb of radiance, bathe all in blinding light — Vright. ”
An enormous ball of light flew toward the Founder. As it rebounded against a bubble, Sain cast his own spell.
“Orb of gloom, devour with shadow and darkness — Dardia! ”
The pair of elementally opposed orbs collided and disintegrated together. Though no damage was done, the reflection of Cain’s spell consumed another bubble. If they kept this up, sooner or later, their attacks would reach the Founder itself.
I’m sorry to admit this, Goddess, mused Sain as he shot down spell after reflected spell, but dark magic has never been so easy to use! This is amazing!
Without the power of the holy knight, Sain’s command of dark magic reached unprecedented heights. The holy presence had made him naturally light-oriented, creating an innate incompatibility with darkness that severely hampered his ability to learn dark magic. With the offending power completely transferred to Cain, Sain’s affinity for light vanished, leaving him empty — save for the fruits of his hard work and perseverance.
“Flash like serpent’s fangs — Lighto Whip! ”
A gigantic whip appeared above Sain. The intensity of its glow made Sain squint. Then, another one appeared, followed by more until five radiant whips hovered in the air, each as thick as the truck of a large tree. They lashed out at once, striking at the bubble barrier like the massive fingers of a beast of pure light. A swath of bubbles ruptured immediately, and the glowing tendrils reversed their course.
“Great torrent of darkness, drown the land in seas of black— ”
Sain spoke the incantation of a spell he’d never been able to use before. Now, he knew he could. Dark energy gathered before him.
“Velle Darku! ”
A wave of pure darkness swallowed the reflected whips. There were only three bubbles left.
“Watch out! It’s doing the cannon thing again!” yelled Sain.
The Founder’s pincer opened and fired off a beam of blood-red energy at Cain, who stood his ground and closed his eyes.
“Fohrs Saeva, here I bear the attendant’s mark— ”
Particles of light coalesced around his form.
“Eighth gift — Holy Guiding Sword! ”
A sword of golden glory materialized in his hand. He swung it, and the radiant crescent erased the oncoming blast. Without pause, he slashed three more times, sending out arcs of light that burst the remaining bubbles. Three Dardias from Sain in quick succession extinguished them on their return.
“We’re through!”
With all the bubbles destroyed, the Founder was laid bare. The two of them moved in wordless unison, rushing up to the monster and thrusting their arms out at it.
“Ray Javelin! ”
“Dark Ray! ”
Putting all their power into a simultaneous final strike, they sent two deadly spells hurtling at the Founder. One, an explosive spear of light, massive and bright. The other, a perforating lance of darkness. thin and swift. The two ethereal weapons slammed into the Founder... and punched a gaping hole straight through its thick body. The giant monster shuddered, sending quakes through the ground. Then, slowly, it began to disintegrate from outside in, its enormous form flaking away into blood-red particles that faded into the air.
Finally, it was gone. Kessen Rukai, the Stainless Hermit, had been annihilated.
“N-No way... You beat... a Founder?”
The goddess gaped at them. Her lips quivered in astonishment. Then, she burst into loud and emphatic cheers.
“You did it! Sain dear! You really did it! Oh my gosh, this is a historic achievement! No one has ever been able to defeat one of them before!”
“Yeah... I’m still trying to process that fact too,” Sain murmured in a daze.
It took Cain falling to his knees to snap him back to attention.
“Sorry... I’m at my limit,” he said through gritted teeth. “Can you hurry up and take back your power?”
“R-Right, of course.”
Sain reclaimed the goddess’s power, thereby inactivating Cain’s attendant state. As soon as he did, Cain broke out in a profuse sweat and trembled visibly. It was the goddess’s power that had kept him going all this time. Without it, the fatigue from the match came rushing back to him. On top of that, there were the inevitable repercussions of gaining and then losing so much power so quickly.
“Damn. This holy knight’s power... has got one hell of a kick to it. I won’t even be standing on my own legs for a while, never mind working. And you just walk around with this thing in you like it’s nothing?”
“My compatibility with the goddess is apparently really high. I mean, that’s pretty much a prerequisite for being chosen as a holy knight.”
“I see. I guess... I’ll never be one then.”
“That’s—”
Not true.
He kept the last two words unsaid, as the goddess gave him a death glare. It seemed like the right thing to do. In his head, however, he continued to mull over the idea that had occurred to him during the battle. While Cain’s incredible affinity for the goddess’s power certainly made him a suitable successor, Sain wasn’t about to call it quits just yet. After all, Sain wasn’t called “the strongest holy knight in history” for nothing; when it came to affinity, he was still superior. So long as Sain could still pull his weight in battle, it was probably fine to leave Cain as an attendant.
“Hm?”
As the last trickle of the goddess’s power flowed out of Cain and back into him, he frowned. For some reason, it felt different — the power seemed stronger than before. He shrugged. Maybe his mind was playing tricks on him. It had been a long day. Besides, even if it had grown stronger somehow, that hardly seemed like a problem.
Just then, he noticed the ragged figures of Melia, Marni, and Alicia approaching, and he entertained the thought no longer.