I was confused, but if there was a chance, then I had to take it. It felt a bit pathetic to have to rely on two little kids like this, but I wasn’t going to let my dumb pride stop me. That was something the old me would have done.
“May, Aleah, you can stop tending my wounds now. Instead, I need you to do something for me.”
“Yes?”
“What is it, Master Rod?”
“It’s to do with this magic tool here, the Focalizer…” I explained everything TAIM had told me as simply as I could. I hadn’t a clue what a Spell Sword was supposed to be, but they seemed to know.
“Okay, got it!”
“I understand!”
The twins seemed so sure that it worried me. “Do you really understand? Like, one-hundred percent?”
“We just have to take the magic in this magic stone and hit the Demon Queen’s black shield thingy with it, right?” May asked.
“Yeah, I guess.”
“That sounds perfect for us!” Aleah said.
They really did know what to do, just like TAIM had said.
“Watch us, Master Rod!” May said.
“Huh? O-oh, sure.”
Without even waiting for my reply, May took off her pouch and set it on the ground. “You watch us too, Ralaire!”
“Yes, watch over us, Ralaire.”
A water slime poked out the pouch and quivered as though in response to the girls.
“Are you ready, Aleah?”
“When you are.”
May picked the magic stone out from the wreckage with both hands and closed her eyes. Aleah brandished the sword she had received from Dorothea and stared straight at the Demon Queen.
“Aleah, now!”
“Going!” Aleah dashed forth with a speed unthinkable for her age. She held her sword low, swiftly drawing nearer to the Demon Queen.
“Hey, stop, what’re you thinking?!” I yelled.
“It’s okay, this is part of the plan!” May said. I turned to look back at her and saw her surrounded by four shining lights—representing earth, fire, wind, and water: the four classical elements. Those lights were proof she was successfully drawing out and controlling the magic stone’s stored energy.
“You’re kidding me…” I murmured.
“Ngh…” May seemed to be struggling, however. I couldn’t blame her; the magic stone had gathered energy from all over Bauer and was still collecting it at this very moment. Not even I, with my outrageous mana reservoir, could handle such an amount flowing through me.
“May, don’t push yourself!” I warned.
“No! I’ll fight together with Mama Claire and Mama Rae!” she yelled.
I realized then and there that I still had room to grow. The will to fight could be mustered by anyone. The days men alone had fought battles were behind us.
“Master Rod, out of the way!” she yelled.
I quickly cleared the path just as a stream of blindingly white light poured from May’s body.
“Take it, Aleah!”
The light soared across the battlefield like a shooting star, flying straight toward Aleah as she raised her sword.
“Haaaaaaaiiii—” The light began to envelop Aleah. A brilliant flash blinded me for an instant, and in the next, the light converged on her sword. Light melded into blade as she left our speechless selves behind and became that shooting star. “—yaaaaaaaaah!”
Her blade dropped down on the Demon Queen’s magic barrier. Light and darkness crackled like electricity as they clashed against one another.
“You…!” the Demon Queen seethed as the darkness gradually pushed back against the light.
Was it doomed? Was even this not enough?
A flash of surprise crossed Aleah’s face. She changed her grip on her sword slightly and shouted, “Like this—right, Master?”
In the very next instant, a deafening roar sounded together with a flash of light.
“Ngh!” I reflexively shielded my eyes.
Whatever happened was over, and in such a short span of time.
“Kyah!” I heard a shrill voice from my side. I looked and saw Aleah there, fallen on her backside. “Ouch… I missed my landing.”
“Aleah? What are you doing here?” I asked in a daze.
May ran up to us. “What are you daydreaming for, Master Rod? Aleah and I did what you told us to!”
I spun my head back to look at the throne room.
“Now you’ve done it,” the Demon Queen said on one knee, her magic barrier gone.
“No way,” I murmured.
“We did it, Aleah!” May cheered.
“Yes, we did, May,” Aleah said with a smile. The girls shared a high five, paying no mind to the stupefied state of the adults.
“Ha ha…pfft ha ha ha ha!”
As for me? What else could I do but laugh? Even Rae and Claire, their mothers, seemed shocked out of their minds.
“Your daughters are something else,” I said. Children took after their parents, I supposed.
“Whew… I’m tired,” May said.
“Me too…” Aleah said.
“Go ahead and nap, you two,” I said. “You’ve done enough. Leave the rest to your mothers.”
“Yeah…”
“I think I will…”
The twins lay down on the ground and began to nod off like the champs they were.
“Oh yeah. Aleah, you changed your grip midway through, didn’t you? Why was that?” I asked.
“Hmm…? I heard…her voice…” she said.
“Huh? Whose voice?”
“Master’s… She scolded me…‘Not like that, like this’…” After saying that, Aleah fell fully asleep.
“Huh… Is something like that even possible?” I wondered to myself. Aleah has learned to fight from Rae, Claire, me, and one other. To me, that one other had been the mortal enemy of my father, but to Aleah she had been a good master.
“Heh. I’ll say thanks just this once, Dorothea.” I gave a wry grin to the Sword God who was no longer of this world. For a brief moment, I felt a gaze upon me. I looked around but found nobody else there.
“Heh, I’m starting to imagine things…” I allowed my tired body to fall flat on the ground and felt a cool wind blow over me. Letting go of my consciousness, I slipped into a deep slumber.