Demon Sword Master of the Holy Sword Academy - Volume 8 - Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

SHARY THE BODY DOUBLE

A boat bobbed along a foggy lake. Riselia sat in the little vessel, clad in a white dress. With her was Leonis, wearing his Excalibur Academy uniform. Birds chirped from somewhere beyond the misty shore.

“E-erm…L-Leo…” Riselia, cheeks flushed, cast an upturned look at the boy sitting opposite her.

“What is it, Miss Selia?” he replied while rowing.

“I, erm…I want a…reward…,” Riselia admitted in a bashful yet coaxing tone.

Leonis smiled teasingly. “You’re being indecent, Miss Selia. Aren’t you a noble’s daughter?”

“Ah, er…” The girl’s face reddened at the comment.

“Do you want it that badly?” Leonis reached out and twined a silver strand of hair around his finger.

“…Y-yes…”

Leonis’s oddly bullyish attitude was a bit different from how he usually acted, and for some reason, it made Riselia’s heart beat faster. However, she sensed something a bit off, too.

Did Leo always talk like this…?

He also appeared taller. It was difficult to tell because they were seated, but he looked to be the same height as Riselia.

Is it because he’s a growing boy?

Leonis gently placed his finger on her lips.

“L-Leo…” Riselia’s eyes grew blank. She began to lick his fingertip.

“No. You don’t have permission yet.”

“Huh…?”

“You need to be good and ask for it.”

“Leo, please… Don’t be mean…” She lapped at the digit touching her lips.

“Heh-heh. What am I going to do with you…? Fine. Go ahead.”

She bit down on his finger. Leonis grimaced slightly at the sweet, gentle pain.

“…Mm…Leeeeeo… Mha.  ”

“H-hey…Miss Selia?”

A single finger just wasn’t enough. Caught in a daze, Riselia pushed Leonis down on the shaking boat and sank her fangs into his throat.

“Hee-hee, you’re not getting away, Leo.  ”

“Miss Selia, you’re acting strange… Miss Selia, listen to me!” Leonis thrashed, ultimately capsizing the boat.

Bonk!

“O-ow!”

There was a blunt thud. Riselia cradled her head with both hands while groaning in pain.

“G-geez, what are you doing, Leo… Huh?”

Riselia rubbed her bleary eyes, realizing she was wearing pajamas. Morning light broke through the curtains, illuminating her argent locks. Her ice-blue eyes were still half closed.

A pillow rested on her lap, riddled with bite marks, some of which had torn out the stuffing. Riselia sat up and looked around. She wasn’t in a lake surrounded by the woods, nor was there any boat in sight. This was a hotel room, and she was sitting on the floor next to a bed with messy sheets.

“My word. Just what kind of dream were you having?” an exasperated voice criticized her from above.

“…?!”

Riselia looked up, flustered, and saw Leonis glaring down at her coldly.

“Ah, Leo… Good morning.”

“Good grief. You’re still half asleep.” Leonis leaned in, pinching the girl hard on the cheek, which did serve to chase away the drowsiness.

“Ngh, it’s not even four in the morning yet!” Riselia protested as she stood to change from her wrinkled pajamas.

“We have morning training. Don your training gear.”

“Training?!”

“My lor—I mean, my master ordered me to make you stronger,” Leonis stated, bowing his head courteously.

The person Riselia was speaking to wasn’t the real Leonis. It was one of his minions acting as his double. It wasn’t unusual for Leonis to use imposters to skip lectures at the academy, but in most instances, he sent disguised skeleton soldiers in his stead. This Leonis, however, was someone different.

“But still, four in the morning is too early!”

“Unlike my lor—my master, I have no intention of coddling you. If you ask me, he’s sweet with you. Sweeter than sugared doughnuts.”

“Doughnuts?” Riselia blinked at this odd choice of analogy.

“Hurry up and get changed.”

“…Fiiine.”

Riselia had no choice but to obey the false Leonis’s oddly strict orders.

As the elevator descended, its window offered a view of the capital’s morning scenery. The Shangri-la Resort stood deserted, its liveliness from the prior evening feeling like a lie. Riselia placed a hand on the glass while peering out to sea.

Leo…

He—the real Leonis—had departed last night to help that girl with the flaming hair, his so-called comrade. And though he promised to return as soon as possible, he also said he might not make it to the Holy Sword Dance Festival in time.

You’re okay out there, right, Leo?

Riselia was fine with him not returning in time for the festival, but she still worried about his safety. She’d given him the go-ahead—it had been the right thing to do—but that didn’t make the worry any easier to manage.

The girl looked away, biting her lip.

From the hotel lobby, the two made their way to the Shangri-la Resort’s natural park. Riselia gazed at Leonis’s body double’s back while walking.

“…What is it?” He suddenly turned around, startling Riselia. “You were staring at me, weren’t you?”

“Ah, y-yeah…” Riselia nodded hurriedly. Did he have eyes in the back of his head? “I was just wondering about your name. I’ll call you Leo with the others, of course, but what about when it’s just the two of us? Should I stick to Leo, or do you have a real name?”

Leonis’s replacement gestured pensively. “In truth, I feel that referring to our master by such a nickname is frivolous of you. However, since my lor—I mean, since he allows it, I suppose I shall accept it as well.”

“Okay. Let’s do our best to get along, Leo.  ”

Leonis furrowed his brow in displeasure.

“That aside, I’d still like to know your real name,” Riselia added.

“Why? My real name is of no consequence.”

Riselia wouldn’t be deterred. “That’s not true. You’re different from the bone soldiers Leo summons all the time…right?”

“…I am not a skeleton, no,” Leonis answered, looking offended by the implication.

“Right. That’s good. If there were any more skellies around, I wouldn’t be able to tell you apart.”

Leonis often summoned undead to help with Riselia’s training, but since they were all jumbled-up bones, she couldn’t tell which was which. It was very confusing.

Leonis stopped in his tracks and pulled a face. “You can’t tell skeleton soldiers apart?”

“No, well, sometimes I can…,” Riselia said, holding up an index finger. “The strongest ones are Amilas, Dorug, and Nefisgal. And the one that’s kind of yellow is the sniper, Zolua. The one with the big crack is the Death Swordfighter Feiden, and the one with the twisted arm is Grayfauzer. The one with the dented skeleton is the Dark Priest Meridore, and the lady skeleton is—”

“W-wait, hold on just a minute!” Leonis interjected. “You really remember the names and characteristics of all the skeletons?”

“Of course. They’re my teachers, after all.” Riselia nodded, as if to confirm that much was obvious.

“…” Leonis was stunned.

“I’ll remember your name, too, so tell me.”

“…I-I’m not telling.”

“Oh, come on, it totally felt like you were going to!”

“If, and only if, the day comes when I acknowledge your worth, I will tell you my name.”

Leonis—actually Shary—then mumbled that such a time would never arrive, and she averted her gaze. Upon reaching the entrance to the natural park, she immediately ordered, “Five laps around the park.”

“What, that’s all?” Riselia asked, disappointed.

The park’s outer circumference was two kilorels in length. It wasn’t much of a distance. Even Excalibur Academy’s basic training was more severe, and Riselia had an undead body.

“You will have to wear this, though.” Shary snapped her fingers, and the shadow at Riselia’s feet began to writhe.

“Wh-what?!” Riselia cried as darkness crept up her body, binding her legs and hands. “I-it’s…heavy…”

“I turned your own shadow into weights to restrict you.”

“…Weights?” When Riselia looked down, she recognized that her shadow had thinned slightly.

A moment later, the darkness fettering her limbs turned transparent, blending in with her skin. “You will spend the time leading up to the Holy Sword Dance Festival bound as you are now,” Shary stated.

“Huh?! B-but, I can’t run properly like this!”

“If you put your vampire mana to good use, you will get used to it before long.”

“Get used to it… But what about when I sleep, or take a bath?”

“You will tend to your daily needs with them on, of course.”

“No way…”

“Riselia Crystalia, I was ordered to train you as my lor—the master’s proxy. I am simply abiding by that command.” Leonis produced a shadow whip in his hand.

“A whip?” Riselia had a bad feeling about this.

“Now, hurry up and get to running!”

Crack!

“O-okay!” Riselia bolted off, spurred by the sharp noise of the whip against the ground.

A wooden sword cut through the air, whistling. Sakuya stood in the park by the hotel. Swinging practice was part of her daily routine. When she trained in the woods behind the Hræsvelgr dorm, she manifested her Holy Sword, Raikirimaru, but using Holy Swords outside Excalibur Academy premises was strictly forbidden.

Sakuya didn’t normally care much for these rules, but Elfiné was the one who’d set the eighteenth platoon up with a private hotel floor, and Sakuya didn’t want to cause trouble for her.

I shouldn’t drag her name through the mud.

She brought her wooden sword down again, then stopped. Her eyes peered ahead while she pictured a girl who shared her facial features.

Setsura…

Sakuya’s older sister was thought to have died nine years ago during the Sakura Orchid’s destruction, yet she was alive. She’d returned from the dead…and tried to claim Sakuya’s—her younger sister’s—life.

She wasn’t a fake. There’s no doubting it—that was really Setsura.

The image of Setsura’s cold, sagacious eyes had been burned into Sakuya’s mind. Setsura had released the Sakura Orchid guardian deity sealed within the Seventh Assault Garden’s Mana Furnace and summoned the very Void Lord who’d destroyed her homeland.

Why had she returned from the dead? What did she seek to achieve…?

Sakuya returned her attention to the top of her wooden sword. Training was about more than the Holy Sword Dance Festival, which was only days away. She was bound to lock blades with her sister again.

I can’t beat her. Not yet.

Cold sweat ran down Sakuya’s neck. Despite all attempts, she couldn’t envision defeating her older sister. Her left eye throbbed painfully from behind its eye patch.

The mystic eye of time, granted to her by the man who called himself a Dark Lord. Sakuya couldn’t take off the eye patch yet. If she did, the mystic eye’s power would start eating away at her.

I can’t beat Setsura without mastering the power of this gift…

Sakuya relaxed her muscles and leaned the wooden sword against a tree. No sooner had she done so, however, than a sound from the bushes set her on edge.

“…?”

Sakuya turned and saw a large black hound emerge from the bushes.

“Oh, Fluffymaru. Want some snacks?”

Fluffymaru hesitated for only a moment, barking in reply. Sakuya offered a roasted rice cracker from her sleeve, which the dog accepted gladly. Sakuya smiled and scratched Fluffymaru’s head.

“Heh-heh, you’re as fluffy as ever, Fluffymaru.”

“Woof…”

“Do you like it here? You’re just like the first Fluffymaru the Black.”

The original Fluffymaru the Black was a combat hound raised by the Sakura Orchid royal family to guard the princess priestesses. Sakuya and Setsura cherished Fluffymaru the Black when they were young, but the animal perished with so many others on that awful day nine years ago. Sakuya scratched and patted the dog, seeing her old one’s likeness in him.

“Mm. Is that Miss Selia…?” Sakuya wondered aloud after spotting a silver-haired young woman desperately circumnavigating the park. “Early morning training, huh? Quite admirable…”

“Lady Selia, what’s wrong?!”

Regina’s eyes were wide in shock when Riselia returned to the hotel. Despite appearing like a secluded noble lady, Riselia subjected herself to rigorous exercise. As a result, her stamina exceeded that of most other academy students.

Yet now Riselia was…wholly worn out. She’d collapsed upon the table after dragging herself to the meeting room. It was quite unusual to see a dignified duke’s daughter act so improperly.

“A-are you all right? Have some water.” Regina offered a glass and patted her mistress on the back.

“Y-yes, I’m fine. I’m just a little…tired…from my early morning training, is all…”

“You were out exercising this early?” Regina frowned. “But we’re going to be training after this, too.”

“…Yeah. It’s just, Leo—”

“Good morning, Miss Regina,” the boy greeted her as he entered the room.

“Ah, good morning, kid,  ” Regina answered. Leaning close to him, she whispered, “Say, kid. Lady Selia’s acting all weird. Did you do something to her?”

Leonis looked away awkwardly. “E-erm. I might have been a bit harsh when I trained her.”

After a short while, Elfiné and Sakuya arrived, and the morning meeting commenced. Holding a discussion during breakfast was the eighteenth platoon’s tradition. Its members had partaken of the hotel restaurant’s buffet on their first day here, but this time, Regina had prepared a meal in the common room kitchen using ingredients purchased from the city.

She’d made her own special pizza recipe with tomato slices, onions, large pieces of ham, and melted cheese, all baked to a crisp in the oven. To go with it, she’d also prepared white fish soup, salad with roasted walnuts, and yogurt with homemade plum jam she’d brought from the Hræsvelgr dorm.

“Ahh…Miss Regina, can I have some more?” Leonis asked with glittering eyes after stuffing his cheeks with Regina’s pizza.

“Eat up.   Wow, you’ve got a healthy appetite today, kid.”

“…I—I do?”

Elfiné giggled and smiled at him. “Maybe you’ve hit a growth spurt. Here, have some coffee.”

“Thank you.” Leonis accepted the mug and sipped its contents. “Pfff! Cough, cough!”

Leonis choked on his coffee.

“…I-it’s bitter!” he exclaimed.

“But we put in lots of sugar, as always.”

“Huh? Ah, y-yeah, you did…”

Leonis nodded evasively, shoveling yogurt into his mouth to cleanse his palate.

I guess filling in for the real thing is a bit difficult… Riselia watched the imposter, feeling a bit nervous.

Once everyone was settled, the platoon began their meeting.

“This year’s Holy Sword Dance Festival will be held on the Eighth Assault Garden, which is still under construction,” Elfiné said, displaying an image on her terminal’s monitor.

The Eighth Assault Garden, Nebulous, was a new city under construction at the capital. It was roughly 78 percent complete, and was coupled to the industrial area’s new Float VII.

Once complete, Nebulous would be part of the Assault Garden Strike Force, led by the Seventh Assault Garden. It would engage in large-scale Void eradication missions.

“It may have been chosen as the event site to serve as a demonstration for immigrating citizens,” Elfiné speculated, tapping on the terminal.

“I suppose it’ll be a lot like the urban combat training the senior students have in their curriculums,” Riselia commented.

Excalibur Academy’s urban combat training used real city environments in the Seventh Assault Garden. Elfiné was the only senior in the eighteenth platoon and thus the only one in the group privy to this training. However, all the girls had experience with urban warfare from the previous Stampedes.

Elfiné nodded. “The rules will be based on the typical urban training team bouts. Finding core flags placed around the area will be the best way to get points. Of course, just like in ordinary matches, destroying an opponent’s Holy Sword or knocking them out of commission helps our score, too.”

“What about our initial positioning?” Sakuya inquired.

“We don’t have to worry about protecting a base this time. Each unit will be deployed to one of the Eighth Assault Garden’s areas randomly and will need to gather information while collecting core flags. Regardless of our initial position, we won’t know where the other squads are.”

“Well, our platoon has the edge when it comes to intelligence, thanks to your Holy Sword, Miss Finé.”

“True. But other groups have scanner-type Holy Swords, too.”

Elfiné called up data about the other platoons’ representatives on her terminal. Humanity had established six facilities that trained Holy Swordsmen, including Excalibur Academy. The Capital’s Elysion Academy, the Fifth Assault Garden’s Anti-Void Research Institute, the Fourth Assault Garden’s Academia, the Second Assault Garden’s Military Instruction School, and the Human Church’s St. Eluminas Monastery.

Elfiné’s data included information on each school’s representatives, but it consisted only of public information. There’d be no way of knowing how strong the representatives were until seeing them in action.

For example, Riselia had only recently awakened to her Holy Sword, and Leonis was a newcomer, so most others didn’t have a grasp of their abilities. In all likelihood, other participants were wariest of Sakuya, who’d held the record for slaying large Voids since she was a young girl.

“Lady Chatres is as overwhelming as ever,” Riselia whispered while looking at the terminal screen.

Chatres Ray O’ltriese, one of Elysion Academy’s representatives. The third princess of the empire was considered the strongest Holy Swordswoman among all students. Her abilities went beyond her powers; she was also a skilled commander and highly trusted by her platoon.

“We’re not going to lose. Let’s do this!” Riselia said, despite the many formidable opponents.

Everyone in the room nodded.

The Central Garden—the capital. Located at its core was the very symbol of the Human Integrated Empire, the palace. This brickwork fortress, built in the style of the old kingdoms, gave the impression that it had gone untouched by the magitech revolution.

Since it was essentially a garrison, it was surrounded by a vast forest and gardens. The palace alone covered an area roughly half that of Excalibur Academy. Gardens within the woods surrounding the structure were open to the public.

His villa was nestled within the palace’s premises.

“Oh my. I wasn’t expecting guests today.”

The man, who was tending to a decorative plant, faced the door, sensing that someone had arrived.

“I’m surprised you noticed me, Your Highness.”

A half-transparent woman materialized before the closed door. She was clad in a researcher’s lab coat and had beautiful black hair. This woman, a senior research officer for the Phillet Company, had an espionage-type Holy Sword that allowed her to reduce her presence to nothing.

“Ah, it’s you, Clauvia. I suppose I can’t scold the guards for letting someone get past them, then.”

The emperor’s younger brother and second in the line of succession—Alexios Ray O’ltriese—greeted his unexpected guest casually. The man in his midthirties possessed delicate features. He was tall, slender, and appeared quite unreliable, despite being the younger sibling of the most powerful person in the empire.

“I have a report regarding that matter, Your Highness,” Clauvia whispered.

Alexios’s face suddenly became quite serious.

“…Did you find something?”

“It’s observation data from Alexandria’s research institute. An unidentified gigantic mass was detected moving at high speeds over the ocean twenty-five hundred kilorels to the south. The institute presumes it’s a gigantic Void, but the details are inconclusive. It seemed to be en route to the capital for a while, but the observation tools lost sight of it halfway through. It’s believed to have moved out of the region where it was first detected.”

“Hmm. You think it was a Dark Lord?”

“In all likelihood…” Clauvia nodded. “Its gigantic mass and how it moved across the sea means it’s probably the Dark Lord that reigned over the ocean.”

“Yes. The one said to rule the ancient world’s seas, the destroyer of twelve oceanic kingdoms. So another Dark Lord has appeared. Perhaps it was roused by tectonic movements on the seabed. Then again, someone may have purposefully awoken it.”

“We don’t know. At the very least, we believe its activity isn’t connected to the Voids, unlike the one we discovered in the tundra.”

“That’s a stroke of luck. Losing our trump card, the Dragon Lord, was a painful blow…” Alexios shrugged and stroked the decorative plant’s leaves. “It seems the prophecy Duke Edward Crystalia left behind was true after all. The Dark Lords, the life-forms that dominated the world a thousand years ago, are returning.”

The Dark Lords were fiction reserved for fairy tales. Duke Crystalia, Alexios’s sworn friend, had spent his life pursuing evidence of the Dark Lords’ existence. He’d proposed wielding their destructive power to defeat the Voids. Over time, this came to be known as the Dark Lord Project.

For all their power, the Dark Lords were enemies of humanity, and the method of controlling them was still in the early stages. Most of the supposed eight Dark Lords yet remained a mystery, too.

One thing was certain, though: the immensely powerful Dark Lords did exist.

“The Dragon Lord, the Lord of the Seas. Then the next one to rise should be the Undead King.”

The Undead King was the most feared of the Dark Lords, so much so that ancient peoples were scared to speak of him. This was stated in Duke Crystalia’s posthumous manuscripts. It was said that the Undead King blighted the earth and employed the dead, resurrecting the departed in blasphemous forms.

Raising the dead. Was anyone, Dark Lord or not, genuinely capable of that? Either way…

“It’s ironic. The Dark Lords might become our kind’s greatest hope…,” Alexios whispered, gazing into the distance.

The empire’s third princess, Chatres Ray O’ltriese, suddenly stopped in her tracks. She’d been wandering the palace gardens. Her eyes took on a dangerous glint, and she raised her fair eyebrows. She’d just spotted a woman walk out of her uncle’s mansion.

That Phillet vixen is trying to curry favor with Uncle Alexios again, is she…?

Rumors whispered that this woman, Clauvia Phillet, was her uncle’s lover. And Chatres believed them.

How unsightly. And Uncle Alexios is no better…

This fastidious young woman, driven by a pure sense of justice, couldn’t bear to see this.

“Did something happen, Chatres?” a lovely voice asked her, concerned.

“Oh, my apologies, Altiria. It’s nothing.” Chatres turned around, donning a gentle smile.

Altiria was pinching the sleeve of Chatres’s uniform and looking up at her older sister. Her hair shone like gold, and her eyes were green like her sibling’s. Altiria Ray O’ltriese was the empire’s fourth princess.

“…Really? You looked a bit scary…”

My little sister is a shrewd, observant one, isn’t she?

Impressed by Altiria’s intuition, Chatres took a moment to compose herself better. Whenever she interacted with Altiria, she had to play the ideal older sister. She couldn’t show her displeasure at the presence of their uncle’s lover. There were other reasons for her foul mood, however.

Reporters had disturbed the siblings’ long overdue lunch date earlier. With the Holy Sword Dance Festival right around the corner, the media was dying to wring an interview out of Chatres, last year’s champion.

At first, Chatres responded to the inquiries politely, believing that was her duty as the winner. But reporters had pressed their advantage over the last few days, asking more intimate questions. It was intolerable. And while Chatres wanted nothing more than to blow them away with her Holy Sword, she had to maintain appearances as a princess of the empire.

Chatres knew this, of course. She was widely regarded as the best on her team and the strongest Holy Swordswoman among all the students. There was no denying that her beauty stood well above the norm as well. For someone like that to command so much attention was to be expected.

However, she could not help but take offense at how reporters pestered her for comments on Riselia Crystalia’s participation in this year’s Holy Sword Dance Festival. She was the daughter of Duke Crystalia, a hero, and was one of the few survivors of the Third Assault Garden’s destruction. Those qualities and her unusual awakening to the power of her Holy Sword set her apart. She was the kind of idol the media lapped up. However, Chatres had little interest in the girl.

She bore no ill will for Riselia Crystalia. Still, she did feel that a special entry brought in solely to drum up attention could only amount to so much… Ultimately, Chatres decided that she would turn down any new requests for interviews.

Time spent with my younger sister is far too precious to be wasted on such frivolities.

She placed a hand on Altiria’s head.

…Maybe I dote on her too much. Yet who could blame me, with her being so sweet?

Watching Altiria grin reminded Chatres that she supposedly had another younger sister. The princess had learned of this only a few years ago. This other sibling was treated as having never existed under an agreement between the royal family and the Human Church. Soon after her birth, she was handed over to some noble who adopted and raised her.

She must be fifteen by now.

Despite being her older sister, Chatres had been powerless to help that unknown girl. Of course, Chatres was a child at the time, but she still regretted allowing it to happen.

I can only hope she knew a happy life…

“Chatres…stop, you’re treating me like a child.”

“…Oh. My apologies.” Chatres gave an apologetic smile and took her hand off Altiria’s head. “I should be going. My subordinates are waiting…”

“Oh, okay!”

The two of them walked through the garden together.

“I look forward to seeing you perform at the festival,” Altiria remarked.

Chatres nodded, brimming with confidence. “Yes, you should watch from the best seat available. My Holy Sword will reign supreme.”

Altiria suddenly hung her head awkwardly. “Oh, e-erm…”

“What’s wrong?” Chatres inquired.

“I was just wondering, Chatres… Will you be fighting Sir Leonis?” Altiria asked sheepishly.

“Leonis?”

Seeing her sister fidget bashfully, Chatres recalled the ten-year-old boy from Riselia Crystalia’s platoon. Apparently, he’d been on the Hyperion during the hijacking incident. Altiria seemed to be under the mistaken impression that he was the one who’d saved her.

Chatres didn’t have the heart to tell her younger sister that she’d gotten the wrong idea about how events played out.

“Don’t worry. I won’t fight seriously against a child,” Chatres assured her nonchalantly, shrugging in an attempt to soothe her sibling’s concerns.

“If I may, Chatres, let me warn you: Sir Leonis is very strong.”

“Yes, right. I’ll make sure to be wary.”

The strongest student Holy Swordswoman watched Altiria pout and puff up her cheeks, noting that even that was adorable when it came from her little sister.