Chapter 10: For Whom Is the Crusade
“Aaaaaah!” Erica screamed, clutching her head in distress.
Everyone was taken aback by the sudden change in her.
“Wha?!” Gouki shouted, leaping back.
Spears of dirt rose from the ground, creating a circle protecting Erica. They spread at a tremendous speed, filling a hundred-meter radius around her. Everyone, including Gouki, managed to evade the attack.
“Get on.” Orphia descended with Ariel.
“Many thanks!”
Gouki, Kayoko, and Aria all jumped onto Ariel’s back. Meanwhile, the crowd that Orphia had been keeping back saw what had happened on the battlefield and scattered back towards the city.
“Are you okay?!”
Rio and Aishia also descended from the sky.
“Yes, all present and accounted for!” Gouki replied stiffly.
“What in the world happened here?” Rio asked, looking down at Erica as she screamed.
“She suddenly started screaming... Even though she was fine when we killed her all those times...” Confused, Gouki followed Rio’s gaze down to Erica.
Then, it happened.
Erica’s screams came to a sudden stop. She slowly raised the head she had clutched in her hands.
The dirt spears surrounding Erica separated from the ground, shooting up towards them. Each one only had the force of a lower-grade attack spell, but there were enough to cover the whole sky. Controlling this many spears of dirt was no easy task. It was clearly Erica’s doing.
Rio and Aishia lowered their altitude to protect Ariel. But it seemed like most of the dirt spears were aimed at Aishia.
“Orphia, get everyone away immediately!”
“Right!” At Rio’s order, Orphia immediately rose higher into the sky with Ariel. Meanwhile...
“...” Seeing the trajectory of the spears aimed at her, Aishia deduced that Erica was able to freely control them. She flew to lure the spears away from everyone.
“Aishia!” Rio sent magic essence into his sword, slashing away some of the spears. There were too many to cut down in one swing, so he repeated his slashes again and again.
“I’m going to fight with Aishia! Retreat to the base!” Rio shouted at Orphia, intuitively sensing something was wrong. Orphia did as she was told and flew away with Ariel, leaving Rio and Aishia in the sky alone. Saint Erica was still on the ground. She had been watching the spears fly about without any emotion, until...
“Heh... Hehehe...”
“Ha! Bwahaha!”
Two laughs overlapped with each other; the voices had both come from Erica. The same person was speaking, yet the two voices were different. One was clearly feminine, while the other was masculine. The feminine voice indisputably belonged to Erica, but the masculine voice was unfamiliar.
What...?! Rio cut down more spears as he watched the ground in disbelief.
“...” Aishia had been preparing her magic essence while luring the dirt spears after herself. She cast several hundred orbs of light around herself, sending them hurtling towards Erica on the ground.
“Hmph.” Erica swung her empty-handed arm. All the orbs Aishia had released disappeared.
“Wha...” Rio was speechless.
“Hah!” Erica immediately leaped at Aria at a tremendous speed. Her physical abilities were far greater than anything Rio had seen from her up until now. She closed the distance to Aishia instantly.
“I won’t let you...!” Rio wedged his body between them.
“Out of my way!” The voice of an annoyed man left Erica’s mouth. She swung her fist to shake Rio off. Rio brought down his sword with the intention to sever her arm, but he couldn’t cut it.
That can’t be...
Rio’s sword and Erica’s arm clashed midair, but Erica had far more physical strength, and was overpowering him easily. Rio used his wind spirit arts to push back with all his might.
“Why do you hinder me, Dragon King?!” Erica yelled in a man’s voice, glaring at Rio.
“What are you saying...?!”
“That woman betrayed us both!”
“I said what—”
What was she going on about?! Rio couldn’t make any sense of it. He was confused beyond belief.
“We must kill that woman!”
“I won’t let you!” Rio raised his voice, desperately protecting Aishia.
“Why?!” Erica raged, her power increasing explosively in a single instant.
“Guh!” Rio finally lost to her strength and was blown backwards. Fortunately, they were in the air. He used his wind spirit arts to immediately decelerate, minimizing the distance he was sent back. He quickly came up beside Aishia once again.
Aishia was clutching her head and groaning in pain. “Urgh...”
“A-Aishia?!” Rio called out in a panic.
“Damn it, I can’t use my full power while possessing another. And my memory has been affected by that one...!” Erica muttered hatefully. She also seemed to be experiencing pain, as she was pressing her forehead while glaring at Aishia.
Rio took that chance to send a slash of wind her way.
“Dragon King. Why has your power declined even more than mine? Have you also possessed that creature because of them?”
Erica sent a tremendous amount of magic essence into her arm, catching Rio’s sword.
“I have no idea what you’re saying,” Rio said, sweating profusely. He didn’t know what was going on, but Erica was even stronger than the beast of the land right now. That was the only thing he knew.
“Have you lost even more memories than me? No... That woman resides within you? And that woman’s soul is... What is the meaning of this?”
Erica looked between Rio and Aishia questioningly.
“I... I...” Aishia seemed to be in terrible pain.
“Does that woman have two souls? No... This woman is an empty shell. The soul I sense over there has a far stronger aura to it.”
Erica suddenly looked over at the lake. She then glared at Rio in suspicion. “Dragon King. You haven’t betrayed me as well, have you...?”
“I said I have no idea! Who are you?! What happened to Saint Erica?!” Rio yelled.
Just then, Erica yelled in Erica’s voice. “Stop! Stop it! Who are you?”
Her voice changed to the man’s voice. “Me? I’m the Saint. Saint Erica. No, I’m...!”
Erica started groaning in pain again.
“This is my fight!” she yelled in her own voice. “Don’t get in my way!”
There appeared to be someone else within Erica—someone who was a man.
“Fool. You’re nothing more than a mere puppet. This is not your war,” the man inside Erica said to her.
“No!” she yelled in desperation. “This is my crusade! No one has the right to stop me!”
“You are irrelevant! I... I...!” The man inside Erica appeared to be just as confused. “You are no agent of god! There are no gods in this world—they have all left! The only fools that haven’t accepted that are the demigods!”
“That’s right, there are no gods in this world! That’s why I was trying to become god! I wanted to exact divine punishment!”
“You are an imitation of a god! No, you are a mere puppet!”
Erica and the man’s voice argued loudly with each other.
“Damn it... I can’t remain as myself for that long, yet... Argh, forget it! It’s annoying enough having the Dragon King’s interference. In that case...”
The man within Erica seemed to be in a hurry. She glared in the direction of the lake.
“Wha...” She accelerated rapidly, leaving them all behind.
“No! Aishia...!” Rio yelled, about to chase after Erica. But he paused upon seeing Aishia curled up in pain.
“Sorry... Go on ahead...” Aishia groaned.
“All right...!” Rio moved faster as he flew after Erica.
◇ ◇ ◇
At the lake located five kilometers from the territory capital of Greille, the army led by William Lopes had just returned to the base.
“It’s been a few minutes since the beast of the land disappeared...” Francois murmured, gazing in the direction of Greille from aboard the enchanted airship.
Just then, one of the ship’s crew came running over. “Your Majesty, almost all personnel have finished boarding.”
“I see...”
With the beast of the land gone, there was a possibility the fight was over. However, with no way of knowing the victor, they could only send a scout or wait for Rio or someone else to come back. Francois hesitated over whether he should give the order to depart for some moments.
“Inform me when all boarding is completed,” he decided eventually. If the battle was over, someone may still return to them. He wanted to delay his decision until everyone was on board.
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
The crew member who came to make the report quickly departed. Then—
“They’ve returned! Over there!” Miharu shouted from the deck, pointing at Orphia and Ariel, who was carrying Gouki’s group.
They’re all safe. That means...
Did they win? He couldn’t see Rio and Aishia anywhere. For now, he’d have to hear what happened from Gouki. However, someone suddenly appeared, passing by Ariel.
“What? Saint Erica...?!”
Indeed, it was Erica, flying through the air. Her arrival out of the blue left everyone looking up, lost for words.
“I’ve found you, accomplice to the traitor. I see you’ve also possessed a human soul like the Dragon King, though I cannot fathom why...”
The person who looked just like Erica glared down at a girl on the deck. At the end of her gaze was Miharu.
“Huh...?” She looked confused as to why she was being glared at.
“It would be easy to kill you right now...” Erica held a hand out at Miharu. A beam of destructive light extended towards Miharu. She was standing beside Celia and Latifa, who would inevitably be caught in the attack.
In the last moment before the beam hit—
“Haaah!”
Rio appeared before them. He poured all his magic essence into his sword to deflect the destructive beam in another direction.
“Why do you interfere, Dragon King?”
The person inside Erica looked down upon Rio.
“Why do you want to kill them?”
With Miharu, Celia, and Latifa behind him, Rio shot Erica a deathly cold glare.
“If I answer that, I will no longer remain me. That woman over there forced that limitation on me. Fortunately, it seems there are no demons around...”
“Limitation? Demons? What are you...?”
“Either way, there’s no time. Which is also that wicked woman’s fault.” Erica tried to fire another destructive beam at Miharu.
However, using flying spirit arts, Rio stopped the spell right before it reached him. He used a wind-clad slash to drive Erica away from the airship. In fact, he slammed the attack into her—a regular human would have been crushed by the destructive force of his swing, but...
“...”
Erica caught the blow with a cool expression. The impact only knocked her back a little.
In which case...
“I’ll distract her! Run away!” Rio yelled, beginning a fierce attack on Erica.
“Take off now!” Francois immediately ordered. But no matter how much they hurried, it would take a few minutes before they could depart.
“Did you think I’d let you run?” Erica said coolly, blocking Rio’s slashing attack with both arms. In the next moment, she disappeared from before him, moving rapidly to the side.
She silently held her right hand towards the airship, preparing to fire a destructive burst of energy. She seemed to be intent on aiming at Miharu aboard the ship. But Rio kept up with her speed using wind spirit arts, swinging his sword to interrupt her.
“It seems you have the speed, at least. In that case...”
Erica frowned in annoyance, sweeping her arm to the side powerfully. The next instant, the sword that had accompanied Rio through countless battles...
“Wh—”
...shattered into pieces.
“Hah!” Rio immediately abandoned his bladeless sword handle and closed in on Erica empty-handed. He used his punches and kicks to slam spirit arts into her.
“How irksome.”
Erica tried to brush him off, but he saw through her movements and evaded her accordingly.
Rio’s attacks were fearsome; he obviously surpassed the realm of being simply a human in combat. Those who were watching their fierce battle from below were overwhelmed by the sight.
However, Erica was unfazed. “You’ve truly weakened, Dragon King.”
“Ugh! Hhaaah!”
With a one-armed shoulder throw, Rio hurled Erica at the ground. He accelerated his own speed to descend with her, stomping down on her abdomen as she fell. A small crater formed at the point of impact, but...
“Hmph.”
With her back to the ground, Erica held her hand up and fired a bullet of light at Rio. It was only twenty or so centimeters in length, but it was too fast to evade. On top of that, it contained extremely condensed magic essence.
“Wha?!” Rio barely managed to raise his arms and create a barrier of essence to guard himself. When the bullet made its direct hit against it...
“Guh...!” The fierce knock back sent him flying.
Erica fired several additional bullets after Rio’s retreating form, and they all found their mark. The explosion swallowed Rio, blowing him back even farther.
“Haruto!” Several girls screamed at the chain of attacks Rio had taken.
Meanwhile, Erica looked away from Rio and towards the airship with Miharu on board. While she was distracted, Gouki, Kayoko, and Aria all made a move, swinging at her with all their strength. But with her pale, thin limbs, Erica caught all of their attacks. She then brushed them away like flies.
“Wugh...”
Gouki and the others easily went flying.
“...”
Orphia fired a rain of arrows at Erica. Several made a direct hit, but they bounced off of Erica’s body as though it were made of rock.
“Alma!”
“Right!”
Sara and Alma placed their hands on the ground and activated a spirit art together. One side used ice while the other used dirt to bury Erica alive.
“Oh no!”
“The art is...!”
The formation was obstructed as though the activation of their art had been denied.
“Infants of the species that inherited our blessings. Did you really think that such child’s play could seal the upper high class spirit of earth?” Erica said to them.
“The upper high class spirit of earth...? Are you saying...?”
Sara and the others were dumbfounded.
“...” Erica didn’t answer them. Just then, the kingdom’s army started attacking as well. But Erica paid them no mind as she held her hand out towards the airship once again. Then, Miharu came running out of the airship.
“Wait! Don’t go, Miharu!” Satsuki was following her in a fluster. Erica aimed her hand at Miharu as soon as she was off the ship.
“She’s definitely aiming at me! That’s why I have to leave the ship! You can’t come after me!” Miharu was yelling as she tried to move to somewhere with no one around, but...
“There’s no way you can do that!”
Naturally, Satsuki won in physical ability. She caught up to Miharu quickly, holding her spear-shaped Divine Arms ready to protect Miharu.
“...” Erica released a destructive light without thinking twice.
“I won’t let you! Ugh...!” Aishia said, cutting in. She stood before Miharu and Satsuki, casting a barrier of magic essence to block the light.
“Ai-chan!”
“Fall back! This man is after you, Miharu!”
Erica was clearly a woman, yet for some reason, Aishia had called her a man. At that moment, the headache seemed to strike once again, as Aishia grimaced in pain.
“Perfect. You can all die together.” The destructive light Erica released expanded.
“Ugh...!” The barrier Aishia had created was unable to withstand its strength and began creaking.
“Ai-chan! If you don’t have enough magic essence, take mine...!”
Miharu clung to Aishia’s back, pouring all the magic essence she had into her. At that, Aishia seemed to realize something; her eyes widened in shock. For a moment, Aishia froze, staring into space as though time had stopped.
“I’ll help!” Satsuki put up a barrier of wind to reinforce Aishia’s essence barrier.
“Miharu, this man has a grudge against you and me...” Aishia suddenly said, as though she had remembered something.
“A grudge on us...?”
Whatever for? Miharu was bewildered, unable to think of a reason why. As she was thinking that, Aishia’s barrier was on the verge of breaking.
“Haaaaaah!” Suddenly, Rio returned from being blown away by the earlier attack. He came up beside Aishia and held out both hands to support the barrier with her.
“Ugh...”
Even then, pushed by the destructive light, Rio and the others inched backwards.
“Ignis Iecit!” A ball of fire came flying from the airship. The sorcerers of the kingdom had made an attack. Liselotte and Charlotte were among them. Fireballs struck Erica’s body in succession, enveloping her flesh in flames. But those flames were also extinguished instantly.
“Pesky things...” Erica clicked her tongue in slight annoyance. Then, she started walking forward while still releasing her destructive light.
“Gah, it’s no good. At this rate...” He wouldn’t be able to protect everyone. But he absolutely didn’t want that. Rio desperately resisted the force pushing against him, maintaining the barrier.
“...” Aishia watched Rio’s profile, her heart feeling like it would burst from her chest.
“Give it up, Dragon King. That is the limit of a human vessel. My vessel is also a human, but her body ceased to be human the moment she became a hero. She is far different from you,” Erica said to Rio.
“Huh...?” Satsuki looked perplexed. As a hero, it was a sentence she couldn’t overlook. If what Erica just said was true, heroes were no longer humans. Did that mean she wasn’t human either?
Just then, a slash of intense light came falling down.
“Durandal!” Latifa came rushing over, carrying Celia. She must have been preparing her magic while everyone was fighting. The range had been adjusted a lot compared to the fight with the Hero Killer Draugul, but the strongest attack magic in Celia’s arsenal struck Erica directly.
The surprise attack from behind caught Erica with her guard down, successfully dealing more damage than any other attack until now. The half of Erica’s body that touched the slash was completely disintegrated. As a result, the attack Erica was using against Rio’s essence barrier also vanished.
“To think a human could use transcendent magic... Did that woman teach you?” The disintegrated half of Erica’s body rapidly restored itself. She looked away from Miharu to glare at Celia for a brief moment.
“No way...” Celia was dumbfounded. Erica swung her arm at Celia and Latifa in annoyance. However...
“I won’t let you!” Rio flew in between them, taking the blow from her arm in their stead. Of course, his physical body was enhanced.
“Gah!” A terrible cracking sound could be heard from the right arm and ribcage that Rio used to guard them.
“Rio!” Latifa screamed in fear.
“I’ll be fine! You stay back. No—you should all flee!” Rio shouted, tackling Erica back two meters.
“How annoying... I see. So this is the strength of humans. Each of you may be insignificant alone, but you can support each other by flocking together. I was able to surface today through a stroke of luck, but it seems I’m out of time... Very well. Let’s see if you can protect yourselves to the end,” Erica said with a sigh, then vanished.
“Did she leave...?” Satsuki murmured. But that wasn’t possible; Rio immediately looked at the tsunami of magic essence rising on the other side of the plains.
“Wha...” He fell speechless. It wasn’t an amount of essence that could be handled by a human—or any other living creature in this world, for that matter. Even if someone could hold this much essence in their body, there had to be a reasonable limit for any living creature, and this amount clearly surpassed that. It surpassed it by so much, he didn’t know what to do.
“No...!” Rio yelled hoarsely. “She hasn’t merely departed! She changed locations so that no one would get in her way! Get the airship away right...!”
Right now, was what he wanted to say, but where would they go?
There was so much magic essence, it was impossible to imagine what would happen. The range of its effect could be unfathomable. There was no way the airship could flee high enough in time.
It was impossible for all of them to run. He could only save a few of them at most. He’d have to make a choice on who to save.
“...”
Rio didn’t know what to say.
“Haruto...” Just then, Aishia stood next to Rio.
“Aishia...”
“I’m sorry...” she apologized.
“What for...?”
She suddenly started speaking. “I remembered... Not everything, but the reason why I don’t have memories. And what my role is...”
“What are you saying...?” Everything that had happened today was so bewildering.
Aishia continued. “I was an empty shell. A temporary container to store power. That’s why I was meant to return that power to you with an explanation.”
“Is this the time for that, Aishia?” In this situation that resembled the end of the world.
“But because of you, Haruto, I stopped being an empty shell.”
It was almost as if...
“You gave me my name. A precious name, warm like the spring.”
Almost as if she was saying goodbye...?
“I was so happy,” Aishia said earnestly. “Thank you.” She touched Rio on the cheek, thanking him as though it was the end.
“I know I should return this power to you. But...” It was at this moment that Aishia looked a little hesitant.
“But I can’t do it,” she said, shaking her head.
“Why not...?”
“You already have everyone,” Aishia said, looking around at everyone. They were all watching her anxiously.
“The lonely child named Rio grew up into you, Haruto. I cannot steal your precious bonds with everyone.”
Aishia stared at everyone’s faces closely. She then turned around to face the wave of essence across the plains with a look of determination. “The only person you need to forget is me. That’s why...”
Rio couldn’t comprehend what she was saying at all. No, he didn’t want to.
“This is our final farewell. I will defeat the Saint—no, that man—myself...” Aishia left. But just before she flew off, she glanced back at Rio.
“Bye-bye, Haruto.”
She smiled gently and chuckled cutely. She wasn’t her usually emotionally detached self, but a young woman with a vivid range of emotions.
Thus, Aishia left Rio’s side.
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