Shinwa Densetsu no Eiyuu no Isekaitan - Volume 3 - Chapter Pr

Prologue

A sickening number of corpses littered the battlefield. Black smoke spiraled heavenward from blasted trees to blot out the sky. The tang of smoldering rust filled the air.

“Yaaah!”

Across that vision of hell danced a crimson-haired girl. With each twirl, she scattered the lingering death-stench; with each leap, she swung to rend the nightmare in twain. Her every slash birthed cries of pain, of anger, and of every imaginable kind of malice. Yet no matter how many soldiers she cut down, no matter how high the bodies piled, there was no end to her despair. Breathing raggedly, she thrust her burning blade into the earth.

“So this is how it feels to truly have your back against the wall.”

She looked around, but there was not a friendly face in sight. Their retreat had long been cut off. Her retinue had stood with her to the last, but they had died to a man. Now, with her strength all but spent, she had little hope of escaping the circle closing around her.

As her vision blurred with blood, she raised her eyes to the sky and set her jaw with determination.

“But I can’t give up. I swore to him that I’d see him again.”

Her fingers found their grip on the hilt once more as she remembered the promise she had made to the black-haired boy. The next time they met, she would show him how much she had grown. This she had vowed. She would not falter here. She could not.

The tip of her crimson blade swiped sideways, warning the encroaching enemies away.

“Come on, then. This isn’t where I die.”

If they cut off her arms, she would stumble. If they took her legs, she would crawl. But she would reach him, one way or another. She would return to where he waited and see him smile again.

Wilfully, valiantly, she raised her sword and looked her foes in the eyes.

“I’ll be all right. This isn’t the end!”

His face flashed through her mind, and with a smile, she launched herself forward—into the forest of spears and beyond, to him. Her crimson eyes burned with unwavering resolution as she plunged into the oncoming horde. She hardly needed to look where she was swinging; her strikes would have struck home even if she were blind. A single slash sent blood spraying across the plain. Screams rose skyward. Her sword blazed bright to reflect her will, its scarlet blade spewing hellfire.

As she tore through the soldiers, a new arrival to the battle caught her attention. She stopped.

“Eh?”

Drums beat from all around. The enemy ranks hummed with anticipation. Their cheers shook the earth and their stamping resounded in her very guts. The sea of men parted, and out from the breach stepped a female knight.

“I applaud your tenacity,” the woman called out, “even in the face of defeat.” Her voice rang clear and true through the roars around them. “But you are only one against many. The time has come to end this performance.”

With a smile as demure as a saint’s, she brandished her azure spear in a deft one-handed spin. Its passing shattered the earth. Every flourish sent out a shock wave, whipping up dust and rocks around her. So overwhelming was her presence that the air itself strained under its weight.

“Eyes straight. Don’t look away.”

A muffled boom shook the air.

“Or you will die.”

All at once, the knight was hardly a rue away. The crimson-haired girl raised her blade in a hurried guard, but even blocked, the impact blasted through her body.

“Agh!”

“Good,” the woman said. “But you have erred even so.”

Too late, the girl noticed the savage chill that clawed at her skin, felt the glacial wind from the speartip grating against her guard. Her eyes widened as her burning blade began to freeze over.

“You think so, do you?!” She sank forward, thrusting her opponent away, and swung with all her might. “Well, I’ll show you!”

No matter how stout her heart, no matter how noble her resolve, being forced onto the back foot took its toll on her swordsmanship. Even so, she fought valiantly. The chill issuing from the azure spear froze the sweat on her forehead, and her lips split until they bled, but she pressed onward.

“You fight well. But you will go no farther.”

“Ngh!”

It was a single breath that undid her, a brief disconnect between one strike and the next. Her lovely features twisted in pain as the spear sliced through her flesh.

“Guh!”

The spear struck again, this time punching through her shoulder. A gout of blood sprayed behind her.

“Now you are done.”

The knight planted her spear in the ground and raised a hand. The enemy troops surged forward, scrambling to take their chance while they had it. The girl’s crimson sword flared, sensing danger, but the azure spear’s chill dispersed its light.

“Not yet... I’m not...”

A fierce will still burned in her eyes, but she had no cards left to play, no means of defending herself against the storm of violence.

“Hiro...”

As her enemies fell on her, she reached out for the boy’s hand, but no hope blessed her and she was swallowed by the press.