“MRROOOOOHH!!”
The bull-headed giant gave a tremendous howl as it raised its stone sword upwards, before bringing it down on the thunder ball in a crushing swing. The impact sent a cloud of dust into the air like an explosion.
“Wha...”
Even Christina was lost for words.
Fulgur Sphera was the strongest offensive magic she had in her arsenal; seeing it smacked down so easily was stunning. The difference in power between the princess and this monster was overwhelming.
“Gufufu.”
Seeing Christina’s astonishment, the bull-headed giant gave her a creepy smile.
“Eek...!” Christina’s body trembled.
“K-Kill it! Use your ice magic! Front guard, use Augendae Corporis to beat it up!” Alphonse yelled in a panic. The creature lumbered languidly towards the students as they desperately began to chant.
“Glacialis Lancea!” Flora, Roanna, and Elise readied their staves in the rear and chanted the same magic spell. The formula formed at the end of their staves and shot out a spear of ice.
“Augendae Corporis!” The male students chanted too. Their bands glowed and summoned the formula, activating their physical ability enchantments. They then charged forward after the barrage of ice lances sent forth by the three girls. However, the bull-headed monster moved and evaded the spears of ice with a swiftness unfitting for its large size. It closed in on one of the male students from the side and swung its sword in a sweeping motion. The student paled in fear of the stone blade as it approached, yet even then, his reflexes had far surpassed that of a normal human, allowing him to raise his shield in time to block the attack. As a result, the male student was blown away by the blade and sent crashing back against a tree.
“Gah...!” he cried out, blood spilling from his mouth before he slumped limply against the ground. Witnessing that, the others completely lost their will to fight, their brave advancement frozen midstep. They could just feel it — there was no way they could win this fight.
“R-Retreat! Retreat now! Run for your lives!” Alphonse shrieked more than yelled. The students scattered in every direction as they fled into the forest. The bull-headed giant cackled with laughter as it slowly pursued them; it was almost as though it was enjoying the sight of the panicking students.
Meanwhile, the shock of seeing her thunder ball deflected had kept Christina rooted in place.
“Princess Christina, please pull yourself together!” Roanna rushed to shake her out of her shock.
“R-Right, thank you... Where’s Flora?” Christina asked, snapping back to the present.
“Nowhere in sight. I believe she has fled with everyone else already — let us hurry too.”
“Very well...”
With a conflicted expression, Christina left with Roanna.
◇◇◇
Just moments earlier, Rio was falling from the cliff towards the forest below. The cliff was easily over 100 feet high, producing that awful floating sensation in his chest.
It was scary... How could it be anything but? It was scary even though he knew he was unlikely to die — unless he made a mistake, that is.
Rio took a deep breath and released his essence, enhancing his physical body as much as he could. If he used magic, the process would involve a spell chant and a formula circle appearing, but neither happened in this circumstance.
Naturally, it wouldn’t — because what Rio was using right now wasn’t sorcery.
There were two types of enchantments that could affect the body: one that enhanced physical abilities, and one that enhanced the physical body. Magic could only enhance physical abilities — there was no known sorcery that could strengthen the body. With only the physical abilities enhanced, the body was known to injure itself while trying to keep up with its enhanced abilities. Many countries had ongoing research to achieve physical body enhancement, but none had succeeded in gaining any progress.
Yet for some reason, Rio was not only able to enhance his physical abilities, but his physical body as well — without the use of magic. This power had been awakened in him by the mysterious girl’s voice five years ago, on the day he regained his memories as Amakawa Haruto.
But there were other things that separated Rio from the people of this world too.
For example: how he could pour his essence into a formula to use sorcery, but he couldn’t store that formula within himself to acquire magic. Or, how he could see essence in its pure form — a faint light — when no one else could see it. Or even how he was able to imitate the flow of essence in a formula to recreate the effect of sorcery, despite his incompatibility with formula contracts for storing sorcery.
For example — Rio pushed his hands out towards the ground. A sudden gust of wind blasted from his hands, and the reverse thrust slowed his rapid fall downward. He couldn’t stop his descent completely, but it was enough to slow his falling speed — which was all he needed. Rio held out his hands to adjust his landing point with the wind, before grabbing onto a thick branch. The gesture completely killed the momentum of his fall, and he let go of the branch to drop down to the ground gracefully.
“Huh.”
With the crisis averted for now, Rio looked back up at the cliff, wondering what to do next. Honestly, it wouldn’t be that difficult to climb up and rejoin the others; a 100 foot climb was possible with his enhanced body, and he wouldn’t be at risk of dying if he fell, either. But with his inability to use magic, the others would find it strange if he showed up unharmed. That would be a pain. Either way, he needed to know what the situation was up above.
“Guess I’ll try to climb up first,” he murmured, before starting his ascent with a sigh.
In no time at all, Rio was at the top of the cliff again. He hid in the shadows of a tree and checked in on the state of the other students, who had just finished cleaning up the last of the monsters. He listened to them discuss what their current plan was; frankly speaking, it was a terrible discussion.
Both Alphonse and Stewart — the commander and the one who pushed Flora, respectively — were only concerned with protecting themselves.
Nearly all of the students had been too distracted by the surprise attack to witness the moment when Flora was pushed, which Stewart used to his advantage. Rio couldn’t hold back his faint smile when he heard the way Stewart bent the truth.
In the end, all the blame for Flora nearly falling off the cliff landed on Rio’s shoulders.
Flora herself had desperately tried to stand up for him, but was ultimately overpowered because of the lack of a witness. Yet, for some strange reason, Rio didn’t find himself disappointed or despaired, because he hadn’t expected anything more to begin with.
Rio lived at the bottom of a society where influence was everything. After all, in a society based on social status, social status itself became power. With enough power, nearly any kind of injustice could be turned a blind eye to. The concept of keeping that power in check didn’t exist — the only way to stop the abuse of power was with a higher power. As long as Rio lived in this kind of society with no status of his own, he was helpless against those powers. That was his reality — one that he had learned long ago.
Despite this reality, the reason why he continued to attend the Royal Academy was because of everything he could learn. He knew he wasn’t staying beyond graduation, and the time he spent with Celia was pleasant, so the pain was never more than he could bear.
But it seemed like time was up.
If he returned to the academy now, he’d be under false suspicion of pushing Flora off the cliff — and most likely end up in some kind of trouble. And there was no way for Rio to brush off those false accusations; if it came to that, he’d rather leave the academy here and now. He’d planned on graduating before he left the academy, but he had pretty much learned all he could in these last five years. There was no reason to stay any longer.
As long as Rio didn’t reveal himself to anyone here, they would all probably assume he
was dead. He still needed to return to the academy once more to make the minimum preparations for his departure, but if he planned his timing carefully enough, he’d be able to sneak in without alerting anyone.
Celia’s face suddenly flashed across Rio’s mind... But his decision was inevitable. He was simply putting his plan into action a little ahead of schedule. That was why—
Let’s just get this over with, Rio finally decided.
But in that moment, the demonic, bull-headed giant appeared, making the other students immediately fall into a panic. Rio considered jumping in to assist them for a second, but realized he had no obligation to save the ones who thoughtlessly abandoned him. Instead, he stayed hidden behind the tree and continued to watch. The bull-headed giant was extremely strong — there was very little chance of the students winning against it in a head-on battle.
And yet, to Rio, it didn’t appear as though the enemy was fighting seriously.
With a body that large and abilities that polished, it should have been capable of closing the distance between it and the students and deciding the match in an instant. Instead, it looked more like it was making flashy movements to incite the students’ fear... for fun. It wasn’t as though it didn’t attack at all, but it did seem to be going easy on them.
In the meantime, the students had begun to flee. Their line of defense fell as they panicked, most of them only thinking of themselves as they ran and the bull-headed giant pursued them at a leisurely pace. The thought of the other students dying made Rio’s face twitch, but he didn’t budge.
◇◇◇
Flora had whisked away the boy that had been knocked unconscious by the bull-headed giant to heal him behind a tree in the forest. With his condition now stabilized, some of the color returned to his pale face. If he had been left alone, he would have died of internal bleeding. Instead, he was now resting peacefully against a tree trunk; with rest, he would make a full recovery.
The others had scattered in every direction, and the monster wandered off while laughing its creepy laugh. An almost eerie silence fell upon the forest and its greenery, signaling the end of the urgent situation. With that, there were no more traces of the panic that had just occurred. Yet, now, Flora was overwhelmed with uncertainty.
She was worried.
She had been separated from Christina and the others... Did they manage to get away?
Then, she thought of Rio. The boy who was scorned as the dunce of the Royal Academy of Beltrum, her savior—
Flora had a plethora of regrets and guilt when it came to the commoner, and she was certain that he hated her, too.
Why wouldn’t he?
In the last five years, Flora had done nothing to repay her debt to him, after Rio had suffered from being treated like a criminal in the castle. On top of that, he had been forced to enroll at the Royal Academy in the name of a reward, only to be harassed needlessly for his difference in social status. Rio was always alone — Flora had been shocked to learn that after her enrollment — and he’d been hurt countless times by others.
But even then, he never tried to hurt others in retaliation and simply continued to live his own way, moving forward. Flora thought he was a very strong person, unlike herself, as someone who only lived to please others.
Perhaps that was why, somewhere along the line, Flora’s gaze had started to follow Rio in the academy out of admiration.
The others in the academy would ridicule Rio, but she knew his good attributes. Recently, she’d overheard the girls in her class who watched the tournament praise him, which made her feel a little conflicted, but a little proud too. Still, Rio always seemed lonely. Seeing his side profile made Flora’s heart squeeze with pain.
She wanted to try talking to him. She had so much she wanted to say... But most of all, she wanted to be his friend.
Yet, she was unable to find her courage, and remained merely a spectator. That alone gave her no right to wish for such things. At that thought, Flora’s heart prickled with pain again.
Once, just the other day, she had witnessed Rio chatting amicably with Celia after classes. The two were talking in such a friendly manner, and seeing Rio’s expression directed towards Celia made her feel a little jealous. It was an expression that he didn’t normally show. Seeing that was what prompted her to gather her courage and talk to Rio today, which went directly against her sister’s orders. She was extremely nervous, and her heart had thumped audibly. But she wanted to be strong, like Rio, and took the first step forward.
As a result, she was able to talk to Rio... just a little. That alone had made her so happy that Flora immediately wanted to talk to him more. Rio didn’t have much longer at the primary division of the Royal Academy, but she’d try to talk to him more from now on.
And yet...
Rio fell off the cliff saving Flora.
She hadn’t done a thing to repay her debt to him, and he saved her anyway.
Now... there was a chance they’d never see each other again.
Please, gods above, I beg of you — Flora murmured in her heart. Please let him be unharmed.
Then, just as she made her prayer... Thump! The sound of something hitting the ground echoed in the forest. Flora startled with her whole body.
“Is it... that monster?”
This time, she could hear the thunderous sound of something heavy land on the forest floor. It let out a piercing scream, and sounded like it was heading straight towards Flora.
“I-Is it coming back here? The thing...” All the color instantly drained from Flora’s face. “I-I have to get out of here... Ah, but...” There was an unconscious boy right next to her. She wanted to run... But she couldn’t leave him, nor was she sure she could get away while carrying him.
She didn’t know what to do, and she was too scared to think anymore.
In the meantime, it had nearly closed the gap between them, and there was no hesitation in its footsteps. Stomp, stomp, stomp. The rhythmical footsteps continued on.
W-What? Is it coming this way? Flora held her hands against her mouth to silence her scream, holding her breath while she trembled.
The thing’s footsteps came to a stop on the other side of the tree Flora was hiding behind. She could hear its rough breathing.
“Eek...!”
No... She didn’t want to die. This was terrifying.
“Ah, ah...” Her whole body quivered with fear as she slowly raised her head. The demon-like monster stared back at her as it reached for her small body with its left hand.
This was the end. Flora squeezed her teary eyes shut.
She cowered as the thought of her inevitable death crossed her mind... But no matter how long she waited, the looming hand never closed around her. On the contrary...
“GRRAAAH!”
The creature made a pained noise, causing Flora to fearfully opened her eyes. There, she saw the monster’s left arm, sliced off cleanly at the wrist. The severed hand rolled on the ground.
“Huh...?”
Flora’s jaw dropped in shock. Next to her stood a boy wearing the uniform of the Academy. A boy with a longsword and black hair that Flora knew well — Rio.
“GRAARGH!”
The creature leapt away with a roar. Distancing itself from Rio, it flipped in midair and landed with an earth-shaking rumble. Fury was buried deep in its eyes at it glared cautiously at the boy. “Take that student and run away now,” Rio said to Flora in a calm voice, not taking his eyes off the bull-headed giant.
“Huh? Ah, but...” Flora opened and closed her mouth wordlessly in shock.
“Quickly!”
“O-Okay!” The force behind Rio’s words made Flora reply with a flinch; she rushed to support the unconscious boy on her shoulder. Once Rio saw she was done, he spoke once more.
“Go, now!”
Just as Flora started to move, Rio charged directly at the monster. It welcomed his attack, swinging its sword down. Rio matched that by leaping with his sword in both hands.
They met swords in midair, making sparks fly everywhere.
Rio parried his opponent’s swing by directing the monster’s blade down towards the ground. With its sword buried in the dirt, Rio swung his blade diagonally upwards at the monster’s torso. It hurriedly bent backwards to avoid his attack, but his blade scratched its torso before it could fully evade.
Its skin was much harder than Rio was expecting, but it wasn’t unpiercable. Not a fatal wound, but Rio had managed to do some damage.
“M-MROOOOH!”
With a roar filled with rage, the monster lifted its stone sword and swung it roughly. Rio evaded it, jumping over the entire sword to avoid the swing. He twisted his body in the air and flipped once before landing, keeping his stance low as he sliced at the monster’s feet. The bull-headed giant jumped to avoid it, using the gravity of its fall to slam its sword straight down. The attack would have meant certain death — if it made contact. Rio stepped to the side to avoid it.
The two of their eyes met for a brief moment before they crossed swords again.
The clash of their blades created an impressive gust of wind that shook the surrounding trees. The difference in the size of their swords meant that it was only a matter of time before Rio’s blade wore out and snapped. In order to prevent that, Rio needed to implement some serious parrying techniques. Still, his weapon did not hesitate in the least as it carved its path through the air. Perhaps the long years he spent training had indeed improved his physical movements, as his blade showed no sign of wear.
But this still wasn’t easy by any means. Rio faced the endless onslaught of sword attacks, each filled with a killing intent. Each swing was equal to certain death, causing a cold chill to go down his spine.
He was desperate. He didn’t want to die — that one thought alone kept his blade moving.
...But if he truly didn’t want to die, he wouldn’t have initiated a brawl with the creature in the first place... While he had no intention of dying, Rio had no plan of attack when he’d challenged the beast.
And yet, here he was, fighting this monster. He hadn’t even realized he challenged it, and he wasn’t entirely sure why he’d done so in the first place.
Kingdom of Lies Page 16
