Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody, Vol. 9
Page 26
There was no hesitation in Father’s cold words.
My once-kind father was long gone.
Ample magic power flowed into me from the Queen’s Tower, and I changed from my low-magic youthful state back into my normal adult form.
“
I dropped my ethereal clothes, and Father issued forth a mad-sounding command.
Cursed runes crept up around me from my feet, wrapping my skin in almost unbearable discomfort.
“A-aaaaah!”
As a similar curse set in over the girl next to me, she let out a shriek of pain.
“
When my father gave the command again, the curse on my body took the shape of runes and began to engrave itself on my skin.
Nnngh…
Horrible rage and despair flowed through me, making the earlier discomfort seem like nothing by comparison.
My vision wavered, beginning to lose all color.
At this rate, I would be consumed by the poisonous curse.
Larva.
Suddenly, Nana’s voice came back to my mind.
I felt my heart grow a little lighter.
“I—I won’t give in.”
Drawing on the warmth of my memories with Nana, Mia, and the others, I fought off the anger and despair brought on by the curse.
“Just you wait, Sea Lord! Soon you shall bend to my will!”
My father’s laughter echoed across the Queen’s Tower.
The Sea Lord rose up on top of the floating island, tilting the entire island with its weight.
Watching through my dark, warped vision, I was reminded of my aunt’s and my mother’s final moments.
…I know what I saw back then.
At first, the control was successful.
But it didn’t last long before Aunt Yuuneia was absorbed into the Sea Lord and utterly destroyed.
So everything would rest on the moment I had control.
I would force the Sea Lord to tear out its own core, destroying itself for good.
If I could just defeat the Sea Lord, then Satou could take care of the rest.
That mysterious person would surely be able to undo the curse on my father and help the girl who shared a name with my aunt Yuuneia find happiness.
I’m sorry, Satou. This is my choice.
“
At Father’s words, the poison of the curse flowed into me like a torrent.
…It’s no use. No one could withstand this.
My warm memories were flooded by the poison, and the curse swallowed up my heart and began to break it into nothing—
“STOPPPPPPP RIIIIIIIIGHT THEEEEEEEERE!”
A familiar voice shouting in Shigan drew my darkening gaze.
On the other side of the Heavenslight Protection, I saw a flying ship coming closer.
Is that Arisa…?
“Larva! I have come to rescue you, I declare!”
“Mm. Here.”
Nana? And Mia, too?
The warmth flooded back into my failing heart, and colors returned to my vision.
“Hmph. I do not know how their voices are reaching, but their impertinence is in vain.”
Their voices were coming through the hair ornament Satou gave me.
The glowing dome of Heavenslight Protection clashed against the flying ship’s defensive barrier, sending up sparks of blue and white.
“Nothing can break through the Heavenslight Protection given to us by the gods.”
Father scoffed at the flying ship.
“Don’t underestimate master’s cheat barrierrrrrrr!!”
“Arisa, activate screw mode, I request.”
“All riiiiiight! Witness our drill powerrrrrr!”
The barrier wall in front of the ship began to spin like a drill.
“Liza, hit the afterburner!”
“Understood, activating rear propulsion amplification device.”
The smoke emitting from the back of the ship suddenly grew more intense.
“This is the perfect chance to say it! Our drill is the drill that will pierce the—”
Arisa’s words were cut off as the Sea Lord launched giant ice and water spears at the Heavenslight Protection.
The spears broke on the barrier, the shock wave blowing the flying ship away like a leaf on the wind.
“Utter foolishness.”
Father was wrong. Thanks to their intervention, I was able to keep control of my senses until the end.
“It is done now, yes?”
“Yes, Father.”
With a wave of my arm, I created new ethereal clothes around my body.
I wrapped myself in the outfit of a shrine maiden honoring all eight gods.
Lending a hand to Yuuneia as she staggered, I picked up her clothes and put them back on her.
“Go, Reiaane.”
I stepped onto the thin pier that stretched from the Queen’s Tower, ending outside the Heavenslight Protection dome.
It was plenty wide enough for me to walk, but my legs still trembled at the sheer height.
Yuuneia, now linked to me magically, followed behind me.
TWAAAAAKZWOOOOOWN!
A horrible, chest-piercing sound sent a tremor through my body.
I heard Yuuneia collapse behind me.
One of the Sea Lord’s enormous tentacles was waiting at the end of the pier. Its tip split off into smaller appendages, wriggling like a sea anemone.
“I can’t let you do that, Seafoooooox!”
“All five mounted Magic Cannons are ready for discharge! Firing now!”
Arisa’s scream was followed by Lulu’s high-pitched voice.
A rapid succession of blasts assaulted my ears as red spheres struck the Sea Lord’s tentacle and exploded, tearing holes through it.
TWAAAAKZWOOOOWN!
The Sea Lord’s roar reverberated.
The cannons were definitely hurting the monster.
But they cost too much magic to be fired over and over for long. Given the small size of the flying ship, no doubt those shots were its last.
“Tama, Pochi!”
“Reloooooad?”
“I’ll show you how fast I am, sir!”
As the ship circled in the sky, I could see Liza, Pochi, and Tama working on the cannons.
“The Holytree Stone engine’s bluecoin battery replacement is complete, I declare.”
“Lulu! We’ve finished switching the Magic Cannon barrels, too!”
“Mm. Charged.”
“Fire the next round!”
Another onslaught of cannon fire rained down on the tentacle.
By the end, one of the Sea Lord’s tentacles had been torn off completely.
“Amazing…”
It was so unbelievable that I couldn’t help a murmur of admiration.
“Yeeeeeeeeeeees! We’re just getting started, guys!”
Arisa’s words made a smile tug at my cheeks, but it vanished when I noticed the Sea Lord in the corner of my vision.
“Arisa! Ruuuun!”
“…Huh?”
A giant magic circle appeared above the Sea Lord, practically blotting out the sky.
In the next second, a water hammer huge enough to split the earth crashed down on the space where the ship had been.
“Arisa… Nana…”
There was no way they could have survived such an enormous blow intact.
If its hull had been made of orichalcum or the branch of a World Tree, perhaps the ship itself would have been all right. But even then, the people inside would have been crushed into a paste.
I couldn’t stop the tears that began to flow over my friends’ all-too-sudden deaths.
Arisa, Nana, Mia… I engraved each of their names on my heart, trying to will myself to fight through the despair for their sakes.
But it was no use—the sadness was too deep for me to stand.
“Oh man, we alm
ost ate it there.”
…What?
“This is no laughing matter, Arisa!”
After Arisa’s remark, I heard the light sound of a fist bopping someone on the head and Satou’s scolding voice.
Looking up, I saw the familiar sails rising toward me.
In the blink of an eye, the flying ship ascended in front of the pier where I had fallen to my knees.
“Honestly. I wasn’t exactly expecting to have to teleport the whole ship the second I got back with the Return spell.”
Standing on the deck, Satou ruffled Arisa’s hair for a moment before turning toward the tower.
Those dark, gentle eyes settled on me at once.
Breathing a sigh of relief when he saw me, Satou broke into a warm smile.
“Sorry to keep you waiting, Rei.”
My body was lifted gently into the air.
I floated along like a feather on the wind until I was gently placed on the deck of his flying ship.
“I hope we didn’t worry you.”
His tone was so light and wonderfully ordinary that I couldn’t bear it—I flew into his arms and wept like a child.
But there was no sadness in those tears.
They filled my heart with warmth, like rain in the middle of a sunny day.
Final Showdown
Satou here. I think it’s noble to carry out the final wishes of the departed, but not if it comes at the expense of the living. Wouldn’t our lost loved ones prefer us to live happily?
“
In her adult form, Rei’s smile froze when she heard the Skeleton King shouting from below.
“<…Your role?>” I asked.
“
“
Rei didn’t answer, but I could tell I’d hit the mark.
“Don’t worryyy?”
“Master will take care of the rest, ma’am.”
Tama and Pochi struck goofy poses. They were probably trying to cheer Rei up.
“Mm. Safe now.”
“Larva—no, Rei. Please trust our master, I request.”
“
Rei shook her head stubbornly.
“No ordinary monster? Is it stronger than a giant monster fish or a fully grown dragon?” Arisa asked casually.
“<…It’s around the same scale.>”
“Well then, it won’t be a problem.”
“Agreed.”
Liza and Lulu nodded sagely, and Rei finally began to look hopeful.
“
“
My Light Magic spell Condense was already on standby.
Meteor Shower was my first thought, but that would probably cause a lot of collateral damage, so I decided to hold off.
“
The Fear effect inflicted by the Skeleton King’s voice made my comrades quake in fear, but I simply shrugged.
“
With that, I turned toward the Sea Lord, which was still pounding on the dome of the Heavenslight Protection.
The dome of light was still intact after the water attack.
“It’s over, Sea Lord.”
I moved away from the ship so that the shock waves from my attack wouldn’t hurt my friends, then selected Laser from the magic menu.
“Have fun with the Flame Lord and the Sky Lord in the underworld, pal.”
The 120 Lasers I produced combined into one via my Condense spell, speeding downward to graze the outer edge of the floating island.
Piercing the dome of light instantly, it bounced directly upward.
“”
The person who murmured this elegant name for the concentrated Laser was Yuuneia, who’d returned to the Skeleton King’s side.
With an eye-searing flash and a strong smell of ozone, the Laser sliced right through the dome and the Sea Lord alike.
The neatly cut halves of the Sea Lord slowly began to fall toward the water.
Grabbing its lifeless tentacles with Magic Hand as they slid off the dome, I popped the entire Sea Lord into Storage.
A corpse that big would cause collateral damage just by falling into the sea.
“
Turning back, I saw that Rei’s mouth was hanging open.
In fact, everyone but Liza and Tama was reacting more or less the same way.
Come to think of it, Liza was probably the only one who’d really seen me go all-out in battle before. It was a little strange that Tama wasn’t surprised, but that was probably her usual easygoing attitude.
“
When I returned to the deck, Rei thanked me with an embrace.
For once, the iron-wall pair didn’t declare me “Guilty.”
“<…Why?>”
A bitter voice reached us as if from the depths of hell.
“
It was the Skeleton King, his arms shaking with rage.
“
“<…Just luck, I guess?>”
It was an honest answer, but that seemed to only increase the Skeleton King’s rage.
“
I glanced at Rei, and she said that he meant her mother.
Confusingly enough, Rei’s mother was evidently named Reiaane as well.
“”
That was probably sometime before the Jomon period—ancient history.
And even if I had been there at the time, it’s hard to say whether I would’ve saved Lalakie when they were ruling the land with an iron fist.
Although I would’ve at least saved the royal sisters from sacrificing themselves, of course.
“
My “Keen Hearing” skill picked up on the Skeleton King growling a low order to Yuuneia.
Still embracing me, Rei suddenly wrapped her hands around my neck.
“
Rei was trying to resist, but her hands were moving against her will.
Looking down at her, I saw a bewitching valley of—I mean, a suspicious rune formed around her by miasma.
Really, it was too bad that using “Miasma Vision” turned everything black-and-white.
“” Rei whispered in despair.
“
It was hard to speak, so I addressed her using the Telephone spell.
“M-master!”
The others looked afraid, so I reassured them with Telephone as well, then started teasing apart the miasma around Rei with my hands.
My trachea was too closed up to breathe, but I was able to supply my lungs with air directly from Storage, so it wasn’t a problem.
“
The Skeleton King had noticed my plan. In the corner of my monochromatic vision, I could see him flying into a rage.
“
“<…D-destroy my sister?>” Yuuneia hesitated.
“
The Skeleton King turned on her, and she flinched, cowering.
Her wide eyes wavered among fear of his wrath, adoration for her sister, and conflict over her impossible orders.
Yuuneia looked tearful
as she glanced between the Skeleton King and Rei, then lowered her head silently.
“
The Skeleton King towered over Yuuneia, and she slowly raised her head.
Her expression had been frail as she looked at Rei, but now Yuuneia’s eyes glittered with defiance as she set her jaw.
“<…I—I won’t do it.>”
Her voice was soft and thin as she rejected her orders.
“
Silently praising Yuuneia’s bravery in my mind, I focused with all my might on undoing the miasma.
My vision filled completely with darkness, obscuring my view of what was happening around me.
“
“”
“
I heard the Skeleton King strike Yuuneia and a chorus of anger from my comrades, followed by the sounds of Fire Rods and Thunder Rods shooting.
The girls must have started attacking the Skeleton King for hitting Yuuneia.
In the event something did happen, I used the Signal spell to alert the figurehead golem Scarecrow to strengthen the ship’s defenses.
Then, as I was undoing the miasma, I noticed there was something different about it.
The first time I’d done this, the miasma had stuck to itself and formed puzzle ring–like knots, but this time it created a straightforward structure like a magic circle. I could probably detach it much more quickly than I expected.
Working with the expert speed of an artisan, I quickly undid the miasma forming a rune around Rei.
Her fingers slowly loosened their grasp on my neck.
> Skill Acquired: “Remove Curse”
> Skill Acquired: “Reverse Curse”
> Title Acquired: Riddle-Solving Master
> Title Acquired: Exorcist
I didn’t know if you could call what I’d just done an “exorcism,” but at least I’d gotten some skills out of it.
Normally, I would’ve gotten these the first time I removed the miasma from Rei, which proved that the miasma this time was a little different from before.
The two skills looked pretty useful, so I quickly added some points and activated them.
Once my vision turned back to normal, I found the Skeleton King staring up at me as if in shock.
At first, I thought he wasn’t doing anything, but he was actually in the middle of a magic chant.