Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest Vol. 6

by Ryo Shirakome

  “So you refuse to even consider it. Very well. Kill her!” Freid grit his teeth and ordered his men to attack. He’d just lost twenty Ash Dragons in one go. He didn’t want to lose any more. Aurora balls closed in on Yue from all directions, all at the same time.

  A rainbow-colored meteor shower rained down on her. The aurora balls easily penetrated Yue’s icy tornado. In fact, they ripped the entire thing apart.

  Freid expected to see Yue bloodied and beaten, but was instead met by the sight of her standing unhurt amidst a cluster of black spheres.

  The moment he saw she was still alive he ordered his monsters to fire again. However, those deadly aurora spheres were continually sucked into Yue’s black holes, or had their trajectories completely redirected. Yue manipulated her gravity and soared higher into the sky.

  Despite the deadly barrage she faced, she was unfazed. The countless Heavenfalls and Spatial Severances surrounding her looked like miniature satellites protecting their star.

  “If breath attacks won’t work, then we’ll just hit you directly! Charge!” The Ash Dragons obeyed immediately. Their talons were sharp enough to make mincemeat out of a tiny girl like Yue.

  They came in waves, hoping to overpower her with numbers. Everywhere Yue looked, she was surrounded by gray. But even then, she wasn’t worried. Yue simply closed her eyes and began concentrating.

  Thinking an unmoving target would make for an easy mark, the Ash Dragons closed in, their talons bared and their maws open wide.

  Seconds before she was ripped to shreds, Yue’s eyelids snapped open.

  She spoke the name a single spell.

  “Void Shatter.” Space itself splintered. Everything looked like it was being seen through a cracked mirror. Thousands of lines streaked through the sky, and where those lines joined, the world blurred.

  Any Ash Dragon caught along those lines was ripped apart. Blood rained from the sky as the dragons were shredded with a sickening ripping noise.

  This was her new spatial spell, Void Shatter. It split space along lines she defined, mercilessly cutting anything caught along them.

  Because it warped space itself, there was no defending against it. Thirty more Ash Dragons joined the list of casualties.

  Freid shivered. Even he couldn’t cast a spatial magic spell on that scale, especially not that quickly.

  “Such skill. Could you also be someone chosen by god? Are you perhaps the champion of that false god, Ehit? I see now why you refused my proposal!” Freid nodded to himself, convinced of his own misunderstanding. Yue looked at him as if he were a particularly disgusting cockroach.

  “Preposterous. I fight for Hajime and Hajime alone. Don’t lump me together with the likes of you.” Freid seemed more bothered by her insulting his god than he was by her insulting him. His expression grew dark.

  It looked like Yue had angered him for real.

  “Very well. Then there is nothing more to discuss. I shall slaughter you, and parade your corpse in front of your lover. I’m sure that will be sufficiently shocking enough to render him defenseless.”

  “You talk big, but can you actually do it, ugly?”

  A vein pulsed in Freid’s temple as Yue sneered at him again. Rising to Yue’s challenge, he attempted to back his words with actions.

  He barked an order to the same bird-shaped monster Yue had seen on his shoulder at the Grand Gruen Volcano. A second later, a chunk of the monsters who had invaded the capital rushed over to Yue. It seemed they were planning on attacking her from the ground.

  While still maintaining her gravity spells, Yue also cast Draconic Thunder to deal with the monsters below.

  Dark clouds formed above her, and a second later a shimmering golden dragon descended from the heavens. She fired the auroras stored inside her Spatial Severances at Freid and his dragons to hold them at bay while she focused on annihilating the enemies on the ground.

  Her thunder dragon, which normally swallowed everything in its path, was blocked by a six-legged turtle monster... An Absod, it seemed. It was the same creature they had encountered when rescuing Kaori and the others.

  In fact, the Absod was devouring Yue’s dragon.

  Absods’ special magic was that they could absorb other spells and store them in their shell. And this Absod was far bigger than the one they had fought in the Great Orcus Labyrinth. Yue guessed that Freid had refined its design.

  Still, Yue’s Draconic Thunder was nothing to sneeze at. Even as it was sucking in the dragon’s thunder, it was being lifted off the ground. Its shell creaked from the strain of defending against the dragon’s maw.

  Even improved, it seemed incapable of dealing with composite magic made of multiple spells. Though it could absorb the lightning, it couldn’t absorb the gravity magic as well.

  Before the Absod’s shell was crushed by the pressure, another showed up and began absorbing the dragon’s gravity magic.

  Draconic Thunder couldn’t stand up to two powered-up Absods, and was dismantled before long.

  The Absods then fired the absorbed magic back at Yue.

  “How annoying.” Two beams of light, one yellow the other black, headed straight for Yue.

  Yue’s gravity spheres had their hands full absorbing the Ash Dragons’ auroras, so she adjusted her gravity to fall upward instead.

  “I already know how to deal with that strange lightning spell of yours. So long as my Absods are here, your magic is useless.” Freid grinned triumphantly.

  Yue didn’t bother responding. She looked down at the Absods for a few seconds, then closed her eyes again and began concentrating.

  “Planning on twisting space again? I won’t let you!” His white dragon and his Ash Dragons fired their most concentrated barrage yet. At the same time, monsters that looked like black panthers leaped up toward Yue.

  Even if Yue could keep the auroras at bay, her movements were dulled when she was casting. Freid was confident the panthers would get her.

  The panthers unleashed a storm of tentacles at Yue, weaving between her black spheres.

  The tentacles inflicted countless wounds on Yue, leaving her a bloody mess. Despite how bad it looked though, none of the injuries were deep.

  Even if they had been, Yue’s ultimate defense lay not in her barriers or her gravity magic, but in her automatic regeneration.

  When her comrades were with her, she used barriers to protect them and even dodged attacks because she didn’t like getting her clothes ripped up. However, her original fighting style had been to ignore all damage and focus entirely on attacking.

  Freid watched in satisfaction as his panthers flayed Yue. However, his jaw dropped open in surprise as those wounds vanished the next second.

  “Is that ancient magic as well? Just how many labyrinths have you conquered!?” It was true that they all had restoration magic, but in Yue’s case at least, that wasn’t what she was using. Freid knew his only hope now was to annihilate Yue before she had a chance to recover. He ordered his monsters to commit to an all-out attack. Then, he began chanting another spatial spell as well.

  Unfortunately for him, Yue finished first. Her eyes flew open, and her beautiful voice rang out across the chaotic battlefield.

  “Five Heavenly Dragons.” Another wave of dark clouds obscured the sky.

  A raging tornado whipped up next to them.

  Streams of water rushed together and froze into one solid mass.

  Grey dust coalesced into a monstrous dragon.

  Blue flames burning hotter than hell coiled around her.

  Five enormous elemental dragons appeared in the night sky above the capital.

  They were each comprised of a different element held together by gravity magic.

  The air crackled in the wake of these five heavenly beasts, and all the Ash Dragons screeched in fear. They had instinctively realized that these divine creatures were far more powerful.

  Freid’s creations were no longer interested in killing Yue. Their only thoughts now were of escap
e. They looked pleadingly up at their master.

  “How...” Freid stared blankly at the dragons. This was so far beyond his understanding of magic that he couldn’t comprehend it.

  “You hope to seal my magic? Know your place.” Yue glared haughtily down at Freid. She looked every bit the empress she’d once been as she pointed a single slender finger at the ground.

  The heavenly dragons obeyed their sovereign’s will and descended upon her enemies.

  The lightning dragon went straight for the Absod, eager for a rematch.

  The Absod began absorbing it again, but this time Yue’s fire dragon was right behind it. While the Absod was busy with one dragon, the other melted its shell with its blistering heat.

  “Kaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” The Absod screamed in pain. It was being liquified while still alive. Freed once more, the lightning dragon sped on to find other targets.

  Namely the other Absod, who was trying to absorb Yue’s storm dragon. The thunder dragon swallowed the Absod whole, leaving only ash behind.

  Meanwhile, the frost dragon had frozen another Absod solid, while the earth dragon was petrifying everything it touched.

  Once freed, the storm dragon rushed off to slice through all the other monsters Freid had summoned.

  Strong as she was, Yue still had difficulty controlling five dragons at once. Sweat beaded on her forehead as she continued directing them.

  Seeing an opportunity, Freid commanded his Ash Dragons to attack.

  Yue recalled her five elemental dragons, and her primal forces of nature collided with Freid’s devastating Ash Dragons.

  The difference in strength was clear. Freid’s poor dragons were slaughtered one after another by Yue’s creations.

  It was only now that Freid began to understand that he was up against a monster far beyond his abilities to handle. That boy he’d manged to take by surprise at the Grand Gruen Volcano wasn’t the only person Freid needed to worry about. Hajime’s companions were just as deadly.

  He finally realized how arrogant he’d been when he’d asked Yue to join him as his subordinate.

  The only way he’d even have a chance was to go all out.

  “Shake the foundations of this world, which neither a dragon’s roar, nor a giant’s hammer, nor the marching of a thousand armies can hope to touch. Only the sighs of the gods may make the earth to scream out thus! Lament and despair your inevitable destruction— Void Fissure!” The space around Yue began to warp. It was followed by a low rumbling, which sounded like the screams of the planet itself.

  Yue knew what kind of spell Freid had cast, and instantly switched to defense. Void Fissure’s scope was too large for her to avoid. Normal magic held no chance of defending against it, either.

  Yue dispelled her dragons and her gravity spheres, then instantly cast spatial magic of her own. She wouldn’t be able to survive if her concentration was split between multiple spells.

  She got her spatial barrier up just in time to catch the explosions caused by Freid’s Void Fissure.

  They weren’t normal explosions. It was as if space itself had ruptured.

  Freid’s remaining Ash Dragons and the monsters on the ground were wiped out instantly, the ground underneath Yue was torn apart, and the clouds above her were shredded to bits.

  Void Fissure was a spell that forcibly contracted then rapidly expanded space in a certain area. The resulting shockwaves caused explosions that were unblockable by normal means.

  “Hmm... So this is the power of ancient magic.” Though everything else had been destroyed, Yue was still alive.

  Her clothes were tattered and a dribble of blood spilled from her mouth, but she was relatively unscathed. Considering how destructive Freid’s spell was, it was amazing she’d taken so little damage. And even the slight wounds he had managed to inflict healed instantly.

  Yue should have been obliterated without a trace. The reason she hadn’t was because just before Freid’s spell hit, she had cast Illusion Cage.

  Illusion Cage was a spatial spell that locked a section of space in place. It was a versatile spell that could be used both as a barrier, and as a means of capturing a target. However, its mana cost was insane.

  Because of how rushed she had been, Yue hadn’t been able to completely fix space around her. That was the only reason she’d taken any damage at all. Of course, that slight damage had been healed instantly thanks to her automatic regeneration. She also cast restoration magic on her clothes to make it look as though she’d never been hit at all.

  Yue stood there amidst the destruction, basking in the moonlight. To Freid, she looked almost divine. This time, though, he hadn’t underestimated her. Freid fired off another attack from her blind spot.

  “I knew you’d survive that, you little monster!” Even as he’d cast Void Fissure, Freid had opened a Cosmic Rift behind Yue. He’d passed through it and had his white dragon fire an aurora attack.

  Though Yue was able to dodge out of the way by falling to the right, the dragon bit into her arm as it passed by.

  A massive spray of blood filled its mouth. Despite how soft Yue’s skin was, the dragon didn’t bite all the way through. It kept Yue’s arm trapped in its mouth and fired another aurora from point-blank range.

  Freid was exhausted from casting high-level spells in quick succession, but he was confident that this time he’d checkmated Yue.

  When he saw Yue’s expression though, Freid’s confidence melted away, replaced by complete and utter despair.

  She was smiling at him. It was faint, but her lips were definitely curled upward. Freid found himself unable to look away.

  She no longer looked like a divine being. If anything, she looked more akin to a devil than a god. The moonlight, which had emphasized her solemnity before, now cast dark shadows over her face.

  Her crimson eyes, framed by her golden-blond hair, glowed in the night.

  You dare bare your fangs at me? Yue whispered the name of the spell she had prepared.

  “Revival Reversal.” The river of time can flow backward too.

  Yue didn’t say those words aloud, but Freid knew he was in trouble.

  Freid and his dragon felt it hit at the same time.

  “Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

  “Graaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

  The dragon bit Yue’s arm off as it writhed in pain, but she didn’t seem to mind. Once her body was free, she flew upward using gravity magic.

  Seconds later, her arm had grown back.

  Yue looked down at Freid, who was by that point bleeding from multiple deep wounds.

  “How does it feel? Those were the wounds Hajime gave you before. It hurts just as much, right?”

  “Gaaah! You bitch, how did—” Freid grit his teeth against the pain and looked up at the girl who was smiling sweetly at him.

  Both of them were covered in blood.

  The hole in the white dragon’s chest looked raw and inflamed, as if the wound were fresh. It clawed at its injuries, struggling to stay in the air.

  Freid’s left arm was now crushed, and there was a massive gash in his chest. He was also coughing up blood, too.

  Both of them looked to be on the verge of death.

  All of those injuries were ones Hajime and the others had inflicted on Freid during their fight in the Grand Gruen Volcano.

  Revival Reversal was a restoration spell that restored the injuries a target had suffered in the past. It was a terrifying spell that could reopen scars that should have long-since healed.

  Yue had wanted to defeat Freid with this spell from the very beginning.

  This was her way of getting revenge. Back in the Grand Gruen Volcano, she’d been forced to retreat without being able to land a single blow on the man who had hurt her precious Hajime. She’d sworn to herself back then that the next time they saw Freid, she would beat him to a pulp.

  Once they’d cleared the Sunken Ruins of Melusine and learned restoration magic, she’d discovered the perfect spell to do it wit
h too. Getting Freid back by making him relive his defeat just seemed all too perfect.

  There was one problem that had made using this spell difficult, though.

  Revival Reversal required the caster to be within three meters of the target, and touching some part of their body. Moreover, it could only replicate as much damage as the caster used mana. Close combat was Yue’s Achilles’ heel. She honestly doubted she would have an opportunity to close in on Freid, especially as he was riding a mobile dragon. Her plan had been to batter Freid down and get close once he was too weak to fight back. But before she could, he’d come to her of his own accord, which was why she’d smiled so happily when his dragon had bit her arm. He’d given her the perfect chance to get her revenge.

  “It seems... I lack the ability to defeat you as I am. At this point, my only option is to—”

  “You’re not running away.” Yue raised her hand, intending on delivering the final blow to Freid. However, before she could, a barrage of magic came at her from below.

  “Freid-sama! Please retreat!”

  “We’ll buy time for your escape!”

  The demons who’d invaded the capital had turned back to help their lord. When they’d seen him struggling, they’d called off the assault.

  “You guys! Ngh, forgive me!” Furious at what Yue had done to their master, the demons attacked without any regard for their own lives.

  Naturally, their pitiful barrage couldn’t harm Yue. Still, they were able to buy just enough time for Freid to slip away through a Cosmic Rift.

  He vanished just before Yue’s flaming javelin hit him.

  “Die.” Yue looked coldly down at the demons who were shouting curses at her. With a wave of her hand, she cast Void Fissure, the same spell Freid had used on her. Twisting explosions rocked the ground.

  She’d packed more mana into it than usual; it had irked her that these pests had interrupted her revenge.

  “Tch... He’s like a cockroach.” Yue clicked her tongue.

  Next time she would make sure to kill him.