Ankoku Kishi Monogatari ~Yuusha wo Taosu Tameni Maou ni Shoukansaremashita~

… … …

I can hear Rino’s voice behind me.

I direct my sight toward the sky after hearing her voice. Reiji’s sun, which had been completely covered by the thick fog, is now appearing in its full glory before us.

When I analyze my surroundings, I realize that the dark fog is vanishing.

Did he manage to do something in that basement? I can think nothing but that as the reason.

「Not bad huh, you pervert….」

=== === ===

◆ Knight of Rox kingdom, Rember

「Reiji-sama….」

Almina, lying down alongside me, is also looking at the battle between the hero and Orua.

Almina seems tense.

Maybe I have the same expression on my face, too.

The hero movements have also dulled.

He’s barely dodging the barrage of attacks from Orua and Lucullus.

「Huhm! ! As expected of the hero. Even when I’m using berserker magic on these guys, you can still fight on par with us」

Different from the previous battle, Lucullus’s state is clearly abnormal. His face is completely like a beast.

「Thanks for the praise. I can say the same things for you too, who is always hiding behind his back. How about showing yourself if you want to fight」

The hero is laughing as he says so. Though he put up a strong front, he’s clearly at a disadvantage here.

Orua is using Lucullus-tachi as her shield while bombarding the hero with magic to disrupt him.

「As if I want to fight you from the front. I’ve been investigating about you. You’re strong, but your attack magic is nothing but light element. As long as we develop necessary measures, I can withstand your magic as long as your magic loses its power. Nevertheless, your fighting strength is truly beyond my calculations」

Orua is sneering at the hero.

「You have purposely prepared for this, it seems you’re more troublesome」

「You still have some composure. Even so, what can the current you do?」

「Even if I can’t do anything, my women will do something!」

The hero is saying so while laughing. It seems he’s convinced about something.

「Hmm, fool … YOU GUYS, CHARGE!」

Orua is giving her order to Lucullus-tachi to attack the hero.

The battle between the hero and Lucullus-tachi resumes. Orua is attacking the hero with her magic from behind Lucullus-tachi. Their battle is so intense.

I can do nothing but watch their battle.

It seems the hero is being pushed back as time goes on.

But the hero still managed to do something abut it.

I wonder how many minutes are left till the balance crumbles.

Suddenly, several temple knights along with Lucullus are blown away.

And then, every member of Lucullus corps are beaten by the hero’s next attack.

「What! IMPOSSIBLE!」

Orua is screaming in suprise.

It’s natural for her surprise. The one who should be pushed back has suddenly turned the tables.

「What just happened….」

Orua is still dumbfounded.

「The thick fog is …」

Almina is muttering.

Almina’s tensed face has returned to normal.

When I look around, the thick fog which previously pervaded the room is gradually vanishing.

「THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE! WHAT JUST HAPPENED HERE!」

Orua is screaming.

「I’ve said it before, right? Chiyuki-tachi will do something about this situation! My women are strong, you know」

The hero is laughing.

Orua is looking at her surroundings as if she couldn’t accept this situation.

「That’s … impossible. Zarxis … sama is … lie …」

Orua is shaking her head as if unable to accept this situation.

「Reiji-senpai!」

「Rei-kun!」

Two persons are calling the hero’s name from afar.

This is the voice of the female comrades of the hero.

「The table has turned」

The hero is laughing as he says so.

「Guh …!」

Orua is groaning in frustation.

「I’m still not done yet … This isn’t the end …」

Orua is taking a bottle out from her pocket as she retreated.

「Originally, I didn’t wish to use this. Since I won’t be able to turn back once I used this …」

「My power has returned. I don’t know what are you trying to do, but you lost! ! 」

The hero is pointing his sword.

「Let’s begin then! FEATHER ARROW!」

Orua is firing several feather arrows. But her target wasn’t the hero.

The feather arrows are directed toward Almina.

「Oops!」

But, the hero moves faster than the feather arrows and knocks out all of them.

Orua takes advantage of that opportunity and uses the drug.

After drinking that drug, Orua’s body from neck below starting to reveal the true bird form – one that belongs to the Striges. Her body seems to be expanding at an alarming rate.

「GUAAA! ! 」

After letting out such cry, Orua breaks the ceiling and vanishes toward the sky.

「Are you okay, Almina?」

The hero ignores Orua and smiles toward Almina, instead.

Almina has already recovered to the point of being able to standing on her own.

「Reiji-sama!」

Almina embraces the hero.

「Reiji-sama … That demon is …」

「It’s okay, Almina. I don’t know what she’s trying to do, but she can’t defeat me」

The hand of the hero is moving around toward Almina’s back.

「Rei-kun!」

「Reiji-senpai!」

Someone is calling the hero from behind.

Before I noticed, the comrades of the hero have gathered together. It seems those two are in bad mood seeing the hero and Almina embrace each other.

「Sahoko, Rino. I’ll chase after that demon. I’ll leave Almina in your care!」

After saying so, the hero separates from Almina’s embrace and then flies toward the sky through the ceiling that was blown open by Orua.

「Wait a minute, Reiji-senpai!」

「Geez, he’s gone already …」

Those two are complaining while gazing toward the sky.

「Uuuh …」

I’m groaning in pain.

The two of them who hear my voice then look at my direction.

「Eh? This person is injured, Sahoko-san」

「He is … He is Rember, right? Are you okay?」

They finally noticed me. To be honest, I’m not okay at all.

It feel like that I was forgotten by the hero and Almina since a while ago. To be honest, I’m on the verge of dying here.

The white saint chants her healing magic.

The pain in my body disappeared.

It seems I barely survived.

=== === ===

◆ Black Haired Sage, Chiyuki

「Are you okay Nao-san?」

When I ask Nao about her current situation, Nao nods in affirmation.

The thick fog has vanished and Nao has opened her eyes.

Though she managed to recover to some degree thanks to Sahoko magic, she’s still too weak.

Sahoko and Rino went toward the royal castle where the battle still seems to be in progress.

And then, here I’m with Nao at the entrance of the underground passage for the sake of meeting that person. He might be the one who repelled that masked person.

Nao and I are waiting for him at the entrance to express our gratitude.

Though I want to enter the underground passage, I can’t bring Nao along with as she’s yet to recover, and it’s too dangerous for me to go alone.

Naturally, I’ll go inside if it takes too much time while waiting for him.

「Chiyuki … san」

Nao is calling my name.

When I look at her, she’s looking at the sky.

I know that there’s a bird that Nao keeps looking at since a while ago.

「Is that, a bird? Nay, it should be … a Striges? 」

I couldn’t confirm it since it’s body is too big for Striges.

And then, that Striges-like bird body keeps getting bigger and bigger.

「What is that?」

Nao is muttering.

Nao’s and my eyes are nailed toward the sky.

The body of that Striges like thing has finally become as big as this kingdom.

And then, it turned into something that is completely different from a Striges. It has a bird-like body and lion-like head.

「Isn’t that look like the demon bird living in the western desert …」

I have seen the picture of the demon bird that’s currently flying above this kingdom once in a book previously. The wind that is brought along with the demon bird living in the western desert is said to bring upon a calamity.

The gigantic body of the bird eclipses Reiji’s sun and casts a huge shadow, covering this entire kingdom.

「GUEEE~!」

Along with such a cry, the demon bird is flapping its huge wings to create a tornado. The buildings that are closer to this tornado is cracking.

「Things will turn sour if we do nothing to that demon bird isn’t it………」

When I’m about to fly with flight magic.

「AH, REIJI-SENPAI!」

Nao is pointing with her finger.

A person who’s covered by light comes out from where that demon bird appeared. This time, for sure, it was Reiji who came out from that building.

Reiji is facing against that demon bird.

「YOU BASTARD! DIE ALONG WITH THIS KINGDOM!!」

The demon bird is screaming. It voice reverberates loudly in the surroundings.

Everyone in this kingdom might feel fear in hearing those evil emotions packed into that demon bird’s voice.

「AS LONG AS I’M HERE, YOU CAN KEEP DREAMING―!」

Now, it’s Reiji who’s shouting back with equal loudness. It was truly similar to the song that I heard a while ago.

「EAT THIS!」

The demon bird is flapping its gigantic wings and fired its feathers. The feathers turned into gigantic arrows and swooshed toward Reiji.

「As if that will work on me―――! ! ! 」

An innumberable amount of light spheres appear around Reiji.

Those spheres of light take those gigantic feather arrows down. This is Reiji’s magic, thousand light spheres.

「Now, it’s my turn!」

With his cry, a gigantic magic formation appeared in front of Reiji.

「That is…」

I unintentionally mutter so. The magic that Reiji’s about to use is a magic that even Oudith and the other gods of Elios are unable to use – the Light Cannon of Heavenly Might. Rena explained with a shocked face when Reiji used this magic for the first time.

「GOOOO―!」

The pillar of light appearing from Reiji’s magic formation completely swallows the demon bird.

「GUEEEEEE―!」

Death throes of the demon bird are audible. The body of the demon bird eventually vanishes within that light.

And just like that, the pillar of light that disintegrated the demon bird travels far away, reaching the dark horizon.

The only one left after that is only Reiji along with his sun.

A silence engulfs the vicinity. Subsequently, it is followed by a wake of loud cheers.

Though there’s no one around me and Nao, the cheers have reached as far as our place.

The cheers that praise Reiji keep resounding in the kingdom.