The Undead King’s provocative declaration of war.
In response, the Seraph Aiwa’s reply was spoken with a beaming smile, just a single word.
“Thank you, King of the Undead.”
It was words of gratitude, signifying that the Undead King’s words were precisely what Aiwa had most desired.
“Divine Sword, Draw!”
Then, the recompense manifested as an extraordinary, immense divine power overflowed. Aiwa thrust her hand towards the Undead King’s heart, and after a flash of light, it subsided a few moments later. In Aiwa’s hand, a golden shining greatsword now rested.
“And I apologize. I am not permitted to speak the true name of this sword, so I cannot use my full power.”
“It doesn’t matter. It’s more convenient for me that way.”
Aiwa spoke with a hint of sadness.
She understood. She truly understood. The Undead King had comprehended it. Therefore, his words were not false. He genuinely found it convenient. Even if it wasn’t at its full potential, the Undead King instinctively knew that if struck by that sword, his soul would be no more than a piece of paper. His subordinates, the Knights of Oblivion, felt the same.
However, they did not flinch, instead positioning themselves before the Undead King with the resolve to defeat him, their weapons at the ready.
“Ah, such fine warriors. This is a truly worthwhile battle. How I envy you, King of the Undead, to be able to fight alongside such warriors. But at the same time, I am relieved. Relieved that you are an enemy and not an ally.”
Their fighting spirit, their homicidal intent, their sharp gazes—all these elements dispelled Aiwa’s worries and instead filled her with motivation. Ordinarily, being surrounded by such formidable enemies would be despair, yet for her, this situation was exactly what she had been seeking.
“Ah, my loyal retainers. True knights who follow this nearly dead man. Therefore, rest assured. These swords will pierce your master’s heart.”
“Indeed, I expect as much. I truly hope you will put up a valiant fight.”
“Kekekekeke! Is that so? Then you too, Master, should put up as much of a fight as you can.”
“……”
“……”
The preamble was over. From this point on, there would be no more words.
If there was even the slightest trigger.
No, if a trigger was created, the battle would begin.
There would be no feints. Once the battle began, it would be a battle to the death.
It wasn’t a matter of who struck first. It wasn’t a matter of retaliating because the opponent moved. This battle signaled the clash of each other’s full power from the very first strike.
Aiwa, who swung the Divine Sword in a horizontal arc, was met by the shield knight who had first received it. With his heavy round shield, he received the Divine Sword, but then, as if sliding, he deflected the blade backward.
In that fleeting moment of contact. The Undead King nodded, realizing that his shield had received a slight cut.
All the equipment provided to the Knights of Oblivion were the finest available within the Undead King’s reach. No expense was spared on price or materials, and each piece was meticulously crafted by artisans, down to the very parts. Even the shield, boasting the highest durability, had a cut in it.
The knight, intuitively sensing that if he took the full blow, he would be cleaved in two, chose to deflect. As a result, the blade’s trajectory was altered, and Aiwa was left in a posture where she swung through. She displayed the sharp skill of a veteran warrior.
However, if she were to counterattack from there, she likely wouldn’t even scratch this Seraph. As if not wanting to waste even a fraction of a second, her shadow darted forward.
Despite the silence. The fighting spirit, the homicidal intent. One of the Knights of Oblivion, wielding a greatsword like the Divine Sword, lunged forward with all his might, as if refusing to yield to anyone. His attack disregarded his own defense entirely, a desperate gambler’s blow focused entirely on offense. It was a strong attack, as he had assumed from the start that the shield knight would block it.
Against Aiwa’s horizontal sweep, aiming for an overkill, he delivered a helmet-splitting blow directly from above. His attack was timed to coincide with Aiwa’s offense, an attack that would normally result in mutual destruction.
“Good! That homicidal intent! That fighting spirit! Please, attack me more!”
However, a being who had once been a legendary hero in history would not fall so easily. Furthermore, it only heightened Aiwa’s excitement, leading her to perform an act that could be considered reckless. She released one hand from the Divine Sword and met the sword with her bare hand.
A sword against a hand chop. Normally, it would be ludicrous to even ask which would lose. A sword would typically cleave through her arm and then her head, bisecting Aiwa vertically.
But neither party expected such an outcome. The result of the clash between the hand chop, swung away, and the knight’s greatsword was both their magical powers colliding, creating a sound like metal striking metal, and sparks of magical power scattering. It resulted in nothing more than a blinding flash of light. The full-power strike was deflected, and the Knight of Oblivion, whose sword was exposed, was left vulnerable.
Swiftly, without missing a beat, Aiwa swung the Divine Sword, aiming to eliminate one enemy by not letting the opening pass. The previous exchange had proven Aiwa’s attack power to be superior. However, the Undead King still held the advantage in numbers. And the Undead King was not one to overlook such foolish behavior that would reduce his numerical advantage.
A king exists for his people. The being known as the Undead King could not possibly lack the judgment to deploy his assets without hesitation in defense of his loyal subordinate in distress.
“Kekekeke! As expected, Seraphs are quite durable. Then I won’t hold back!”
He wouldn’t waste the moment the knights were creating. Amidst the forces of chaos he had manipulated and positioned so as not to interfere with his knights, figures that were out of place in a fantasy world appeared.
“I’ve arranged ranged weapons from another world in my own way. Normally I’d save them for a special occasion, but against you, it should be fine!”
Humanoid figures holding what looked like long tubes. If Jiro saw them, he might call them flintlock guns or even sniper rifles. He positioned them in three rows, horizontally. The shots were fired in such a way that no one was in the line of fire.
“I know about that.”
Despite it being a new trick, Aiwa’s actions were simple and straightforward. Guns are the strongest weapons when you can maintain a physical distance. Therefore, all she had to do was close the distance until the guns became useless. Alternatively, she could deflect, dodge, or cut through the fired bullets. In the first place, the weapon itself wouldn’t affect her, a Seraph who had transcended humanity. In fact, dealing with some of the Japanese individuals brought over, among the weapons brought from Japan, they had some of those.
“I see. While these are extremely dangerous to my people, they pose no threat to me.” She remembered this thought very recently. However, her battle instincts whispered to her that if the Undead King had prepared and shown them despite knowing this, there must be some reason for his confidence. Therefore, she decided fighting here was not an option. She brushed aside the wall of shield knights, deflected the greatsword knights’ swords, dodged the arrows from the archer knights, and neutralized the magic from the knight mages, descending rapidly. Unafraid of touching chaos, she flew at the very edge of the fluid surface, almost at the point where the encroaching chaos would touch her but not quite, heading straight for the firing line.
“As I said, I arranged them in my own way.”
Guns are weapons that fire metallic bullets exceeding the speed of sound. Within the object called a gun, the force of gunpowder exploding expels the bullet, and the rifling grooves create rotation, stabilizing its linear motion and generating its power. Although the parts are numerous, the process is surprisingly simple. Because of this, they are the easiest weapons to kill living beings with in modern times. In the past, back in the era of flintlock guns, they were hailed as weapons capable of killing even hardened warriors trained for years. Simple yet powerful. However, the Undead King couldn’t help but think the Seraph Aiwa, who approached him without hesitation, thinking such weapons were harmless, was naive.
“You think I would use them as they are?”
Who was she trying to challenge? The Undead King, Nōraifu. Weapons that fly only in a straight line were, to the Undead King, quite boring. So he decided to add some flair. This was something he had devised, inspired by the holy bullets Niscia had created during their previous raid. It was only natural that he would create what are called magic bullets.
“Kekekekeke! This has the approval of the man you’re concerned about.”
Before its practical application within the dungeon, a certain disciple had been sacrificed. He couldn’t help but exclaim what a thing this was that his disciple had created.
“Fire.”
One row of the gunners among the chaos forces positioned nearby unleashed fire. The black bullets, fired with the force of explosive magic, indicated that they were made of chaotic matter. They exceeded the speed of sound and approached Aiwa. Up until that point, they were no different from previous bullets. If she could see them with her eyes, they would be nothing more than easily dodged projectiles for Aiwa.
Her eyes widened, and she instinctively swung the Divine Sword to avoid receiving those bullets.
“If you were to name them, I’d call them Magic Bullets of Hound.”
The bullets that flew straight changed trajectory towards Aiwa, who tried to dodge them. This on its own was not a big deal. It could even be considered within expectations. However, what Aiwa deemed dangerous was the “mouth” carved into their tips.
“For Hounds, aren’t you a bit too gluttonous? Hounds that devour their prey are not Hounds.”
“Kekekeke! I was told the same by that guy. That calling them Hounds is too mild.”
The Undead King had likely associated them with Hounds once he’d given them tracking capabilities, but he felt that was a waste and continued to experiment. Exploding bullets. Bullets crackling with lightning. Freezing bullets. Strengthened bullets. Bullets of condensed chaos. He had tested all these developed bullets on Jiro, but they were all easily dealt with. Jiro had told him that if they pursued, he could just cut them all down, and even if he took them with his body, the damage would be minimal. The Undead King was beginning to think that guns, as weapons, were a bit too simple and difficult to use. They would become mere mob-clearing weapons that only worked at a certain level. This also had its uses, but he was unsatisfied with using them as they were. If possible, he wanted to create something that could wound even a god and threaten their life.
“……Consuming bullets?”
“Kekekekeke, that’s what they are.”
The void within chaos. In a sense, it could be interpreted as a form of gluttony, reducing everything to nothing. Inspired by this, the Undead King pondered if it could be made useful, and after research, developed these Magic Bullets of Hound.
“Displeased?”
“No, not at all. The stronger the weapon my opponent wields…”
The Magic Bullets of Hound, which devoured the life force and magical energy of anything they hit, would tear away all protections like magical power or flesh and gnaw greedily at life. Faced with the Undead King producing such a thing, Aiwa’s expression did not falter.
“I’m fired up.”
“Kekekekekekekeke! I never thought the Master would back down from a mere trinket like this!”
Rather, her cheeks flushed with excitement and joy. The Undead King had foreseen this.
“Then, I shall give you a feast. Don’t worry.”
It was for this reason that the Undead King moved the Knights of Oblivion to his direct escort.
“Including the failed attempts, I still have plenty of magic bullets. There’s no charge. Instead, you can leave your life behind as payment.”
“Ah, ah.”
From that chaos, gun barrels emerged one after another. The Seraph before them let out what seemed like a cry of despair.
“How wonderful! Each and every one of them is filled with homicidal intent aimed at my life!! How grotesque, these items specialized in taking lives!!”
Anyone looking at Aiwa, embracing herself to calm her flushed body, would not see despair.
“Ah! Master! I thank you again!! For sending me to this land, I am most grateful!”
Aiwa’s extremely excited expression could not hide her thrill at the homicidal intent directed at her from each and every gun barrel. Once those gun barrels fired, they had manifested a form of violence that, for an ordinary person, would leave no flesh behind, yet her senses steered her towards excitement.
“I may be quite insane, but you are quite the connoisseur.”
“Yes, because this is what gives me reason to live. I can’t live without it anymore.”
Aiwa caressed the blade of the Divine Sword with a dreamy expression, her thoughts on the upcoming battle. The Undead King showed a hint of exasperation at her thinking that she wouldn’t lose, but…
“Then, enjoy it to the fullest until your life withers away!!”
He literally fired the starting shot, without any mercy or restraint, to end her life.
Today’s word:
Words once spoken cannot be taken back.
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*The first volume of the compiled novel is published by Hayakawa Bunko JA.
It was released on October 18, 2018.
The ebook version was also released on October 31 of the same year.
The second volume was released on December 19.
The third volume was released on February 20, 2019.
The content has been revised and expanded from the version posted on Shōsetsuka ni Narō, with the inclusion of unreleased interlude chapters.
Please look forward to the new releases!!
Thank you for your continued support of this work.
