ch21-ch40 · 021-ch21

Chapter 21: "Black Claws"

"Th-this is the Black Knight... the strongest knight who stood alongside the White Knight..."

Melkid was forced to recognize the overwhelming difference in power between his opponent and himself, and despaired.

He had heard about the Black Knight's strength. But he himself was a knight who had been granted eiyō-armor. He never thought there would be such a gap between them.

What's more, his opponent had been away from battle for a long time, and on top of that, his eiyōso wasn't at full strength.

This should have been an unbeatable battle... or so it had seemed.

"B-but, it's not over yet... there's still a chance!... If I can buy time until his eiyōso runs out and his Merge wears off..."

He could hear the Black Knight's footsteps approaching.

Melkid continued pretending he couldn't move, waiting for the slightest opening.

　　―　◆　―

"Cough, cough..."

Melkid was sitting at the base of a large tree, leaning against it. He seemed to still be conscious.

Looking closely, there was a large hole in the chest part of his armor. It must have been broken by Papa's punch.

"You didn't even need half the time, let alone a full minute. Give up."

Papa walked briskly toward Melkid. Was this his final warning?

"If you obediently return to your world, I won't hurt you any further. But to make sure you can't cause any more trouble, I'll completely destroy your armor."

Papa walked close enough to look down at the immobile Melkid, then lowered his hips into a stance resembling a karate straight punch.

Then, as if timing it perfectly, Melkid quickly extended his right hand toward Papa.

"Explode!!"

"!?"

The right arm part of Melkid's armor exploded, scattering fragments everywhere!

But Papa had quickly jumped backward, avoiding disaster. He was fast—when did he even move?

The fragments seemed to return to their original liquid state for a moment, then instantly evaporated, creating a smokescreen that made it impossible to see anything.

"Recent armor can be used in such ways... huh?"

When the smoke screen raised by the explosion and evaporation settled, Melkid had disappeared as if by fire-dashing jutsu.

"Over, over there!"

Looking in the direction Kiriko was pointing, we saw Melkid's back disappearing down the stairs.

"Hah haa, you underestimated my durability! I'll escape and keep running until your Merge wears off!"

We heard Melkid's parting words. What a loud voice for someone who's running away.

Wait, he's actually escaping!

"Papa, what should we do? He'll definitely come back again!"

"It's fine, don't worry. That young fool hasn't learned enough—to think he could escape from me."

Papa seemed completely relaxed as he extended his right hand behind him and took a stance.

"You two, get back. —'Black Claws'!!"

Papa faced the stairs and swung his right hand forcefully from back to front, like a softball pitcher.

Following that motion, the shadow at Papa's feet crawled along the ground at incredible speed, stretching longer and longer. It was an incredibly long shadow, not just long because it was evening.

And the shadow stretched all the way to the top of the stairs...

"Gyahhh!!"

This time, we heard a loud voice... no, a scream.

Papa immediately jumped to the stairs and rushed down them. Kiriko and I looked at each other and chased after Papa.

Passing through the torii gate and looking down the continuing stairs, we saw Papa about two hundred steps down, pinning Melkid down with his foot as he lay there.

He probably won't let go because Melkid would fall down the stairs if he did.

"Too bad for you. The Black Knight's range is as far as his shadow reaches."

He was trying to sound cool, but he was too far away to hear, and Melkid looked like he was seeing stars anyway. ...Yeah, he had a bit of that usual Papa-esque goofiness to him.

　　―　◆　―

"Unn... unnh... uwah!?"

When the man with the scar on his face woke up and saw Papa, he scooted backward on his butt at high speed. He moved like a spider.

"Do you still intend to resist me?"

"N-no, no, no, please forgive me! There's no way I could stand against you in that form... the Black Knight. Please, at least spare my life!"

The scarred man prostrated himself, begging frantically. I wonder if they have dogeza in the other world too. Or maybe he just happened to be in that position because he was sitting and bowing his head.

"How did you all come to this world?"

I-it's a mirror, we jumped into this mirror he brought and came here. I don't know the details of how to use it, you really think we'd know something like that?"

The man said, pointing to Melkid, who had completely lost consciousness after losing his armor.

Papa had, of course, dragged Melkid back to the shrine grounds.

"...I see. Then if you jump into the mirror again on the night of the seventh day after coming to this world, just before it turns to the eighth day, you can return to Ceylo."

"B-but if we go back, we'll be thrown back in prison..."

"Which would you choose—prison, or having me deal with you?"

Papa threatened him in a slightly lowered voice. The man's face twisted as if his old scars might reopen.

"F-fine, I'll go back to Ceylo. Today just happens to be the seventh day, so please don't glare at me like that."

He was completely terrified. He was like a completely different person from when he was carrying me.

"Very well. The tanned man should be awake soon too, so you two carry your companions and get going quickly. Got it? Don't cause any trouble in this world, you hear? If you do anything..."

"I get it, I get it! I won't cause any trouble, I swear! Please, really, forgive me!"

　

The scarred man kicked the tanned man awake, then shouldered his companion and Melkid respectively as they hurried down the stairs.

Be careful not to fall and seriously injure yourselves since you're in such a hurry. ...Though they probably can't hear me.