ch41-ch60 · 065-ch57

Chapter 57 — Shadow Mystery Tale ⑨

The deathmatch against the Shadow-Eater's split bodies was over.

Hiyori had annihilated the Shadow-Eater's split bodies with a single blast of holy aura, one charged with overwhelming divinity.

Now Sai had a job to do.

He chugged a mana recovery potion as he ran.

He couldn't expect much of a recovery effect, but he wanted to increase his internal magical power even a little.

And so Sai reached Hexaria.

Hexaria was still sealing the Shadow-Eater's main body from mid-air.

"You're late, you fool!"

"Sorry!"

"I know the reason! Wait a moment! I'm finishing up!"

The Shadow-Eating Demon King was going berserk now more than ever.

Its rampage was on a completely different level from before.

"Hmph. Looks like it's pissed that all its split bodies were taken out."

For the Shadow-Eater, which thought as both an individual and a collective, this must have been alarming.

But in the end, it was still sealed.

Thanks to Hexaria and her little maids, the Shadow-Eater couldn't even move.

"But I'm pissed too, so we're even!"

Hexaria, having confirmed Sai's arrival, expanded the sanctuary and released Solar Magic "Aurora" in a relentless assault.

Since she was also using magical power for the sanctuary, the Aurora appeared weaker than her initial blast — but even so, Hexaria kept firing, consuming enormous amounts of mana.

The outer shell — the mass of demon parts — peeled away, shrinking bit by bit.

But she couldn't shave it all off.

If she cut too deep, it would start rampaging in earnest to escape, vanishing in an instant. If it teleported away now, all would be lost.

So she kept it at a size that was just right for Sai to strike, while letting the Shadow-Eater believe it still had a chance.

Strike when the enemy least expects it.

Adjust the sanctuary to match its thrashing.

Keep making it think we're at our limit.

With exquisite control, everything was ready.

Hexaria shouted the signal.

"Make your move!"

"Got it!"

Sai holstered his magic gun, drew his favorite blade from its sheath, and dashed forward.

Anti-Demon Annihilation Magic "Holy Annihilation" — it locks the target completely within a three-dimensional magic circle's coordinates, then smashes the magical power inside it with anti-magic generated within the circle, annihilating it — returning it to atmospheric mana. It was one of Sai's trump cards.

This magic was extremely powerful, but it had several drawbacks.

One was generating a magic circle suited to the target.

Another was that he had to drive wedges into space.

He needed to get close to the enemy and drive wedges around it to deploy the magic circle.

This step was essential for casting the spell.

But even sealed in the sanctuary, the Shadow-Eater wasn't about to let Sai scurry around unchallenged.

He had deliberately entered the sealed sanctuary.

Shadow hands flew at Sai from all directions — trying to drain his existence to restore itself.

But Sai didn't spare those shadow hands a single second of attention.

"That one is mine! Do you think I'd let its dirty hands touch him?!"

His strongest partner swatted the shadow hands away.

She precisely shot down every shadow hand that lunged at him with holy-attribute magic bullets.

Even trimmed down, the Shadow-Eater was still a gigantic monster.

He ran around the massive calamity, driving in wedges.

Sometimes using Hexa Shield to create stairs, carefully placing each one, all the way up.

He didn't cut corners on a single wedge.

He couldn't waste the efforts of Hiyori, Mio, Set-chan, and Ginreibo.

A veteran adventurer's experience wasn't just for show.

Trust your comrades. Fulfill your role.

See the connected trajectory through to the end.

A job accepted — see it through to the extermination.

◇

While Sai was driving the wedges, Ginreibo was carrying the fallen Hiyori, and along with Mio, had come near the main body.

Sai was running around the Shadow-Eater, swinging his blade down at the empty air.

The wedge-driving couldn't be seen by the enemy, so from the outside it looked like nothing at all.

So to an observer, they couldn't tell what he was doing.

"What is that..."

"I know not... But Lord Sai and Lady Hexaria said to leave it to them. As their disciples, you two need to watch."

Neither Mio nor Ginreibo could tell what he was doing.

But their teacher Sai was doing it.

So his disciples, Mio and Hiyori, needed to see his movements.

"Hiyori, can you see him?"

"Yeah... I see him, Mio-chan..."

The ultimate technique that borrowed the power of the divine spirit had drained everything from Hiyori — mana, stamina, all of it.

Combined with extreme physical fatigue, she was barely conscious.

But thanks to Ginreibo's immortal arts, she managed to cling to awareness by a thread.

If she could rest, she'd want to rest immediately.

That was her state.

And yet, what filled Hiyori's vision was Sai, running around.

"So amazing... Sensei..."

Despite being a middle-aged man in his forties, he moved more nimbly than Hiyori, than Mio, than anyone.

The Shadow-Eater's shadow hands, chasing behind Sai, traced arcs that matched his movements.

His figure was like...

"Like a shooting star..."

How much accumulated effort lay behind those movements?

She wanted to be able to move like that someday.

Would she ever become that shooting star?

The one who responded loudly to her muttering was the tengu.

"KAKAKA! Ichijō Hiyori! You're a poet!"

"...Your voice is too loud, Ginreibo..."

Her teacher's cool moment was completely ruined.

The loud noise almost made her lose consciousness.

Even as she said that, Hiyori's gaze stayed fixed on Sai.

◇

Sai just kept running, swinging his blade, driving wedges into space.

The bigger the enemy, the more wedges he needed.

The Shadow-Eater had been shrunk by Hexaria's attack, but it was still enormous.

"You there! Hurry up!"

Hexaria's shout reached him.

There was a limit to how long she could maintain the sanctuary and the seal.

The many little maids were dealing with the Shadow-Eater to keep it from escaping the sanctuary.

The little maids' activities also required Hexaria's magical power.

On top of that, she was continuously firing massive amounts of magic bullets to protect Sai from the shadow hands.

She didn't say anything, but even a High Elf's magical power had its limits.

But finally, the moment came.

"Sorry for the wait!"

Sai raised his hand to Hexaria in a signal.

Seeing this, Hexaria responded.

"Roger! Blast it!"

"Here goes! Anti-Demon Annihilation Magic 'Holy Annihilation'!!"

He swung down his raised hand and unleashed his trump card.

In response to Sai's shout, a three-dimensional magic circle was born, centered on the Shadow-Eater.

Countless magic circles formed three-dimensionally, as if to swallow the entire length of the massive Shadow-Eater.

The Shadow-Eater's "shadow" main body rose from the ground into the air.

This was to bind the Shadow-Eater at the center of the magic circle.

No matter how much the Shadow-Eater thrashed now, it couldn't break free from this magic circle.

It couldn't even teleport anymore.

Following that, the light of the Anti-Demon Annihilation Magic began to assail the Shadow-Eater.

The light responded to the darkness, seeking to annihilate the Shadow-Eater's core, erasing it.

But because it was so huge, the annihilation took time.

If this took too long, the main body might try something devious.

Especially this Shadow-Eater — unlike the ones Sai had fought before, it had a sliver of intelligence.

Because it had eaten part of Shinjuku Tower's shadow.

It had the potential to grow into something even more dangerous than what they'd fought in the other world.

So —

"I'm finishing it with one blow!"

This was the finishing attack of "Holy Annihilation."

First stage: completely fix it in space so it can't escape.

Second stage: annihilate even the target's soul — this takes time.

Third stage: completely eliminate any possibility of the enemy counterattacking.

The magic born to exterminate demons in the other world was also effective against the Shadow-Eater.

At this moment, Sai briefly recalled the past.

About the hero who had finished off the Shadow-Eater in the other world.

Carry on that will!

Carry on the radiance I saw that day!

Sai activated the Magical Crest — a magic booster carved into his entire body.

The Magical Crest was a crest-type magic auxiliary device engraved directly onto the body.

By drawing this crest, he could activate, control, and amplify magic.

But its existence was, to put it simply, like nitrous oxide in a car.

Overuse was a poison that would destroy the engine.

But he would do it anyway.

To annihilate it here.

Sai concentrated all his remaining magical power into a single point.

He took in a massive amount of atmospheric mana — preparing a one-shot kill.

More than when he'd defeated Kinya, he took in mana this time without regard for the consequences to himself.

It was fine. It wouldn't backfire. He hadn't been training in magic control for all these years for nothing.

He kept training even now for times like this.

The Shadow-Eater's outer shell was completely obliterated by the Anti-Demon Annihilation light.

He wrapped all the gathered magical power around his fist and faced off against the Shadow-Eater's main body — its shadow.

The fist that pierces evil.

"OOOOOOOOOH!"

Sai's magic, wrung from every fiber of his being, became a comet and pierced through the shadow.

The Anti-Demon Annihilation energy exploded around the Shadow-Eater, dispersing into mana.

The Shadow-Eating Demon King was completely annihilated.

The Shadow-Eater's distorted shadow compressed, and a magic stone emerged.

Seeing the annihilation and the magic stone, Sai left only one word before collapsing.

"Saria, handle the rest...!"

The job was passed on.

He could leave the rest to his reliable partner.

◇

Sai the shooting star had unleashed a comet, piercing through the shadow that was the Shadow-Eater's main body.

Mio, Hiyori, and Ginreibo watched with wide eyes.

Sai's "trump card" glowed with light similar to Hiyori's torrent of light they'd seen just before.

No — it shone even brighter.

"Unbelievable... That Lord Sai possessed such an art..."

Ginreibo, who had originally asked Sai to defeat the Shadow-Eater, had never imagined he was this strong.

Sai had shown power that made even Ginreibo, a master of the immortal arts, gape in astonishment.

Mio watched with admiring eyes — "As expected of Sensei" — but the moment he shouted, he collapsed.

"Sensei!?"

Mio hurriedly ran toward Sai.

But her movement stopped immediately.

From mid-air, Hexaria had descended to Sai's side the moment he fell.

The misanthropic High Elf woman who hated people getting in her way.

Probably because they were Sai's disciples, she treated Mio and Hiyori casually — but she hated even having people around her.

The crowning touch was her declaration to the entire world: "Don't get in my way."

A terrifyingly fierce woman who had shown that to the whole world.

And Sai's fake-marriage partner.

Just a partner — the marriage was for various circumstantial reasons.

That was the lie she told. And now she was letting Sai rest with his head in her lap.

"...Some misanthrope she is."

Look at her face. Isn't she looking at Sai with tender eyes?

With a face like that, what... what...

...Ah, I can't compete.

He's already found someone to stand beside him, hasn't he...

That's what Mio felt.

Probably at this moment.

For the first time in her life, a curtain fell on a feeling she couldn't tell whether it was admiration or love.

◇

Hexaria let the fallen Sai rest with his head on her lap.

"Sai, you did well."

He had unleashed the Anti-Demon Annihilation Magic. With the third-stage finishing blow, at that.

The amount of magical power consumed varied by target, but that enemy was on another level.

Sai had lost all his stamina, spirit, everything, and collapsed.

"Hey, little maids. Be on guard. The Shadow-Eater should be gone, but there's a chance of leftovers."

Without even turning her face to them, Hexaria gave orders to the spirits around her — her little maids.

Defeating the main body should have resolved everything, but there was still a chance.

If any remnants of the Shadow-Eater remained, she would have to risk her life to fight them.

She wasn't the kind of woman to waste Sai's efforts.

She hadn't been a veteran adventurer's partner for all these years for nothing.

In response to her resolve, the spirits moved.

From the spirits' perspective, Hexaria's partner had collapsed.

They frantically flew around, beginning their vigilance.

As Hexaria checked Sai's condition, Hiyori — supported by Mio and Ginreibo — arrived.

She was relieved to see that Sai was safe.

Meanwhile, the little maids checked the dimensional rifts for any remaining Shadow-Eater and confirmed its complete annihilation.

And so, the Shadow-Eating Demon King lurking in Kakuriyo was finally defeated.

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Thank you for reading.