188. Allen Cell and Political Marriage [39]
A gray substance gathered in front of Gregor who deployed his soul dress,〈Embers Cross〉.
「Is this…『ash』?」
It might be a heat-type or dry-type.
(It’s the first time I’m fighting against this type. I need to brace myself.)
At any rate, it’s a big advantage to have revealed the opponent’s ability from the beginning.
And above all.
(…It’s as I thought. The output of darkness has increased quite a bit!)
The moment I gripped the pseudo-black sword for the first time in a long time, I understood clearly.
The darkness swirling in me is stronger, denser, and darker – approaching Zeon’s darkness.
(The trigger was most likely… the match with Clown-san.)
At that time, I felt『a foreign power mixing in』.
Being able to perceive that power… how do I say this….
I feel that a『path』that had been blocked until now has opened up a lot.
(Perhaps… Clown-san grasped the『strengthening of darkness』and that is why he overlooked us going to the Empire.)
And when I thought back to the situation that happened a little while ago,
「Allen… You turned your sword at me, the『Apostle of God』. That is treason to God! You’re prepared for what’s coming right! I’m going to continue to give you all kinds of torture and engrave hellish pain into your marrows!」
Gregor’s roar echoed, and tremendous killing intent filled the cathedral.
「「「Hi-Hii…!?」」」
The nobles screamed and huddled together. Even the president involuntarily cowered.
In such a situation, I didn’t feel anything in particular.
The feeling of hopelessness when crossing swords with Fu for the first time.
The feeling of pressure when confronting Rain for the first time.
I couldn’t feel anything like that.
All I felt was calmness.
As though I was standing alone in a desolate world.
「Kuku… What’s the matter with you? Are you so shaken with fear that you can’t even speak!?」
As Gregor swung his sword with a taunt in the mix, a tremendous amount of ash rolled up.
The next moment,
「Uoh…W-What is this…?」
「Eh, ah… Gu-GUAAAAA…!?」
「AAAA!!! HOT HOT HOT…!」
Screams of agony broke out from all over the cathedral.
As I turned my gaze towards the source of the sreams – the nobles, whose body was enveloped in flames, writhed in agony.
On the other hand, there was no sign of burning in the cathedral.
Is he able to control what he burns, or is it a mechanism that only reacts to living things?
Anyway, it would be better to avoid touching that ash as much as possible.
「President, are you all right?」
「Yes. I have water protection, so it’s no problem. As for Allen-kun… Yeah, you seem to be fine.」
「Yes, it seems that the dark robe is preventing it.」
After confirming her safety, I immediately turned my eyes back to Gregor.
「Hmmhmm! Ugly, fat pigs do cry in a good voice after all!」
The man, who suddenly killed the nobles, was humming in good spirits.
「…Aren’t you comrades from the same country?」
「Ha…? Those nobles are not my friends. There’s no point to them being alive anyways. I burned their life so they would sing that hymn for God’s judgement that will begin now.」
「…I see.」
It seems like this guy is much more of a low-life than I thought.
「Kuku, but man… to care about the nobles of the enemy nation, you’re quite the naive swordsman, aren’t you… Eh!?」
Gregor said, and came towards me at a moderate speed.
「Fuha!」
Unleashing a clumsy downswing.
I held my sword horizontally and calmly caught the blow.
At the moment when our swords collided, a puzzled expression formed on his face.
「Hmm, that’s odd… Why can you defend against an insubstantial ash sword? What kind of ability is that darkness?」
「Nothing to think deeply about, just a common strengthening-type.」
This darkness has the power to improve physical ability, defense, and healing.
I can manipulate it like tentacles, but… Basically, it can be classified into a strengthening-type for the most part.
「Hah, bullshit! Just a strengthening ability, won’t be able to stop an insubstantial ash sword… Yo!」
While saying so, he unleashed a variety of slashes – diagonal slash, bamboo slash, upwards slash, downwards slash, thrust – from various angles.
「……」
I evade, sidestep, parry, dealing with each one indifferently.
A terribly dry and boring sword exchange was repeated.
「Hyahahaha! What’s the matter…? Does you vigour only last at the beginning?」
Gregor has been in this rhythm for a while now.
He just swung his sword in a messy way, and threw repeated provocations.
The president watched the exchanges anxiously.
「…Hey, can I say something?」I said.
「Fuha, what…? If you want to beg for forgiveness, it’s too late!」
I decided to make it clear to the guy who seemed to have a big misunderstanding.
「If you don’t want to get serious, I will end this.」
「…Aa?」
I stepped into his range and unleashed a firm diagonal slash containing my body weight.
At that moment,
「Ga, ha…!?」
The jet-black slash easily broke Gregor’s ash sword, and carved a large, deep sword wound into his chest.
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