397 394. Helmina Neishas long-cherished wish.txt (2/2)

I got off Sera's back and headed for the stairs alone.

I, as her sister, will be the one to hold her back.

But Nosfi--

”--Let's meet up 'together' later!

He replied and drove off.

The meaning of that 'all together' was faintly apparent to me.

It wouldn't be the flesh and blood Nosfies there. My sister says 'all together' in the sense of having inherited it. I knew that, but I had to nod my head.

'......!　Yeah, I'll be 'together' later!　That's a promise!　...... Serah, we'll both keep Elmirad at bay!　I mean, I'm going to take it down as fast as I can!

I shift my vision from my sister's back and focus on what I need to do.

'--, ------ ----!

Elmirado, who had lost his mind and turned into a lion, was barking and running towards Nosfi, who was trying to get up the stairs.

Immediately I asked for a body strike by hitting Sera's side with my heel and weaving a gust of wind magic.

''-- 《Zeerewind》!

The wind and the wolf's rush from directly beside him caused the golden lion's legs to float away.

However, I thought it would just blow away, but in the empty air, the lion - stepped on it.

Perhaps, but it developed a solidified magic power or wind at its feet.

In order to drown it out, I wove an additional 《Zeerewind》, but the lion in front of me had begun to weave the exact same magic.

The two unchanted 《Zeerewind》 collided, and a wind blew in the thirty-third floor as if a storm was about to burst.

Unbearably, Sera couldn't help but take her distance from the lion.

But by then, Nosfi had already managed to run up to the thirty-fourth floor by herself.

I watch as my sister headed alone to the 'top' to help Kanami.

◆◆◆◆◆ ...

From here on out, I felt that Nosfi's story seemed as thin as Kanami's 'future vision'.

Like that Lowen Alais, the pages that let Kanami and Ragne take over their own lives beyond the original performance - I could read it in the skill 'Reading'.

It should be too early to be relieved yet, but now Kanami and Ragne are both relieved, and I breathe a sigh of relief.

Just before that, the golden lion was running again.

In an attempt to fulfill the Lord Fafner's order, it headed towards the staircase that Nosfi had climbed, heading at top speed without any preliminary movements.

''-- 《Flame Arrow》!

I improvised and built up my magic and placed multiple fire arrows ahead of its direction of travel.

In contrast, the lion calmly took note of the fire arrows' activation and tried to bypass them while maintaining speed.

''Sera-chan!

He couldn't stop it, but he could buy himself a small amount of time.

Using that time, the wolf's shuffling legs chased after the lion.

Together, while I was on my back, I pulled out the tendril Noah at my waist and aimed at my enemy's leg. In some cases, it was a flash of intent to cut off the entire bone, but it was avoided with ease.

And in the next moment, the lion was far away again.

Quickly I put down my jamming attack magic and asked Sera to chase after it again - but no matter how many times I repeated it, my sword never caught the lion.

''Kook--''

It's so fast you can't follow it with your eyes. Even more powerful.

And even though he was clearly insane, his movements were clever.

I frowned at the way it fought, as if it had been plucked from only the advantages of reason and wildness.

What was even more troubling was that this lion was like a labyrinth boss monster, its strength and concentration was endless.

I heard this information from Sera, who had experienced the same 'demon return', so I'm sure of it. Having paid a large 'price', Elmirad also has the characteristics of a monster.

This is the true value of a knight who has 'turned back into a witch'.

This is the realm of the 'monster' that a mere human being cannot reach, but--

I told you we'd take him down fast!

They scream, give up their swords and magic, and turn to entirely different means.

It's no surprise, but Rastiara Fuzzyards is different from Elmirad Siddharth.

Its true value is not speed, power, or cleverness.

Its strength is 'Magic Stone Human (Jewelcrus)' and that it inherited power as a vessel of Lady Tiara.

He knew that the true value was in the skill 'Blood Art'.

Even more conveniently, this battlefield was filled with a large amount of blood by the hands of 'The One Who Steals Blood's Reason' Fafner.

As I fought, I read the instructions for handling it and tapped into the new power I inherited from Tiara-sama.

”--'Blood Art' is another name for 'Blood Power'.

It is one of the techniques that were constructed a thousand years ago, before Helmina Neisha became 'the one who steals the truth of blood'.

Its characteristic is that it can be handled even by people who are not special, and it can 'move actively even after death'.

Making use of it, Hermina Neysha in the past established the 'Five Stage Thousand Year Plan'.

The first stage was to start a religion, the second stage was to mass produce magical stones, the third stage was to draw a line, the fourth stage was to create an artificial person, and the fifth stage was to create a 'magical' miracle.

All of these plans will be concentrated on a single person who will be born a thousand years later.

And that one person will be called the 'Present Man God' that Romis Neysha once aimed at -

When I finished reading, I instinctively jumped off Sera's back and poked my hand into the pool of blood that Fafner had created.

My 'blood technique' is the same as Helmina's power, the one that steals the reason for blood.

I cast a spell to take away the control of the 'dead yet thriving' one that has accumulated in the shallows of blood from the 'one that steals the reason for blood' Fafner.

''-- Magic [Blood]!

They read the blood and worked on the souls that had sunk to the bottom of the earth.

The dead souls were always looking for someone to hold a grudge against.

Once you understand that, all you have to do is build a suitable 'magic formula'.

Fortunately, the art of guiding those souls was already present in my blood.

''-- Magic 《Hoozeyer's Blood》.

Then, I succeed in creating several 'blood puppets' in the immediate vicinity to imitate the 'Blood Stealer'.

Those 'blood puppets' have no free will and will do their best to follow my instructions. However, I will soon break down their human forms and return them to the pool of blood.

Their souls will remain asleep and I will only borrow the 'magic formula' engraved in their blood.

Next, as if to imitate 'The One Who Steals the Reason of Light', I flow magic power instead and build magic. Then, the same magic that generates multiple occurrences, I bundle them together in my body and then shoot them out.

''-- Resonant Magic [Flame Arrow]!

I activated the magic.

In contrast, the lion, as is his habit, also invoked the same magic, 《Flame Arrow》.

The excellent wizard Elmirado fired 'the best fire arrow imaginable'.

However, my 《Flame Arrow》 is a substitute for the 'best conceivable fire arrows' of multiple excellent wizards that are bundled together.

They didn't cancel each other out, and only my 《Flame Arrow》 attacked the lion and pierced its shoulder.

However, the lion still didn't cower, but roared like a wounded beast, becoming even more ferocious.

''-- Resonant Magic [Water Arrow], [Wind Arrow], [Light Arrow]!

I was caught off guard and unleashed one resonance magic after another.

The equilibrium due to offsetting occurred because me and Elmirade were both all-powerful wizards with equal power. That's why it only took a moment for it to tilt and collapse.

All the magic arrows fired by the lion's side would be swallowed by my magic arrows.

Furthermore, they pierced its sturdy giant body one after another, causing a large amount of blood to gush out from multiple locations.

If it were a person, it would be an instant death.

However, without underestimating the vitality of the ”turning back of the devil,” I ran out and hit the Blood at close range to stop it.

I'm not only manipulating the blood to suppress the ”return of the demon,” but I also draw out all the blood except for Elmirad's.

Next, his figure gradually fades and loses the characteristics of a lion.

When he has returned to his usual biennial form, this time I take a breath.

''Fuu.''

I feel like it was all foul play, but in a short amount of time, I won over Elmirad.

While making him comatose, I lightly closed the surface wounds with 《Cure Fool》, but I honestly can't guarantee that he won't wake up ...... until the end of the day. But I decide to bide my time and leave it at that.

My thoughts were already elsewhere.

It's the resonance magic I used earlier.

Its power was tremendous, and it was comparable to other 'reason-stealing things'.

However, that was more of the true value of the 'Blood Stealer' and not a power unique to the 'Present Man God'.

The important thing for the ”present-day god” is not the resonance magic you just used, but the mechanism itself.

I'm sure that every magician's magic formula has a connecting part that was prepared a thousand years ago. I want to understand that well, and next time I want to use the blood inside me to perform a stand-alone resonance magic.

...... So that's why there was no margin in my blood.

As I muttered to myself, Sera-chan, who had been waiting next to me ever since the battle ended, in her wolf state, purred adorably with a worried 'guru'.

I mouthed a single word, ”Don't worry about it,” and let the magic of 《Cure Fool》 permeate her injured area.

Then, I calmly sort out the situation in the castle.

Right now, I'm in roughly the middle of the thirty-third floor of Fuzzyards Castle, which is roughly in the middle of the thirty-third floor.

Above me are Ragne, Kanami and Nosfi.

Downstairs are my friends who are fighting Fafner, the one who steals the reason for the blood.

--This is probably the place (...).

It all starts here.

I had a feeling that a completely different story would be spun between this floor and the one above and the one below.

From here on up, Nosfi's real battle begins.

From here on down, my real battle begins.

Now I stand at a crossroads.

”...... I should be going up, not up. You can definitely save Kanami, and Kanami can definitely save Ragne. I believe that. It's ......, Serah. Let's go downstairs so that no extra people can go up,

While explaining that, after finishing Sera's treatment, I got on her back.

However, Sera-chan, who is a loyal knight and skill 'intuition', was a bit confused by my decision.

She seems to have absolute confidence in the speed of her own legs, which is why she seems to be concretely suggesting that I should help Nosfi move upwards right now and help her move forward on her own.

I shake my head divinely in response to that grateful advice.

'Didn't that Fafner guy just say it was bad?　Maybe there's a more dangerous enemy coming from below, even more dangerous than Ragne. ...... That's what I want to stop. I want to make sure your sister Nosfy feels safe.

A huge, unattributed magic power that I had never felt from below is blowing up with great force. Even if you are Maria and Dia, it's a dense magical power that is difficult to counter.

Above all, I've been feeling a chill since a while ago.

The temperature in this Foozeyards Castle has been dropping rapidly.

In other words, she's coming for this 'fate' day (・・・・・・・).

So, as Tiara-sama's daughter - as a 'substitute', I have to go to 'answer the question' a thousand years ago.

Sera seemed to sense my firm will, and after hanging her head lightly, she trusted me, the Lord, and ran off without asking anything.

While running as fast as she could, she dexterously avoided the 'blood doll' while going downhill.

At that knight's loyalty and love - I can't help but let the words slip out of my mouth.

''Sera, ......, thank you. ...... Thank you so much for being with me until today. Sera has always been the only one who has stood by my side. I love you ...... and I love you so much.

After saying ”I love you” with four years worth of feelings, I realize that I shouldn't have said the words now and hurriedly continue with my next words.

With a little love story so that he doesn't guess what I mean.

'Of course I love Kanami the most: ......!　Unfortunately, Sera is about second!

I joke.

But it was again.

Another superfluous word spills out of my mouth.

'...... Sera. Do you remember that 'Red Thread of Fate' thing we talked about a long time ago?　...... I've been anxious for a long time, but it seems that my someday (...) has come to the right place. The Kanami of ”The One and Only” has come through for me. ...... and I don't want to give that to anyone else, even if I die.

I wanted to end on a lighter note, but I couldn't stop myself from being flooded with memories.

So, no more, I forced my face down and put it into one word.

'Remember that,'

So I asked my most trusted knight.

Serah was a little confused by the abruptness of the story.

In the first place, it was doubtful that her words had reached her properly, as she was focused on avoiding the 'blood doll' on the battlefield.

However, even so, Sera-chan certainly nodded to me as she ran through the shallow waters of blood.

Seeing that, I am relieved.

I cling tightly to her back as I pat her chest down.

Then I descend to the 30th, 28th, and 26th floors - and on the way, I suddenly feel a strong gaze (...) from behind me. Apparently, the fact that I just now spilled the words 'the one and only destiny' was not superfluous.

...... ah.

I am not surprised, but delighted to see them again.

Because the fact that my gaze has intensified now means that the battle of the Nosfies above is going well, and Kanami's resuscitation is coming.

He hurriedly turned back and met his eyes.

Just the emotions riding on his gaze made me a little flustered.

''Mmm,''

Hearing the words directed at Sera just now, the 'slice' pitied me.

Perhaps this situation is unwilling.

I feel as if she was saying to me, ”You shouldn't talk about 'the one and only fate' anymore” or ”You should run away far away now”.

On the contrary, I'm about to turn away from it, not wanting to see anything else from here.

--But I hope that's not the case.

Instead, I want you to take a closer look.

This is not a place to pity or grieve.

To teach you that, I'm going to--

”'I love the world (you)'...

I mutter one verse of life's 'chanting'.

Now the gentle 'world (you)' can't ignore me, this trading partner.

Immediately, from the 'slit', I received an upset back.

I was surprised that I knew how the 'world's dealings' worked - but also felt like I wasn't used to being directed a straight 'I love you' favor.

Whatever the case, I have no doubt that this will keep me on my toes until the last page.

And it will continue to prove itself after the last page is over.

Once we've finished that prep work, Sera and I will get there.

First up is the fifteenth floor of Hoosier's Castle.

We go to the battlefield of Glenn Walker and Snow Walker.