Vol 2 Chapter 3.1 (2/2)

“I’m going to take care of this creature first! Saika comes after!”

“But the Asa hate being shown mercy by males! If you do...”

“Let’s just say I’m taunting her, alright?” I escaped the argument, focusing on my next problem.

The Archdemon had both of its arms out of the torn ground in the stadium, and it was struggling to exit the Hypers.p.a.ce and into our world. The portal became larger with every movement.

“Here I am!”

--Kis.h.i.+n Arts! Lighting-Fire Piercing Palm!

Dawnbringer Minor enveloped its hand with an electric field, creating a trail of plasma, and struck the Archdemon with its palm. The attack landed on the Archdemon as it attempted to break through the portal. The surroundings ionized, creating arcing lightnings between the snail-creatures that have yet to be sucked into the portal.

Dawnbringer Minor landed on the ground, clear of anything other than burnt ashes of the creatures. The attack had wiped the Hypers.p.a.ce corruption deep below the earth, but the tear on the ground was unaffected. The Archdemon refused to budge from there even after my punch.

--*Ka-ha!*

The Archdemon made a strange sound, almost like a sneer. Then, the scale-like coverings on the monster’s wrist stood up one by one, releasing a countless number of eye-like objects from beneath. The eyes inexplicably hovered in the air like a projected hologram, and then they began firing a burst of light in unison!

“Hmph!”

Dawnbringer Minor evaded left and right while creating a Black Barrier to defend against the attack. I remembered what had happened against the Black Whip so I didn’t solely trust the s.h.i.+elding to save myself.

--*Bam!*

And it was as strong as I expected! Earth around me turned to steam and the asphalt turned into liquid. The sea created a small hurricane as the water evaporated violently. Decorative trees were uprooted by the strong wind.

“Stop this madness!”

--Kis.h.i.+n Arts! Lightning-Fire Piercing Fist!

From a great distance, the fist made from the refined power of mind reached forth and struck the Archdemon’s arm. A pillar of fire was created in the fist’s wake from the plasmified air.

An explosion engulfed the Archdemon’s wrist, and the huge, monstrous arm slowly fell to the ground like an ancient tree being cut down. The ground shook and a dust cloud emerged when the arm finally fell.

But soon, the arm moved again.

Hmph! It was an attack powerful enough that I was almost worried if I were going to be safe, by performing that attack on ground and not in s.p.a.ce. I had no chance of defeating this if I couldn’t bring it into s.p.a.ce so that the subconscious of the Alter-Armour does not inhibit its power.

--*Kwooooh!*

“Huh?! What’s going on now?!” Sergeant Aroha became alarmed by the flas.h.i.+ng panels within the c.o.c.kpit. It was her first time being in here, after all.

The Armour stood strong even after I had used two powerful Kis.h.i.+n Arts. Of course, I couldn’t be anywhere near my original power with only five percent of Dawnbringer’s Alter-Core. My abilities were doing nothing compared to the days with the original Dawnbringer.

“The gel, Aroha! Right now!”

“R-roger!” She used the sharp edge of the military shovel from Ensign Meihowa to smash open the input port for the energy gels and squeezed the gels inside. Dawnbringer Minor returned to its strength soon.

‘Okay, good!’

The shovel had made her a lot quicker than Ensign Meihowa was. Dawnbringer Minor’s base strength was better off this time, too, so we were at a much better state than the last time.

--*Kwaaaaah!*

The Archdemon shook back and forth. The ground shook in response and the portal became bigger once more. Heat from the surroundings began vanis.h.i.+ng into the Archdemon’s arm. Spectral a.n.a.lysis showed that the arm was absorbing energy, while the inside of the arm was at absolute zero temperature.

‘Absolute zero?’

The temperature itself wasn’t the issue. For my s.p.a.ce-capable Alter-Armour, it was a temperature I could withstand. But considering the conceptual impossibility of causing anything to be lowered to absolute zero temperature, I couldn’t imagine what kind of power the Archdemon may have possessed.

“Agh!”

The arm alone easily had the strength to destroy the entire planet.

[Hey, you!] Princess Riznah called, using a public channel. Saika must have completed the c.o.c.kpit replacement while I was fighting the Archdemon. [Yes, you!]

“Hey, Princess--... Huh.” I quietly watched as the screen showed the video stream of her getting her eye and her arm being replaced by the medical robot. The remote-controlled medical bot, the Portal Medic, was attaching a cyborg arm and an eye.

She completed the surgery that quickly? It must have been painful!

But the Princess only looked slightly uncomfortable, and the look of pain was nowhere on her face. She casually continued, [The Archdemon’s defensive capabilities are much like the Kis.h.i.+n! If you want to annihilate that creature, you can’t leave it on the ground! If we do not bring the fight to s.p.a.ce, then the Kis.h.i.+ns will hold back in fear of destroying a planet.]

“What of it?”

[Kis.h.i.+n Saika’s specialty is teleportation. I will bring the Archdemon to s.p.a.ce. That wastes a lot of my energy, so we will need to destroy it together. Understand?]

“So we’re going to be temporary allies until we beat the Archdemon?”

[Yes! And I know that you spared my life. That is the most terrible insult to me, but... I am still thankful. But we will have a proper conclusion to our fight later!]

Sergeant Aroha scoffed in response. “She knows that she was spared and she still talks big! Lezirth, just ignore her!”

I shook my head. “Alright, fine, we’ll destroy the Archdemon first!”

Sergeant Aroha looked bewildered when I accepted the alliance. “You’ll regret it! How can you be so kind to an Asa?”

“It’s fine-- I have a plan of my own!” I rea.s.sured her, landing on the edge of the stadium area. I picked up an item for my plan-- I was ready for anything with it.

[Let’s begin!]

Kis.h.i.+n Saika bolted up into the skies. It looked like the old Hydrazine-fueled rockets pus.h.i.+ng the earth back with a great force as it elevated into the air.

Saika stopped mid-air and spread its arms. Its skirt-like parts separated apart, shooting off in the areas around the stadium’s edges, encircling the Archdemon. Meanwhile, I took the monstrous arm’s attention, preventing it from reacting to Saika’s actions.

[Kis.h.i.+n Arts, activate! Forced Teleportation!]

As Saika cried, the parts embedded around the Archdemon emitted a light.

I quickly fled the circle. Even if I were allied with Saika, I wasn’t about to expose Dawnbringer Minor and myself to an unknown Kis.h.i.+n Art.

I had to admit, I had made a major mistake.

The activation of the Kis.h.i.+n Art had already been done when the metal circle was created. Before I knew where I was, Dawnbringer Minor and the Archdemon were moved into s.p.a.ce.

“d.a.m.n!”

[I’ll attack from here, but don’t blame me if you get hit and die from it!] The Asa princess said cheekily. Saika was already on the ground by this time.

[ThunderG.o.d Saika can switch places between itself and any of its Skirt Bits! When the Skirt Bit Formation is formed to perform this ability, its movement is said to be discordant, hence the full name of Discordant ThunderG.o.d! You have to be careful!] Ensign Meihowa warned, but it was too late. I had to react against Saika’s preparations rather than its activation, but that chance was gone.

The Archdemon seemed to be panicking, unaware of what had just happened. It was quite a humongous creature. I thought the arm was only about forty meters, but with the Archdemon out in s.p.a.ce, I could see that the full length was more than sixty meters. The whole body was, including the tail, maybe two hundred meters. It looked like... a deformed, giant dinosaur? Almost like the monsters from monster movies?

--Kis.h.i.+n Arts! Lightspeed Death Formation!

Saika raised its arms into the air and activated a Kis.h.i.+n Art. Earth, machineries, and various debris levitated into the air, and were soon engulfed in a sphere of light centered on Saika’s hands. The ball of light suddenly accelerated to near-lightspeed, appearing as a beam exiting the atmosphere of the planet.

Near-lightspeed objects with high density could destroy the biosphere of a planet. By colliding with the atmosphere, the object could explode from its own speed, and the resulting force could wipe the surface clean. This could happen even if the object headed towards s.p.a.ce, rather than the ground. But thankfully, the projectile was teleported outside of the atmosphere first before being set in course towards Dawnbringer Minor and the Archdemon.

[Stop the Archdemon from dodging the projectile!]

“That ********! Hey, you ******* ********!” Sergeant Aroha began screaming words that were too embarra.s.sing to be heard.

It was obvious that she was trying to be rid of Dawnbringer Minor as well as the Archdemon, but Princess Riznah was bold enough to ask me to control the Archdemon into getting hit!

And then, I felt a vibration, though that couldn’t have been possible in s.p.a.ce.

The near-lightspeed projectile of debris struck the Archdemon’s body, causing a violent explosion. The extreme speed and force of the collision caused nuclear fission, causing a ma.s.sive radiation. People on the surface could probably see an aurora happening in this direction.

I realized that I would die too if I idly stood around, so I prepared to dodge Saika’s attacks.

-- Dance of Discord!

The sight of the world changed its colours. Glowing points flashed in various locations around the battlefield, marking the valid travel locations with projected beacons of my mind. I had placed two hundred of these beacons. Now, I could travel to them in order!

Commence chained teleport!

Dawnbringer Minor activated its teleportation device. It teleported to predetermined locations in s.p.a.ce, dodging the projectiles from Saika and blocking the Archdemon’s path. The Archdemon struggled to escape the bombardment even as it got repeatedly struck by attacks that could destroy a star, but I kept it down by striking it with more Piercing Fist.

All of these attacks were enough to destroy multiple planets, but the Archdemon was glancing off the blows by leaking some of the damaging force into the Hypers.p.a.ce.

--Alert! Alter-Armour energy level is dropping!

--Alert! Reaction levels exceeding capacity!

Dawnbringer Minor was struggling to keep up! Sergeant Aroha cursed obnoxiously, while hurriedly shoving more energy gels into Dawnbringer Minor. It was a nice sight, seeing her lean forward in the process and exposing the curves of her back. She was also on my lap at the moment, so...

“Uh-- L--Lezirth?” Sergeant Aroha blushed and turned around to stare at me. She seemed to have a lot to say but couldn’t speak any of them.

“Ah!”

‘What a time to be distracted-- right in the crossroads between life and death!’

I continued jumping through s.p.a.ce with the Dance of Discord and throwing punches at the Archdemon. The energy level warnings continued just as much, but I trusted Sergeant Aroha and kept on pus.h.i.+ng Dawnbringer Minor to its limits.

The Archdemon attempted to return the favour and fired a ray of light. I did not dodge, but instead created a Blue Barrier to reflect and strike back at the Archdemon.

--*Kweeeaaaaagh!*

I heard the Archdemon scream in agony, despite my senses telling me that I couldn’t hear sounds through s.p.a.ce.

“Take this!”

From the eyes attached on Dawnbringer’s shoulders, I used--

--Kis.h.i.+n Arts! Anguish of the Lion King!

A focused wave of electrical energy arced to the Archdemon. And then--

--Ascend!

Dawnbringer Minor followed the arc with the Piercing Fist! The plasma storm and the punch combined to spray and inject deadly plasma into the Archdemon’s body.

--Ascended Kis.h.i.+n Arts! Aurora Slas.h.!.+

Following up on the last attack was a spinning kick from Dawnbringer Minor. Somehow, despite the size of Dawnbringer Minor, the Archdemon’s back exploded from the hit. The hardened flesh cracked open and spurted blood into s.p.a.ce! The Archdemon was flung back from the force, only to be hit by another projectile and get pushed back towards Dawnbringer Minor.

--*Kwwweeeee!*

The Archdemon raised its arms, almost looking like it was surrendering. It then folded the s.p.a.ce around it, and like a magician disappearing into his own cloak, it enveloped the fabric of s.p.a.ce around it and... vanished completely.

“It ran away!”

[Oh!]

Sergeant Aroha and Princess Riznah exclaimed. I was just as surprised.

“Hmph. After all that, it ran away before I could kill it!”

“No, wait, that’s not what I’m surprised about! How did you manage to make an Archdemon run away?!’

[If the Black Sisters knew about this, they’d faint in shock.] Princess Riznah muttered. Before she could say anything further, Sergeant Aroha shut the communicator off.

“Why?”

“We’re out of energy gels, Lezirth!”

“Hm.”

After withstanding every ability down to the last Ascended Kis.h.i.+n Arts, the energy gels are all out? I nodded.

Saika had already begun its move towards Dawnbringer Minor, quietly and quickly leaving the atmosphere of Critik-4. Though the Kis.h.i.+n Arts must have spent a great deal of energy, it was a proper Kis.h.i.+n, after all.

With Critik-4 behind it, Saika stopped at a distance away from Dawnbringer Minor.

There was about ten minutes before the Federation fleet could arrive and a.s.sess the situation on Critik-4. I’d never need more than ten minutes to take down a Kis.h.i.+n!

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