A Double Confrontation with the Wicked Devout Part 2

I activated strengthening magic and swung Brunhild, sending both Iron

Mask and his cleaver flying all the way toward the Kyklops's stomach area.

Despite how large his body was, he was actually quite nimble, so he made a

skillful landing.

"M-My Yellow Ocher can't cut...? Th-That sword…strange."

"That should be my line."

My Brunhild was made of phrasium. This was the first time I'd found a

weapon that it couldn't cut. If I enhanced it with my divinity, I could

probably cut it in two easily, but that was against the rules.

Just how exactly was I meant to defeat this guy? If I didn't destroy that

wicked vessel of his, he likely wouldn't go down for good. But to do that, I

would need to use my divinity, which was taboo. A human using a sacred

treasure that I had made would be able to break it, except I still had no

success in making one.

Could I have softlocked my progress?

Wait, no, there is a way out of this! I still have those twin divine blades

that Ende stol—I mean, borrowed from another world in [Storage]! Maybe

that can... Hang on, I'm not allowed to use those either!

My wives were my wards, so they weren't allowed to wield them, and if

it was true that Ende had become Uncle Takeru's ward, then he was out as

well. I could technically ask the Phrase girls, but considering the fact that

they couldn't bring out the full potential of the divine blades, I would feel a

bit uneasy pitting them against a wicked vessel.

That left only one option...

"Ngh...! Are my kids really the only ones I can ask?"

My children were demigods, so no one was more suited to this than

them, but...

"Mmmnnnghhh!"

Iron Mask restarted his assault while I was debating what to do. With the

Kyklops's shoulder still our battleground, I blocked his attack with Brunhild

again.

Ow, there was much more force behind that one!

"[Boost]!"

I strengthened my body so that I could push the cleaver away again, then

took that opportunity to slash his arm off from the elbow.

"Guh? Gaaah!"

Right after Iron Mask screamed out, his arm suddenly regenerated in a

flash.

He has regenerative abilities?! And so fast too!

Was this his own ability, or were all the wicked devout like this?

This sure was becoming a pain in the ass. I looked up and saw

Schwertleite and Siegrune lumbering toward us. Most of the Kyklops had

already been destroyed, which meant the defensive battle was basically

complete, so why were they coming to me?

"Father!" Yakumo and Frei cried out as they exited their cockpits. They

then landed lightly on top of the fallen Kyklops I was fighting against Iron

Mask on.

"What? What's going on?! It's dangerous here!"

"Auntie Moro—Miss Moroha told us to come help you."

"She said we were most suited to the task!"

Morohaaaaaa! Stop reading my mind!

It pained me to admit it, but it seemed I had no choice but to rely on my

kids here. What a pathetic father I was.

I took out the twin divine blades from [Storage], then handed them to

the girls. They gasped when they unsheathed the shortswords that emanated

divine essence.

"Th-These are incredible..."

"Yeah. The sword I got from Father was already amazing, but this is

something else."

Now listen up, those are divine swords, you know? You're comparing

that to something made by a complete amateur.

"I want you to destroy that iron mask guy's cleaver with those swords.

They might be a little tough to use at first, but you should get used to them

pretty quickly. Or at least, I think you will."

"You think?"

"Father, Father! If we do well, is there aaany chance that we could

perhaps, maybe, possibly get to keep them as a treat?"

"Absolutely not."

"Boo! You're so stingy!"

Frei was clearly in a huff at my response, but even if her weapon maniac

blood was screaming at her, this was one thing I couldn't budge on.

"Your opponent has a pretty strong regeneration ability, so be careful. Of

course, I'll support you as much as I can."

"There's no need. We saw your fight with him while we were making

our way over here. I'm sure that Frei and I will have little problem."

Hang on...was she indirectly dissing me? Like yeah, I was having some

trouble because I couldn't use my divine power, but that didn't mean I was

doing terribly.

"Y-You two…in the road. I destroy together with that man."

"Excuse me?"

What did that bastard just say to my daughters? Maybe I should just use

my divine power after all...

I took a step forward, murderous intent practically radiating from my

body, but Frei stepped in first.

"Stop right there, Father. This is our opponent."

"There is no need for you to interfere. Leave this to us."

Um, Yakumo? You do realize I was the one fighting him before you two

arrived here, right?

I had no idea whether they knew what I was thinking, but the two took

their swords and prepared for battle.

"D-Destroy!"

Iron Mask swung down his cleaver at Yakumo. The attack was so slow

that she was able to simply sidestep it before cutting the man's side open.

"Hmm…" Yakumo mumbled, frowning down at the divine blade. "This

really is fairly difficult to wield. It feels like it's rejecting my mana. It isn't

the most pleasant feeling."

Those of a higher rank like myself or Grandma Tokie didn't really feel it

the same way, but I heard it was difficult to get used to another's divine

essence. Yakumo and Frei were demigods though, so at most, they just felt

a little uncomfortable using it. Were it a normal person, using an attack

filled with divine essence would put great strain on their body, mind, and

magic reserves, so they usually couldn't wield these kinds of weapons.

I imagined this was the reason that both sacred treasures could only be

wielded by heroes chosen for them. I was fairly sure that it would also be

affected by whether or not they had the protection of the god that had

created the blade.

The area where Iron Mask had been slashed immediately began to

regenerate, but it seemed like it was taking longer than last time. Was this

the effect of the divine blade?

"Gaaah!"

"[Power Rise]!"

This time, he aimed for Frei, but she blocked his attack with her own

blade. Iron Mask seemed surprised that his attack had been stopped by a

girl less than half his height.

"C-Crush!"

Iron Mask put more force behind his cleaver to try to squash her flat, but

when a piece of his cleaver chipped off instead, he frantically pulled back.

"Y-Yellow Ocher got hurt?! This strange! That sword strange!"

Even if it was from a different world, a divine sword was a divine

sword. Despite his name, the wicked god had failed to truly become a god.

Did he really think a divine sword would lose to the weapon of a failure?

Frei retaliated by striking the cleaver. A crack broke down the metallic

brown blade from where it had been chipped.

"M-My Yellow Ocher!"

"Yakumo!"

"Understood."

Yakumo had circled to the man's rear and slashed off his thick left arm.

Meat began bubbling up around where the arm had been cut off in an

attempt to regenerate the lost limb, but it was clearly much slower than

before.

"I-It not go back to normal?! Why?!"

He was beginning to panic. So much so, in fact, that he was too late to

notice the girls aiming for his cleaver. By the time he realized what they

were doing, the two of them were already driving their swords toward his

weapon.

"You're too slow."

"That's a point to us."

They slashed it with all their might from both sides. A high-pitched

clang rang out, and the cleaver was cut into two. In the next instant, Iron

Mask let out a guttural cry. His body turned to stone, and that stone then

crumbled away into fine sand.

The now-masterless weapon clattered down onto the Kyklops's body.

The metallic brown gleam the meat cleaver previously held was no

longer present, and it turned into a sludge that was emitting a black smoke,

very similar to the sight we saw when defeating a mutant.

"He turned into sand?"

"I don't think he was ever truly alive. He was probably more like an

Undead... No, a Golem, in fact."

He had simply been a puppet of the wicked god.

The wicked vessel broke apart just like the mutants did, so it was

probably the source of his power. Still, it was strange. I thought that diver

helmet guy would appear to teleport his cornered companion away. Then

again, maybe it was just chance that happened last time. I couldn't say I

knew how much they really cared about their fellow devout. Even if one

was to die, they could easily have another take their place. Though really,

I'd rather they not...

Well, we needed to take solace in the small victories at least. The battle

was already mostly over. All of the Kyklops had been destroyed, which left

only the Fishmen and Four-Armed Gollems the Egret knights were battling

on the shore.

"This sword really is amazing... Hey, Daddy?"

"Beg all you want, no means no. Give it back now."

"You're such a meanie!"

I confiscated the blade from the whining Frei. Yakumo handed it back

over without a fuss, though. Honestly, I'd probably need them to wield

these again when the other wicked devout showed up, but I decided to keep

quiet about that for now.

My phone started ringing as I placed the divine blades back in

[Storage].

It was from Shirahime, the mikado of Eashen.

Did something happen?

"Hello?"

"Apologies, Touya-dono. This is an emergency. Per the pact between the

League of Nations, Eashen requests an immediate loan of the Frame

Gears."

"An emergency? What happened?!"

Members of the League of Nations were permitted to borrow Brunhild's

Frame Gears, so long as they weren't to be used in a personal war.

Primarily, they were to be used for Behemoth extermination or rescue

operations after a natural disaster, but for it to be an emergency request, and

so suddenly too, something big must have happened.

"An army of one-eyed Gollems are assaulting the capital of Kyo, and

many Fishmen are aiding them. The barrier has succeeded in repelling them

thus far, but it will not hold for long. We require assistance."

"You're kidding!"

There were Kyklops appearing at Eashen as well?!

Damn it, this was a two-pronged attack all along.

I had installed barriers around the capitals of the countries that were part

of the alliance that could be used in case of enemy invasion. Only the

representative of that country could activate it, and it could hold back the

attacks of even Behemoths to some extent. However, that was in the case of

a few Behemoths, not a whole massive army of Kyklops.

I've gotta get to Eashen!

I told Shirahime I would be over right away, then phoned His Majesty to

tell him of the situation.

"All right. There aren't too many Fishmen or Gollems left. My knights

will find some way of handling it. Please make haste to Eashen."

"Thank you!"

I informed everyone about the situation after the phone call with the

King of Egret. Our knights were still fine, but I was worried about how my

wives would hold up given they were ill.

"Are you underestimating us? This is nothing. We've gotta hurry to

Eashen."

"We may only be able to sit in the passenger seat, but we have enough

strength to advise our children."

Everyone else seemed to agree with Elze and Linze's words. My wives

were such strong women. There was just no matching them.

Moroha and the other gods were going to remain in Egret, so they would

be fine. We had to transport our Frame Gears to Eashen as fast as possible.

"In that case, everyone should prepare for battle once again. I'm going

to teleport us to Eashen all at once."

I took out my phone while standing on top of the Ortlinde Overlord's

palm and locked on to all the Frame Gears.

Shit, this really takes a lot of time!

Our destination was the land near Eashen's capital of Kyo. We'd charge

into the rear of the enemies that were swarming the barrier.

"[Gate]!"

A teleportation gate opened up beneath the Frame Gears, and they all

fell through to Eashen. I accidentally transported some sand and seawater

together with them, but I doubt they would mind. The gate opened fairly

high above the ground of Eashen, and the Frame Gears dropped in one after

another.

"Whoa!"

The force with which the Ortlinde Overlord landed had me almost

falling off its hand.

"You certainly aren't very careful. Can you not teleport us more gently

next time?" Sue complained.

"I was in a rush, okay? Gimme a break," I fired back.

I couldn't deny how far from graceful that teleportation was. Even the

coordinates weren't very exact, not that I had been that far off. In front of us

were several hundred Kyklops and a whole herd of Four-Armed Gollems

with a bunch of devil-looking monsters with mechanical arms and legs by

their feet.

Were those the cyborg devils Yakumo had spoken about? I suppose we

could call them Cydevils for short. They had bat-like wings that they used

to fly around.

"Father, over there."

Quun had the Grimhilde point toward the army of Kyklops, and walking

among them were two Kyklops of the same type as the one that we had

been fighting in Egret. They had no horn, but their bodies were a dark gold

and they were about twice the size of the rest.

There was also a Kyklops a little larger than the regular ones with a horn

attached to it. That had to be the commander unit. Unlike the others, it was

letting off a metallic purple sheen, and it wielded a long spear of the same

color. It was most likely Orchid, the wicked devout I had the pleasure of

running into back in Panaches. His mech seemed to have been upgraded

compared to before—it had something that looked like a vernier attached to

its legs now.

"I think they've noticed us."

Just as Yakumo spoke, the one-eye cameras of the Kyklops all turned to

face us at the same time.

"Oh? Well, isn't this a pleasant surprise? I thought there was a chance

we might get to fight again, but to think it would be so soon. Aren't I a

lucky man?"

The purple Horned Commander spun its spear, and then the Kyklops

behind it shot something up into the air. Golden powder was scattered about

together with the explosion.

Gah, not the diluted venom again!

"Is everyone okay?!"

"I'm okay…" Yumina painfully squeezed out. "I do feel a little ill, but

it's no worse than before."

There were no additional effects from before at least.

I doubted the enemy side was specifically out to weaken my wives,

anyway. They were just thinking about weakening the Frame Gears by

disrupting the flow of ether liquid.

A double confrontation with the wicked devout was before us.

Can we really manage this? No, no thinking like that. We have to

manage this.

I reaffirmed my resolve as the purple-horned Kyklops walked toward us.

◇ ◇ ◇

As the capital city of Eashen, Kyo was surrounded by fortress walls to

defend against magical beasts. However, those walls only went up six

meters high, a height that Frame Gears and Kyklops could cross with ease.

The only reason Kyo was still safe was because of the barrier I had erected

around it, but I had no idea how long that would last.

The most dangerous enemy here was no doubt that metallic-purple

Horned Commander. Given the barrier was only formed with regular magic,

and it contained none of my divinity, the wicked vessel it wielded could

very easily break it. Even the Kyklops who had only a little of the wicked

god's power enhancing them were doing some real damage to it over time.

"Father, we cannot use Full Burst like this. Kyo would be caught in the

crossfire," Quun informed me. That would only weaken Kyo's barrier

further, which was far from ideal.

If only we could get the Horned Commander away from here somehow…

As I got lost in thought, a gunshot was fired from behind me. And at

around the same time, the leader swung his purple spear.

Clang!

The sound of metal colliding rang through the area.

I looked back and saw Brunhilde aiming its sniper rifle. Kuon must have

fired a shot.

"Wow, that was almost a direct headshot. You're an interesting one,

aren't you?"

The Horned Commander twirled its weapon.

"This is great! I was actually just thinking about how boring it was to

just destroy a city and do nothing else. I'm gonna have you fight me

whether you want to or not! Let's go, you lot!"

The army of Kyklops charged at us with the Horned Commander at its

lead.

"He fell for it much easier than anticipated. It appears he is quite the

impulsive man. Father, please retreat with all due haste."

Kuon analyzed the man in front of us as if it was nothing. Did that mean

he had deliberately provoked him to pull him away from Kyo? This kid

seriously seemed way older than six.

Following Kuon's request, I retreated to the rear while making sure to

keep an eye on the approaching Kyklops. Fortunately, they were heavily

armored, so they weren't all that fast. That said, they were only a little

slower than our Chevaliers.

"Get back here!"

Suddenly, the Horned Commander came barreling toward me at high

speed using the verniers built into its legs. He caught up in the blink of an

eye, aiming for the Chevalier at the end.

"Not a chance!"

Frei dashed to intervene with the Siegrune. After being blocked by

Siegrune's shield, the purple Kyklops jumped back.

"You stopped my Wistaria? I'd expect nothing less from Brunhild's

Gollem army. But what about this?!"

He took the spear that he called Wistaria and twirled it above his head.

Sparks flew as it rotated, and he swung the spear encased in lightning

straight toward us.

At that moment, thunder and lightning crackled near us. Siegrune

dodged just in time as a thunderbolt struck down where they had been

standing. Many of the Chevaliers didn't manage to escape, though, and the

lightning made them fall to their knees. The cockpits of our Frame Gears

had a protective shield encasing them, so the pilots were most likely okay,

but I couldn't say the same for the frames themselves.

The attack didn't only strike our side, though. The lightning was so

indiscriminate that some of the enemy Kyklops were also hit.

Does he not care even a bit about his allies?!

The Kyklops likely weren't being controlled by actual pilots, and if they

were, it would be Gollems at best, so you could argue there was no reason

for him to be all that concerned, but still.

The enemy took the moment in which the Chevaliers had been stalled by

the lightning strike to charge at us all at once.

"We should be far enough from the city now that there's no need to hold

back."

Quun fired a rain of phrasium fragments onto the approaching Kyklops.

Any that she had failed to strike, Kuon methodically finished off with

headshots. The damaged Chevaliers took that opportunity to fall back.

The fight only grew more intense as the Chevaliers who hadn't been

caught up in the lightning stepped forward to return fire.

Meanwhile, the purple Kyklops and Siegrune continued an endless backand-forth. Frei's usual style of fighting involved utilizing multiple weapons

she had in [Storage], using whichever one benefited the situation most.

That meant that she was proficient at not just swordplay, but many other

weapons as well, including, of course, the spear. And being proficient with

the spear meant that she could predict the movements of a spear wielder to

some degree.

Frei blocked the Horned Commander's spear thrust with her shield

before pushing it away with her sword and dodging backward. Siegrune

was more than a match for the horned Kyklops, but it was clear he wasn't

being pushed to his limits, and there was a noticeable difference in the

strength of their weapons as well, however slight. The enemy had a spear

enchanted with the essence of the wicked god, after all, whereas we only

had phrasium weapons infused with my magic. Every single time that spear

hit either Siegrune's sword or shield, they were taking damage.

"Take this!"

"Huh?"

Taking a heavy hit from the enemy's spear, Siegrune's shield was cut

clean in half. The metallic purple spear once again closed in on the head of

Siegrune's faltering form. Schwertleite dashed in just before the spear found

its target, slashing with its sword to completely divert its trajectory.

"I would like to request you stop bullying my little sister."

"Yakumo?! He wasn't bullying me!" Frei protested at Yakumo's choice

of words.

Apparently, it takes triple the skill for someone wielding a sword to beat

the wielder of a long weapon such as a spear or a naginata. Given Frei had

been fairly evenly matched against the horned Kyklops regardless of that

fact, I could understand why she felt a little hurt.

There was no denying the situation had been dangerous, though, So Frei

and Yakumo decided to take on their opponent together.

"Ooooooh, you're both so annoying!"

I turned at the sound of Steph's whining and saw the Ortlinde Overlord

having a fistfight with the two largest Kyklops.

Being attacked by two mechs of roughly the same size made it hard for

it to get out its signature rocket punch. Cannon Knuckle required the user to

fire off its fist, so it would leave Steph without two hands to work with.

With two opponents present, that would make it difficult to counterattack.

As a result, she had no choice but to try and punch them both far away and

create some space between them.

However, these large Kyklops seemed incredibly durable—they refused

to fall. They would stagger, regain their balance, and then begin their

assault again, almost as if they were zombies.

"Fine, let's try this instead!"

The drills on the Ortlinde Overlord's legs detached, then fused with its

right arm.

"Take this special move! Drill Breaker!"

The drill rotated at high speed and made a clean hit into the Kyklops's

chest, drilling out a large hole.

With its chest now gouged out, it collapsed to the ground. There was no

way it could survive that one.

"Now it's your turn! Drill Cannon Knuckle!"

The Ortlinde Overlord took its right arm and fired it at the other Kyklops

without mercy. The drill-attached Cannon Knuckle spun viciously into the

Kyklops's stomach, running it right through. The Kyklops fell to the ground

with a loud crash.

"I did it!"

The Ortlinde Overlord's right upper arm was lifted into the air in joy,

and the detached forearm connected back into place.

Suddenly, white smoke filled with sparkling ether spurted out of the

Ortlinde Overlord's joints.

"Huh? What's going on?!" Steph screamed.

The Overlord fell to one knee.

Oh, I see.

"You put too much strain on the frame. The Ortlinde Overlord is far, far

less efficient with its fuel consumption compared to the other Frame Gears.

You already used Stardust Shell multiple times back in Egret, so it was

likely already at its limit," Quun explained.

So the ether liquid wasn't flowing to all the parts of the Ortlinde

Overlord's body properly? Essentially, it was anemic, if we went by human

terms.

Whatever the specifics, the fact that it couldn't move was bad. The

Ortlinde Overlord was massive; it was practically a sitting target. The

Kyklops had clearly thought the same thing, as they instantly began

crowding toward the Ortlinde Overlord.

Like hell I'll let you do that!

"[Gate]!"

"Whoa?"

The Ortlinde Overlord sunk into the ground. I had it teleport just a little

bit further to the rear. It would be able to move again given a bit of time.

"Awwww! Daddy, I still wanna fight!"

"Come on, Steph. Stop being so selfish," Sue admonished. "Haven't you

already had plenty of fun? Let's rest for now."

"Mmm, okay..."

"Good girl."

Their conversation almost sounded like a sweet mother-daughter

discussion, but having a serious battle be viewed as "fun" was somewhat

problematic… I would have felt like a failure of a father if she turned into

some crazy battle maniac.

I should find some time to have a chat with Sue about this at some point.

That was the two large Kyklops down, but the battle between the

Chevaliers and the more regular-sized ones was still at play. The

movements of our men were growing sluggish. Were they exhausted after

the battle in Egret?

Suddenly, a voice reverberated around the battlefield as if to get us out

of that exact situation.

"Knights of Brunhild, charge!"

"HOO-AAAH!"

At the orders of Commander Lain, who was currently piloting the

Shining Count, the Chevaliers cut through the enemy lines in a wedge-like

formation. I think Baba had referred to it as a fish scale formation? He must

have taught them how to do it. Given he used to lead Takeda's cavalry, it

would only make sense that he was accustomed to that sort of thing.

Their commander's encouragement and the support magic from

Yoshino's Rossweise gave the knights a second wind. They skillfully

managed to take down the Kyklops one after another.

Frei's Siegrune and Yakumo's Schwertleite stood out most amongst the

bunch as they were still locked in battle with the Horned Commander.

Linne's Gerhilde and Allis's Dragoon were fighting back any Kyklops

trying to interfere in their battle. Despite being pincered by two Frame

Gears at once, the purple Kyklops was only evenly matched in the battle.

"C'mon, is that all you got?! You've gotta do better than that!"

"Ngh, you...!"

"Shut that stupid mouth of yours already!"

Both of their swords slashed at the Kyklops from either side, but he

grabbed his spear in the middle and managed to deflect them at the same

time. Without giving them a moment to think, he spun his spear and thrust it

right toward Siegrune. Yakumo used the moment that Siegrune dodged to

once more slash with her sword, but the horned Kyklops swiftly pulled his

spear back to block the strike, then fell back.

It was as if he was perfectly reading their movements. Had he learned

just how Yakumo and Frei fought over these past few minutes alone? It was

true that the girls' Frame Gears weren't at their best output because of the

diluted venom, but I hadn't expected them to be played with like this.

When he fought me, I only won because I managed to catch him by

surprise with my Fragarachs. If only I'd finished him off then...

Iron Mask had been more of a musclehead, relying on his brute strength

to swing his cleaver around rather than any real skill, but this one was

different. He was a skilled warrior whose abilities were derived from

experience. The girls were managing to hold him back for now, but if they

let their guard down, they were almost certainly going to get injured, and

badly.

"Whoa!"

Suddenly, something bounced off the spear. It was one of Kuon's

bullets!

The Horned Commander had deflected one of his attempted headshots

earlier, so this wasn't a surprise, but just how experienced was this man that

he could see through Kuon so easily? His overwhelming skill had brought

even Siegrune and Schwertleite grinding to a halt.

No, come on, the number of Kyklops are already decreasing. If it comes

down to it, we can take him down with numbers. There's no way he can

dodge Kuon's shots while also battling two Frame Gears.

Siegrune and Schwertleite resumed their assault.

"Now that's more like it! But you're too naive! I've already seen right

through you!"

The horned Kyklops dodged Siegrune's slash, and then went to strike

with his spear, but though Siegrune's sword had slashed down just a

moment ago, it immediately pulled back up and blocked the spear.

"What?!"

Schwertleite took that opportunity to slash at the enemy's open flank.

"You cheeky little shits!"

The Kyklops managed to maneuver his body enough to avoid a fatal

strike, but the blade still scratched the frame. Now that he had been

knocked off-balance, Siegrune went in for the kill.

"Ngh!"

Unable to dodge, the horned Kyklops's left arm was cut clean off from

the elbow. He immediately made some space between himself and the two

girls.

What's going on here? Their movements are completely different from

before. Did Yakumo and Frei do something...? Oh, wait!

"Hang on, Hilde, Yae, are you the ones piloting Siegrune and

Schwertleite right now?!"

"Yes, we are."

"We contacted Kuon and asked him to create an opening so we would

have time to swap, we did."

That explained why Kuon suddenly fired that shot earlier. But were the

two of them really okay?

"I would be lying if I said that I felt better, but I can manage for at least

a few minutes."

"A long fight will be difficult, it will, so we would like to keep our

fighting to a minimum."

Schwertleite and Siegrune readied their weapons and then dashed

toward the Horned Commander.

"Get off your damn high horses!"

More thunderbolts rained down where the spear was swung. However,

Siegrune and Schwertleite continued their advance, seemingly ignoring the

lightning strikes.

Hold on, you're gonna get hit!

Suddenly, the lightning dissipated into a fog.

"What just happened?!"

"Our son is a dependable ally, he is."

"He puts us to shame sometimes, honestly."

It was Kuon's Mystic Eye of Negation!

Wait, he can use it from all the way over there?! How much of a cheat

code can one kid be?!

Schwertleite and Siegrune's swords swung down. Schwertleite's katana

cut off the Kyklops's head, while Siegrune's sword cut the torso in two. The

wreckage of the metallic purple frame scattered in the wake of its

destruction.

It was a close call, but we managed to win somehow.

I do wish they hadn't just charged straight into the lightning like that,

though... Gave me one hell of a scare.

"Kuon told us to leave the lightning to him, so we chose to trust him and

dove right in."

"I am exhausted, I am... I feel nauseous, there's a strange ringing in my

ears, and my head feels heavy... My whole body is so lethargic that I'm not

sure if I can do anything more, I'm not..."

That had to be due to the diluted venom. Having participated in a fight

like that, they were both likely at their limits. I had to let them rest.

"First, we need to figure out what happened to that wicked devout."

The Kyklops had been cut right in two due to Siegrune's strike. If it was

anything like the Kyklops in Egret, the cockpit had likely been in the torso

area. It would be great if that strike had put an end to him, but...

"No way!"

From underneath the wreckage of the Kyklops came the wicked devout,

crawling out and looking just as worse for wear. If my memory wasn't

failing me, his name was Orchid. His left arm was cut to shreds, and there

was a notable gash in his side, but just as Iron Mask's body had done,

Orchid's instantly repaired itself.

"Wistaria!"

When Orchid held out his hand, the wicked vessel that had fallen to the

ground decreased in size and flew into his hand.

He's still not had enough?!

I used [Teleport] to bring myself in front of him. I checked with my

divine eye out of curiosity, and as I thought, he was an Undead with his soul

connected to the wicked vessel.

"My, what a pleasure this is. Are you Brunhild's commander?"

"And if I said yes?"

"Hmph! Then I'll kill you, of course. Apparently, you're our natural

enemy."

High praise, and not incorrect, either. From where I was standing, they

were all just some persistent little pests, though.

"I can't blame you. We did just kill one of your friends not too long

ago."

"One of my friends? Who?"

"The big dude with the meat cleaver."

"Oh, what? That idiot Hazel kicked the bucket, huh? How lame. Well,

he was just a musclehead."

Orchid twirled his and pointed the tip toward me.

"Well then, how about I take you down as a little revenge, eh? I'm not

suited to fighting in those big old hunks of junk, anyway. It's much more

fun getting to fight face-to-face like this."

I pulled out Brunhild, which was hanging by my waist, but just as I went

to change it to Blade Mode, I suddenly noticed two large shadows coming

down from above. Unsurprisingly, the two people who made their graceful

landing beside me were Yakumo and Frei.

"Huh? Who're these brats?"

"We're your opponents for this fight."

"Father! The divine blades!"

Yakumo glared scathingly at Orchid, entering a battle stance.

Meanwhile, Frei was staring at me with hungry eyes, beckoning me to give

her the blade.

I dunno how I feel about this...

It was true that even if I were to fight Orchid, I wouldn't be able to deal

the killing blow, so in that respect, it made sense to leave it to them, but at

the same time... Resigning myself to my inability to aid in this fight, I took

the twin divine blades out of [Storage].

Was the divine essence infused in the blades weakening? It definitely

felt like there was much less compared to the last time I pulled them out.

Was it because they had destroyed a wicked vessel once already?

The sacred core within a sacred treasure worked a little like a battery

filled with divine essence, and right now, it was running low. If I was able

to refuel it somehow, the blades would return to their usual power, but

according to Kraft, the god of crafting, a sacred treasure would only take

the divine essence of the god who crafted it or their wards.

We'd been messing around with them for a while now, but...

"Father?! Hurry up!"

"Whoops!"

I was pulled out of my thoughts by Frey urging me. Yakumo and Frei

each took a divine blade and turned to face Orchid.

"You may be kids, but if you intend to fight me, I won't hold back."

"We would ask for nothing less."

"Come at us!"

"Hah, got a mouth on you, huh? Better brace yourselves!"

Orchid kicked the ground and dashed straight toward them. He was

aiming at Yakumo first. Yakumo just barely managed to dodge the

amazingly fast strike by twisting her body. That form of dodging was

terrible for my heart, though, so I really wished she wouldn't cut it so close.

With no excessive movement, Orchid pulled the spear back and once

more thrust it at Yakumo. This time, she deflected it with her sword and

jumped back.

Frei took that moment to jump in and slash at Orchid with her sword.

Orchid twirled the spear after having had it deflected from Yakumo's attack

and blocked Frei's attack with the butt of his weapon. He then twirled the

spear again and this time aimed the tip at Frei, who jumped back to dodge

the slash from the side.

Orchid's way of using his spear was more akin to how one would wield

a staff. His ability to handle the spear in a flexible manner was

unmistakable, and the girls were struggling.

Even though the fight was two-on-one, he was more than successfully

fending off their attack. Usually, at a moment like this, his next move would

be to switch from defense to offense, taking advantage of any openings and

taking them down one after the other.

Usually.

"[Gate]!"

"Huh?!"

Orchid instinctively turned and thrust at where the sudden attack from

behind had come...except there was no one there. Only the tip of a blade

was floating in the air.

"What?!"

Yakumo had used a small [Gate] to teleport only part of her sword. Now

full of openings due to his surprise, Frei swung her sword down directly in

front of him.

"You bastard!" Orchid angrily yelled. He managed to hold his spear out

to the side and block it, but Frei's attack did not end there.

"[Power Rise]!"

"Ngh?!"

Under the weight of Frei's greatly-increased strength, Orchid fell to his

knees. A crack appeared in his wicked vessel.

"Wistaria's been damaged?! No, there's no way!"

"ORYAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

At the same time as the wicked vessel shattered, Frei's divine sword cut

Orchid right in two.

"Gah, ah...! You've gotta be kiddin' me... Heh. I...get it now. No

wonder...you're our natural enemy..."

Orchid's body turned to stone before crumbling into dust. The metallicpurple wicked vessel let off a black smoke as it melted into sludge.