The End of the War

"Phoenix Robe used to be the Sword Saint's…!?" I was stunned.

"Yeah," Fluga-sama gave me a nod, "He was loved by flames just

like you. But of course, he wasn't immortal. Still, he wielded a flame

so hot that it could produce Hihiirokane. So to protect the humans,

he created Holy Armaments using them.

"However," Fluga-sama continued with an inscrutable look on her

face, "despite all the troubles he went through to create them, there

were only three people who were able to wield the Holy Armaments.

But that's a matter of course. As the rest of the three were demihumans and they—had decided not to have any involvement in the

war."

"I see. So the saints were chosen from all races back then."

"Well, isn't that still the case? Humans and demi-humans both have

equal chance of being chosen as a saint, it all comes down to the

matter of each of their own qualities."

"But at present, aside from us saintesses, demi-human's saints exist

as well. Do you perhaps know as to what is going on?" Magmell

asked.

Fluga-sama groaned with her arms crossed, "Hmm, I have no clue,

either. As each Holy Armament can only be possessed by one saint

or saintesses at a time, this situation normally isn't supposed to

happen. Then again, the reappearance of Sacred Treasure may

have increased the total count, but if that really is the case, it

wouldn't be strange for the usually long-lived demi-humans to get

their hands on Holy Armament first. Like our Shortie over here."

"Mu, don't call me Shortie." Tirna puffed up her cheeks.

Ophir burst into laughter while pointing her finger at her, "Dahaha!

Even the goddess calls you Shortie!"

"..."

――Thump!

"—Gufu!? Y-you little, sneak attack is against the rules…"

"Don't care."

When Tirna turned away from Ophir who was holding her abdomen

in agony, Zana asked Fluga-sama more about the war in the past,

"So, did the 'Sword' Saint along with the humans then fight back with

the Holy Armaments?"

"Well, yeah. Although there were only three people who could wield

them, it didn't change the fact that Holy Armaments were really

powerful weapons. Hence, the 'Sword', the 'Spear', and the 'Staff'

stood at the front line as the mankind's hope."

Arca nodded, "Hm, 'Sword' and 'Spear', huh. Looks like Exa and I

are really tied together by an inseparable fate."

"No, even if ya said that with such a smug face, Exa ain't a saint to

begin with, remember? He can wield various weapons other than the

'Sword', to boot," Ophir retorted.

"..."

"Pfft."

"Hey, don't laugh."

Heaving a sigh at Arca glaring demonically at Magmell, I asked

Fluga-sama, "Incidentally, what did Olgou-sama do?"

"She could do nothing but watch. After all, both were important to

Olgou."

"Is that so…"

As I made a sad look, Fluga-sama nodded, "Yeah," and said, "but an

end would eventually come even for such a tragic situation. The

'Sword' Saint tirelessly continued persuading Phinis, but then the

'Spear', who was his comrade and also lover, fell in battle. In his

grief, he finally made up his mind to proceed with the plan to seal

Phinis."

""""""!""""""

'Sword' Saint surely believed in Phinis-sama.

Hoping for them to get along again, like the time when she bestowed

Sacred Treasures upon them.

Yet…

"Needless to say, Olgou's power was indispensable to seal Phinis.

And Olgou decided to help the 'Sword' Saint out of her honest desire

for the tragedies to stop. The plan went off without a hitch and Phinis

got sealed, but it came at the cost of the 'Sword' Saint's life. Well,

that's how the war ended." Fluga-sama ended the story while

shrugging her shoulders.

""""""..."""""" We were all at a loss for words.

I didn't know how to describe what I felt about it, it was a story in

which no one got a happy end…

This Phoenix Robe I was wearing now felt like a keepsake of the

'Sword' Saint, too…

"So, Phinis-sama is still sealed somewhere…?" Zana asked.

"Yeah, she's supposed to be. But that the Sacred Treasures which

should be in her possession have appeared again in this world. Most

likely, 'cracks' have begun to appear on her seal. In which case, the

seal has to be recast, though it'd be a pain."

"Can you do it?" Magmell asked.

"Maybe. But I definitely can't do it by myself. All the Five Goddesses

need to work together to reseal her. After all, we're—"

"—beings which came to be after Olgou divided herself into five."

"""""""!?""""""" We all went wide-eyed due to the familiar voice of a

man that echoed out of nowhere.

Looking in the direction of the source of the voice, there stood the

figure of Elysium, an oni, the current generation 'Sword' Saint, and

also the leader of the saints.