“……What are you planning?”
The pseudo-perfect steel bullet I fired was stopped by the white shield in an inverted triangle shape that I had seen before.
The difference this time was that there were slight cracks in the shield.
I am certain I can do this.
“Magic Bullet”
With a light flick of my staff, black bullets spiral around my body.
The thousands of bullets here are composed of black magic power at the current maximum hardness, and if I fire them using the staff’s power, they boast a destructive power far exceeding that of a normal ‘Anti-Material’ bullet.
“Fire all rounds!”
I unleash them all towards Sariel in one breath.
The sound of firing accompanied by a black muzzle flash and the shattering sound piercing the floor of the castle wall where Sariel stands echoes through the quiet night.
Dust rises all at once, obscuring my view, but I already know that Sariel is no longer in that spot.
Just before firing, I clearly saw her throw herself outside the castle wall.
“I won’t let you escape—”
I shoot an anchor at my feet and immediately jump off the castle wall after Sariel.
“I can’t let you get away!”
As I throw myself into the air, what spreads below me is a vast grassland of 500 meters square that I just ran across, with nothing to hide behind.
With no cover, and perhaps no need for concealment, Sariel stands there like a ghost in her white attire.
“Magic Sword”
Grabbing the wire with my left hand, I raise my right hand holding the staff.
Using the fluttering robe as the opening to the shadow space, I summon three blackened longswords from within.
These are all the same standard swords that I purchased at the Irz Village workshop, but now blackened.
“Pierce through!”
Before my body reaches the ground, I hurl the three black swords towards Sariel.
One arcs to the left, another to the right, and the last one heads straight on the shortest path. Though each follows a different trajectory, they all assault Sariel from the sides and the front.
“—”
Though I couldn’t hear her voice, I saw Sariel’s mouth mutter something just as my feet finally touch the ground, sending a light shockwave through my whole body.
Thanks to the wire, I managed to land successfully without a hitch—
BANG!!
“What!?”
The sound that resonated right at my feet was that of the white stakes of Sariel piercing the hem of my robe and nailing it to the castle wall.
Four white stakes were embedded, and considering none of them hit my body, it was likely they were thrown to stop my movements.
But when did these white stakes fly in? I didn’t see them at all.
I moved my eyes to confirm this and returned my gaze to Sariel. In her left hand, she held a slender spear of the same color and texture as the white stakes.
At its tip, just like having struck river fish with a spear, all three of my blackened swords were pierced through the center of their blades and lined up.
Moreover, just like before, the blackened swords were swiftly invaded by Sariel’s white magic power, shattering into pieces and vanishing like ash.
“You monster…”
Whether it was the stakes that I couldn’t tell when they were thrown or the easily destroyed blackened swords, I was painfully reminded of the difference in power.
Bit by bit, regret and fear spread within my heart, and I felt an impulse to scream and beg for my life.
Sariel slowly approached me, who was pinned, and opened her mouth.
“Could you please stop resisting?”
I nearly uttered a word of affirmation, but I bit down on my back teeth to hold it back.
“I have no intention of harming you.”
I despised myself for reflexively feeling relief at such words.
“Could you quietly step back?”
Fleeing far away with Lily was a tempting proposal, but I resolutely rejected accepting it.
“Haha…”
Pathetically, I laughed with a slightly trembling voice.
“Who would let this chance slip away—”
I raised my voice, rallying myself.
Tearing the parts of my robe pierced by the stakes, I freed myself from being nailed.
Swinging my staff again, I formed bullets yet again while summoning ten long swords from the shadow space extending from my feet, just like before.
Furthermore, I gripped the cursed great axe ‘Cursed Axe: Tsuji Giri’ in my left hand.
“Sariel, I will kill you here and stop the Crusaders!”
“Is that so…”
Even faced with my full power of magical energy and killing intent, her beautiful face did not change like a statue, and she didn’t even try to position the slender spear she held in her left hand.
That’s fine; her composure is my chance—
“I’m coming!”
“I am the Supreme Commander of the Crusaders.”
Sariel indeed said that.
If she hadn’t said that, I would have been fleeing down the road holding Lily right now.
However, I recklessly picked a fight with Sariel—no, that’s not it; since my life is on the line and I’m aiming to take hers, this is assassination.
“Assassination” means waiting for the right moment to kill, and if we go by the dictionary’s definition, now is Sariel’s ‘opening.’
Despite being the top of the Crusaders, she appeared alone without any guards, making it a perfect opportunity for any assassin targeting her.
In fact, even now, the soldiers are not rushing to support Sariel; it’s still a one-on-one.
Moreover, conveniently, for some reason, Sariel does not seem to want to kill me.
If she were serious, she could pierce my heart and end my life immediately—there’s no doubt about that, as evidenced by how easily I was pinned without any resistance.
This robe, though it is a high-end item superior in defense to steel plate mail, was easily pierced by those white stakes; I almost doubted that the robe had lost its magical power and had merely become ordinary cloth.
In short, while there is a danger to my life, the chance to defeat Sariel—perhaps the last chance ever—is now.
But why am I the one risking my life to seize that opportunity?
Me two months ago wouldn’t have traded anything for my life; it was unthinkable to put anything I valued in danger.
But now I have something I want to protect with my life.
Lily and Irz Village; it’s true that our relationship has been brief, but I can’t simply let the people claiming to be Crusaders do as they please.
I trust these Crusaders the least in this other world; whether God desired it or not, it’s akin to proclaiming that in the name of God, they will kill, steal, and destroy.
In the end, the Crusaders have turned into a large force until they occupied Daedalus.
Having fought and lost against the Daedalus army, their strength is considerable, and it’s uncertain if the military of other nations can defeat them.
However, what happens if I kill the top of the Crusaders here?
I don’t know the details of their command structure, but any organization’s hierarchy descends into chaos when its leader dies.
I don’t know how much authority Sariel holds individually, but there’s no doubt that she accounts for a significant portion of their strength in battle.
If the top falls, it will likely disrupt the Crusaders’ invasion plans significantly, or perhaps even halt the invasion entirely.
At the very least, the outcomes I could achieve by fighting the Crusaders head-on would pale in comparison to the impact of this assassination.
However, that’s only if this assassination is successful.
I fully understand that Sariel is horrifyingly strong; there must be at least a difference of 10 to 100 in levels.
Yet, no matter how magical the world is, this is not a game; even if my strength and magical power don’t measure up, there are ways to ‘kill.’
Here, no matter the risk, I will kill Sariel; I wouldn’t mind a mutual kill.
If that can protect Lily and the village, I’ll risk my life without question!
It’s been a while since I’ve seen Chrono in a combat scene. The names of black magic have changed, but it seems to have been gradually improved.