"—Here I go."
When
Drawing on energy obtained from the
"My, this power is unexpected."
Through Livia's power, which even Cleare hadn't predicted, the Ricoeur was enveloped in a pale white light.
When the approaching monsters touched that light, they were blown away without even leaving black smoke.
It blew away the gathered monsters, and yet the Ricoeur did not lose its radiance.
"Livia, what on earth are you?"
Livia smiled at Angie.
"I don't know either. But for now—this power will save
Livia's expression turned serious, and she narrowed her eyes.
When she stretched out her left hand forward, the Ricoeur's radiance grew even greater.
Cara, who was clinging to
"It's shaking, but what on earth is going on?!"
By instinct, Livia sensed what she should do next.
Particles of white light gathered around the Ricoeur, and they began to take shape.
That figure resembled Livia herself.
Its deformed form was clearly that of a woman.
Only its eyes glowed pale blue on its face.
Centered on the Ricoeur, a colossal, brightly shining figure of Livia was born.
Monsters that approached were blown away, while allies passed right through it.
Now, Livia had truly become the goddess of victory for the kingdom.
Cheers rose from the kingdom's army as the monsters were eliminated.
But the burden on Livia was great.
It seemed as though she might collapse the moment she let her guard down.
Angie supported the struggling Livia.
"Don't push yourself too hard."
"But, just for now—"
"Use my power too."
When Angie firmly grasped Livia's hand, particles of red light gathered around the Ricoeur.
They adorned the giant Livia as if dressing her in a gown.
The woman in the red dress pointed her left hand forward—and from there, numerous massive magic circles appeared.
Enormous fireballs emerged from the magic circles, and when released, they assailed the
The Arcadia Core hastily deployed shields.
But those shields were broken through, and the fireballs struck the Arcadia, causing explosions.
Watching the scene from inside the Ricoeur, Marie muttered.
"A-amazing. At this rate, we might just win normally."
But Livia was not optimistic.
"There's no time. We have to retrieve Leon-san quickly."
From the visual feed, she had confirmed that the
When Livia closed her eyes, she could see the scenery outside through the eyes of the giant Livia of light standing outside the Ricoeur.
"I found him!"
On the Arcadia's deck, the battered Arroganz was there.
The Arcadia Core had turned its attention toward them and had not laid a hand on the Arroganz.
Livia raised her voice.
"Get away—from Leon-saaaaaan!"
◇ "Get awaaaay!!"
A massive gathering of light particles in the shape of a woman reached out toward the Arcadia Core.
Mia reflexively thrust both hands forward.
"This person—Livia-san?"
The magical barriers Mia had prepared were deployed in multiple layers, but Livia easily tore through them.
When Mia hurriedly dodged, the giant Livia withdrew her hand.
In terms of raw ability, Livia was stronger.
The magical creature was irritated.
"What is this thing?! Is it
Not understanding what Livia was, the magical creature simply told Mia to defeat her.
"Master! Use that!"
By "that," it meant the maximum-output attack.
Mia could immediately unleash an attack on par with the Arcadia's main cannon.
However, she hadn't gathered enough magical particles to fire it in rapid succession.
"There's an airship in the center of the giant. The caster must be aboard it."
When Mia pointed her right hand toward the Ricoeur, the spikes of the Arcadia Core turned in the same direction.
"—I won't forgive even you. You're the enemies of my knight!"
Red-black light gathered, and then was released.
The destructive power of that single blow had been seen many times already.
And now it was concentrated and unleashed.
In sheer power alone, it was stronger than any of the previous main cannon shots.
And yet—the giant Livia brushed it aside with her right hand.
The red-black sphere changed direction, struck somewhere far away, and caused a massive explosion.
A column of water rose, and shockwaves on the sea's surface created a tsunami.
The magical creature opened its many huge eyes wide and trembled.
"R-ridiculous! How could that attack—how is such a method of evasion possible?! This is wrong!"
It was furious at how utterly unreasonable this was.
The giant Livia spread both arms.
"Leon-san—I'll save you now."
Then, thousands of magic circles appeared, and from them, spells were fired one after another.
Fireballs, orbs of light—all kinds of high-powered magic came raining down.
Mia immediately ascended to evade them, but every spell tracked her.
Mia attempted to intercept with her own attacks, but couldn't keep up, and was blown away after taking hundreds of spells.
"Kuh!"
As Mia was driven away from the Arcadia's fortress section, the giant Livia covered the Arroganz on the deck with both arms to protect it.
Since the giant's face had only eyes, its expression was unreadable.
But it seemed certain it was smiling.
That was something Mia could not forgive.
"You killed my knight, and yet you yourself—how daaare you!"
When she unleashed her maximum-output attack, a new head emerged from the giant Livia's back.
It was a woman with long hair.
When the woman's upper body emerged, she spread both arms and stopped Mia's attack.
It exploded, but the giant Livia was unharmed.
The magical creature was trembling.
"Impossible. What is this thing? Why would such a—in this era, why does a being that overwhelms me exist?!"
If anything, she was so strong it made one wonder why this power hadn't been used until now.
The giant Livia, now with four arms, reached out and grabbed Mia.
Mia tried to escape but couldn't, and as she thrashed about while captured, she fumed at the giant Livia's strength.
"So you were holding back from the start? Something like this—I'll never forgive it!"
She thrashed about, destroyed the giant Livia's hand, escaped, and fled into the sky.
And then, from above the giant Livia—she began an attack aimed at the Arroganz.
"Do you understand—the sorrow of losing someone precious right before your eyes?!"
Even a single one of the attacks raining down on the Arroganz would be lethal.
Then, the giant Livia covered the Arroganz with her own body to shield it.
The giant Livia took all the attacks, protecting the Arroganz.
"Press the attack just like that, Master!"
The magical creature instructed her to keep up the one-sided beating.
As Mia continued attacking—a hand of the giant Livia swung down from directly above Mia.
That arm belonged to the other giant figure that had grown from Livia's back.
A voice came through.
It was a voice different from Livia's.
"Anyone who lays a hand on Leon—faaaall!"
Mia, plummeting downward, was slammed straight into the sea.
Knocked down and falling into a place quite far from the battlefield.
She had been shown an overwhelming difference in power.
Mia shed tears over her own incompetence and the unreasonable enemy.
"This can't be happening. Something like this—I can't even avenge my knight."
Gritting her teeth and clenching her fists, Mia rose again.
"Even if it means I have to die—?"
But something was strange.
She had risen up and faced the giant Livia once again, but the opponent's outline had grown hazy.
It seemed it might vanish at any moment.
Seeing that, the magical creature finally realized.
"I see! So she was already at her limit! Of course! That much firepower in magic or whatever it was—there's no way there wouldn't be a cost!"
It watched with delight as its opponent grew weaker.
Seeing the giant Livia fading away, Mia immediately headed for the Arcadia's deck.
All the battered extraneous parts had crumbled away, and the Arcadia Core had become smaller.
"—Now the obstacle is gone, Leon."
Mia went to deliver the finishing blow to Leon.
◇ "
With my body no longer moving, I couldn't properly check the situation.
Luxion informed me of the surrounding circumstances.
"I have gathered the surviving drones. They are servicing the Arroganz."
It seemed they were doing enough maintenance to at least let it move.
He had the Arroganz carrying a container on its back.
I checked on
"Are they alright?"
"Yes. Since the Empire declared its surrender, they are now outside the fortress. Master, please retreat to the rear immediately and receive treatment."
"Glad to hear it—it would put me in a bad mood—if they'd died."
Hearing that they were safe, I was honestly relieved.
We had a bad sort of bond—but they weren't bad guys.
They had a lot of problems and were idiots—but unlike in the game, I didn't hate them.
In reality, they turned out to be surprisingly decent guys.
—I should have been friendlier with them.
Raising my head to look at the monitor, I saw the great sword of Brave that the Arroganz was clutching.
"If Finn—were still alive, I'm sure he'd ask me. I have to save Mia-chan."
I knew I was meddling where I shouldn't, but Luxion strongly opposed me.
"There is no need for Master to go this far!"
Still—if I don't push through here—I won't be able to face Finn in the afterlife.
"You idiot—either way, we have no choice but to stop Mia-chan."
Thanks to Livia demonstrating her power, we somehow bought some time.
But it seems she couldn't finish her off.
Mia-chan was descending onto the Arcadia's deck.
Her appearance was no longer the spiky form from before.
It was Mia-chan's true figure.
Silver in color, looking as though she were clad in rough black armor.
Most likely, the spiky parts from earlier had been shaved off, and the remaining parts made her look armored.
When the drones moved forward, they were destroyed by Mia-chan.
"Luxion, this is the final order. —Administer the drug."
If we don't stop Mia-chan here, things will get truly disastrous.
She has an absurd amount of energy stored inside her.
If that energy is used for destruction, the kingdom is in for serious trouble.
Put simply, it'll sink.
To prevent that, I needed to give it one more push.
Luxion didn't reply.
"At this rate we won't get a clean ending, right? We save Mia-chan and it's a happy ending. Well, more like a better ending?"
If we're talking in game terms, it's pretty close to a bad ending.
We cleared it, but the aftertaste is awful.
—Very fitting for me.
"Is Master's happiness found there?"
My happiness? —I think it's probably out there ahead.
When Luxion asked me, I gave the biggest smile I could.
"I've been wondering for a long time why we were reincarnated into this world. There must be some reason, right? Well, there doesn't have to be. If there isn't, you just have to make one. Saving everyone—well, I couldn't save everyone, but I'm still aiming for the better outcome. That's good enough for someone like me."
"Is this the spirit of self-sacrifice? I cannot understand it. Master, you are foolish."
"Didn't you know? I've been foolish from the start."
The soul, they say, is reborn over and over until it attains enlightenment.
Worldly types like me get to keep reincarnating.
That was Buddhist thought, wasn't it? Well, whatever, it doesn't matter now.
If I can believe that even my life had some meaning, that's a bit of salvation.
"Please—partner. This is probably my last command."
It wasn't just my imagination that Luxion's red eye looked sad.
"I-I will begin administering the drug."
The enhancement drug was injected—this made it the third time.
Intense pain assaulted my body, and unable to bear it, I vomited blood.
Even so, I started to feel better.
I made the Arroganz stand up and had it ready Brave's great sword.
Seeing the great sword, Mia-chan spoke to me.
"Give back my knight and—Bū-kun's sword!"
"Come and take it back, you wild filly!"
Planting the spare legs firmly on the floor, I brought the great sword swinging down.
The blow was caught by a small girl.
"Luxion, can you peel off whatever's possessing Mia-chan?"
When I asked if we could save Mia-chan, Luxion had already begun analyzing.
"Currently investigating."
Mia-chan leapt up and pulled her arm back far to punch the Arroganz, so I caught it with the great sword and stepped back.
It was a powerful blow no one would believe could come from a girl's fist.
◇ Inside the Arcadia fortress.
Julius and the others had restrained the surrendered emperor—Bartolt.
"You don't know how to stop that monster?"
Still riding in his armor, Julius was conversing with Bartolt.
"The magical creature absorbed Mia. The master of this Arcadia is Mia. Even if we wanted to stop it, Mia's commands take priority."
Bartolt's shoulders slumped; he seemed ashamed of his own helplessness.
"Why—Mia?"
Julius knew about Mia.
And he also knew about Finn.
So he understood.
"If anyone lost their beloved before their very eyes, no one would stay sane."
He himself didn't know what he would do if Marie died.
Thinking that, Julius then felt the fortress suddenly shake.
"What was that?!"
When he checked,
"Apparently Leon and Mia-chan are fighting up top. Luxion is telling us to escape first."
"Why?! We should just go help them! We're different from how we used to be too!"
But
"There may be a reason. Plus, I'm worried about Marie and the others. Let's head back first."
"Leon-kun must be safe. I don't think Luxion would abandon him, and he may have some plan."
Told that, Greg had no choice but to back down.
Julius decided to escape the fortress with the captives in tow.
(Leon, you really are safe, aren't you?)
Having watched Leon up until now, Julius felt a flicker of unease.