Chapter 37
[What are you doing?]
"It's cumbersome if I'm going to move properly."
As the sword moved, the petticoat and dress were sliced away. Her knees felt cool.
On a roll, she also haphazardly cut off the dangling sleeves. Scraps of fabric fluttered down. She snatched one, using it as a ribbon to tie her long hair up high.
Picking up the longsword, she frowned at the blade. The cheap sword, never maintained and used roughly, was a mess. Eki tossed it aside and unfastened Baraha's sword from his waist.
"I'll borrow this, Senior."
Baraha's sword was a greatsword, larger than a typical longsword. It seemed excessively large for her to wield. Of course, she wasn't bothered by such things.
Eki instinctively went to toss the scabbard aside but, remembering it was Baraha's, she carefully placed it down.
Baraha's sword was a well-tamed masterpiece. She liked that it seemed sturdy most of all.
She gripped it in her left hand, letting her right hand hang loose.
[Huh? Huh? Are you using me? Wow, wow! It's been so long!]
"There are a lot of them. And most of them are things I've never seen before."
A sword materialized as if flowing from her palm. Eki held the drawn Bardelgiosa in her left hand, switching Baraha's sword from her left to her right. Patterns glowed on the Demon Sword's clear, glass-like blade.
[Can I use my abilities? Huh? Can I?]
"Yes. That's why I took you out."
The roars of the approaching Monsters pierced her ears. She aimed the Demon Sword at the swarming creatures, whispering.
"So, rampage to your heart's content, Bardelgiosa."
Bardelgiosa's abilities were largely twofold.
First, specialized for slaughter. The Demon Sword was specialized for slaughter among the Giosa Series, so the owner would instinctively realize the most efficient way to kill the target before them. This was an extremely useful ability when facing Monsters she was seeing for the first time, as now.
And the second was…
[If it's to my heart's content, can I use your whole body?]
"Not that, you damn Demon Sword. Just my left arm, as always."
[Okay, that's good enough! This is going to be fun!]
As the owner's permission was granted, black energy surged up from the Demon Sword's hilt. It crept up, consuming her left arm, dyeing a portion of Ekinesia's hair and her left eye black.
The killing intent accumulated in the Demon Sword was converted into Mana. Using that Mana, the Demon Sword could control the owner's body.
This ability was why the Demon Sword could control its host before awakening, and it was also why the owner would commit unintentional murder if the accumulated killing intent wasn't released.
Eki was right-handed, but she wielded a sword quite well with her left hand too. With the Demon Sword, she was practically ambidextrous.
When facing multiple opponents, she would hold her original sword in her right hand and Bardelgiosa in her left, handing over her left arm itself to the Demon Sword.
The Demon Sword in her left hand fought well on its own, even without her control. Because she had often used this method in her erased past, she had become quite accustomed to using a sword with her left hand even without the Demon Sword.
A Monster at the head of the approaching horde reached her, lunging right in front of her. It resembled a panther, but it had six legs, more than ten eyes, and its skin was flowing like mud, making it a grotesque creature. Right behind it, a one-eyed giant covered in scales from head to toe followed with heavy thuds.
The lunging panther swung its front paw at her. Eki avoided the attack by kicking off the ground and leaping up. The hem of the dress, haphazardly cut into a miniskirt, billowed in the wind due to the jump.
Her leaping power, fueled by Mana, was tremendous. She reached a height where she could look down on the crown of the Monster's head, which was the size of a two-story building. At that height, the force of her upward momentum and gravity briefly balanced.
An extremely brief moment of weightlessness. Two eyes, one black and one purple, locked onto their target.
[The one that looks somewhat human! That one's mine!]
"Do as you please."
Purple Mana flowed down her arm, swirling around the greatsword in her right hand. She swung the sword. Purple sword energy separated from the blade, slicing through the air. The sword energy bisected the panther's body, which had been looking around for the vanished human while bracing its front paws on the ground.
Bardelgiosa moved Ekinesia's left arm. The black Mana split into several strands, piercing the crown of the one-eyed giant's head like snakes hunting prey. The giant's head shattered.
It was usually difficult to even maintain balance when the left and right arms moved independently. However, Eki skillfully controlled her body.
Having dealt with two Monsters in mid-air, she landed as softly as a cat. Her pink hair, streaked with black, scattered long and loose.
Other Monsters swarmed in, trampling over the fallen. The deaths of their comrades seemed to mean nothing to them.
Eki kicked off the ground and dashed forward the moment she landed. Her movements were as swift as a swallow skimming the surface of the water. Reaching between the legs of a creature that looked like a mix of a bear and a wolf, she swung the greatsword upward from below.
A long, lingering purple trail. The Mana coating the sword momentarily exploded, growing as large as a giant's sword.
The bisected Monster collapsed. Meanwhile, her left hand, wreathed in black Mana, pierced another Monster that was approaching from the side.
She didn't look back at the Monster she had cut down. The owner of a Demon Sword specialized for slaughter instinctively knew the vital points, and she had more than enough skill to target those points.
She immediately moved on to the next Monster. A Monster with claws as large as her torso swung its front paw down as if to crush her. She easily climbed onto that front paw. Another Monster aimed to trample her. She was no longer there. Only the Monster whose front paw had been trampled roared in agony.
While Bardelgiosa in her left hand was decapitating the roaring Monster, her right hand blocked the tail of another Monster, which was lashing down like a whip, with her sword. Her arm, which looked as if it would break with a mere touch, effortlessly withstood the heavy attack. She was pushed back slightly, but she didn't falter.
She jumped again, slashed, landed, charged, lowered her body, stabbed, climbed, blocked, and parried. Her slender body soared through the air as if it wasn't bound by gravity.
Purple Mana remained along her path of movement, then scattered and vanished. The Demon Sword's jet-black Mana swirled like flames, then scoured the surroundings like snakes.
The spot where the sword gently brushed, as if caressing the strings of an instrument, exploded as if struck by a bomb. The ground she lightly stepped on crumbled as if crushed by a sledgehammer the moment the tip of her shoe touched it.
This was Ekinesia Roaz's sword style. Moving as if flying, using her light body, and making people realize they had been cut down only after she had passed. A sword that approached like a butterfly and revealed its fangs at the moment of contact.
Her range of movement was frighteningly wide, utilizing even the air, while the trajectory of the sword itself was extremely simple.
However, simple didn't mean she was wielding the sword carelessly. She had already decided what to do before the sword moved, so it only appeared as if the sword was piercing through the answer in a straight line without any process when it actually moved.
The lavishly poured Mana and precise Mana control made all of that possible.
If her innate Mana affinity wasn't this high, she wouldn't have been able to exert such power with a body that wasn't fully trained.
Of course, she wouldn't be able to get away with it unscathed, so her overworked body was scheduled to complain of muscle pain the next day.
'I'll probably catch a cold after this. But it's easier than when I went into the Node before. Even though this place is no pushover compared to that Node. Well, that was a few years ago… I guess my skills have improved in the meantime.'
[49th one! Ugh, it would have been more fun if it was a human!]
"Just shut up and fight, Bal."
[No! Ucha, 50th one! You told me to rampage to my heart's content!]
"I didn't mean rampage with your mouth too."
[I don't know, I can't hear you! I can't heaaaaar you! 51st one!]
The Demon Sword chattered in an excited tone. Eki gave up and moved her sword.
It had been a while since she had moved her body while freely using Mana without worrying about other people's gazes, so she actually felt a bit refreshed. It felt like stretching after crouching down. The opponents she had to fight were Monsters she didn't need to hold back against.
A faint smile appeared on her lips.
What Baraha saw when he opened his eyes was that very scene.
"Ouch…"
He groaned, clutching the back of his neck as soon as he woke up. He couldn't come to his senses for a moment because of that, but he froze the moment he lifted his head.
Ekinesia was flying through the air, holding a transparent sword wreathed in black Mana in one hand and Baraha's sword wreathed in purple Mana in the other, with a slight smile on her face as if it wasn't difficult at all. Her long hair, tied up with a scrap of fabric, fluttered like a tail.
In reality, she was only leaping high, but it looked no different from flying in Baraha's eyes.
"What… No way…"
Was it a dream? That was the first thought that came to mind. Baraha rubbed his face roughly, checked the empty scabbard neatly placed beside him, and then looked ahead again.
Ekinesia was wielding swords in both hands, wiping out the Monsters. Those terrifying Monsters were being unilaterally slaughtered, and only a few remained now.
He pinched his arm. Even after pinching it hard enough to leave a bruise, the scene before his eyes didn't change. He shook his head and rubbed his eyes to come to his senses, then looked straight ahead again.
Ekinesia Roaz kicked off a Monster's knee and leaped up. The spot she kicked shattered. She instantly reached the Monster's eyes, which were at a dizzying height, sliced them with her sword, and fell back down.
A clean motion. Blue blood scattered like rain. Her white, slender forearms were fully visible because of the sleeves that had been cut off haphazardly.
Red liquid and Monster blood splattered everywhere, and her slender legs stretched out from under the skirt, which had been cut off messily at the hem.
Feet wearing high-heeled shoes touched the ground. And then she leaped into the sky again.
Overwhelming, beautiful. Baraha forgot to think. Admiration occupied his mind before questions and shock. His heart began to race like crazy. He watched her as if he were possessed.
The last Monster fell.
The corpses of Monsters were scattered everywhere. Eki stood among them and swung the greatsword once. The blood on the sword fell off.
The Demon Sword absorbed the blood on its body on its own and then quietly disappeared into her hand. The black-tinged left eye and hair regained their original color as the Demon Sword's Mana was withdrawn.
Baraha realized the identity of that transparent sword only after she had put it away. There was no way the Squire of Azure Sky wouldn't know what Bardelgiosa looked like.
'The Demon Sword Bardelgiosa…?'
His complexion turned pale. And Eki's complexion, who turned to look at Baraha, also turned white.
Eki had given him a shock that would have knocked an ordinary person unconscious for at least half a day. She had thought that Baraha might come to his senses a little faster since he was so big and sturdy. But even so, she didn't expect him to wake up only two hours after she had knocked him out.
Her head spun. How much had he seen? Had he recognized the Demon Sword? Was it possible to silence him? What would happen if she was found out?
The first thing that came to mind was Yuriene. She absolutely didn't want to be found out. Especially not by him.
[Huh? Why is he awake? How long has he been awake? He must have seen everything! If he saw it, we have to kill him! We can't let it be known, right? Let's kill him!]
The Demon Sword chattered in a tone that hadn't lost its excitement from the battle. Eki rubbed her eyes with a tired hand, let out a sigh that was close to a groan, and slowly walked across the corpses of the Monsters toward Baraha.
