Ren’s seal should have been completely finished by now.
As proof, the barrier spread by Samael had started to tremble as if it were about to disappear.
But what was this? The instant Ren, whose spirit power had been sealed, was about to say something.
Darkness spilled from her mouth and began to wrap around her entire body.
"Huh...?"
"Itsuka-kun! Get out of the way!"
Itsuka-kun looked flustered by the sudden turn of events, but I knew what that was.
"What! What is it!"
"It’s the Dark Soul!"
The Dark Soul.
The darkness it held had begun to consume Ren.
"Damn it! I should have seen this coming!"
Yeah, I should have expected this to some degree.
Ren was only a spirit with a lot of spirit power. She wasn’t an immortal like me, a Lord of Cinder, or a Lord of the Dead.
That meant she couldn’t endure the Dark Soul the way Gael had.
Rumble...
The barrier started to shake again, this time for a different reason.
"Tch!"
As it vibrated even more violently than when it had been fading, the spirits lost their balance and began to stagger, so I immediately grabbed Itsuka-kun by the nape of his neck and hauled him back to where the rest of us were.
"Hieta, what the hell is this..."
"She’s being consumed. The Dark Soul is devouring Ren right now."
"The Dark Soul...?"
"Yes. The soul I have that carries the deepest darkness. It’s eating Ren."
I don’t know why the Dark Soul was only now devouring Ren.
But I knew very well that it would completely change her.
If it had given that much power to Gael, who was only a Slave Knight, then what kind of power would it give to a spirit like her?
"Hii, is there any way to fix this...?"
"...No."
Any way to fix it?
There was no such thing.
Once she was consumed and turned into a monster, all I could do was grant her peace through death and take back the Dark Soul.
Even if Itsuka-kun sealed Ren again, she had no reason left to care, and even if he succeeded, he wouldn’t be able to withstand the Dark Soul.
"So the only choice is to kill her...?"
"...What?"
"...Is that really the only way?"
At the commander’s serious question, I quietly nodded.
We had to kill her before she was completely consumed.
If we didn’t, who knew what kind of being might be born?
Even if we couldn’t kill her outright, we had to weaken her with attacks so she’d be easier to finish off once she was complete.
"We finally managed to seal her, and now you’re saying we have to kill her?"
"Shido. There’s no helping it. If Hiki’s right, then that’s no longer Ren. It’s something wearing Ren’s skin."
"But...!"
"Shido! I don’t want to kill her either! Who would want to kill someone who’s like Rinne and Mayuri’s older sister? But look at the reality! We have no choice but to kill her!"
That was the reality.
No matter how much Itsuka-kun said he wanted to save her, we couldn’t listen. Once something had already been consumed by the Dark Soul, there was no bringing it back.
I knew that, and yet why did I still feel so heavy inside?
She had clearly been trying to kill us, and yet maybe it was because I could faintly sense there was some hidden reason behind it.
"Hah."
No, that didn’t matter right now.
By the time Itsuka-kun and the commander had wasted time arguing, that being had already finished forming.
Boom!!!
"Ghk!?"
"Ah!"
"What the—this is...!"
The pressure around us grew heavier.
It wasn’t just me feeling it; the spirits, already exhausted to the bone, were losing strength in their legs and dropping to their knees.
Meanwhile, Marina, who had been watching my past very closely, stared at the completed being with a tense expression.
Creak...! Crrrk!
I could hear flesh and bone twisting as Ren’s form began to change.
Her body kept growing larger, and her already long hair grew even longer until it dragged all the way along the ground.
"Fuck."
She was becoming almost exactly like Gael.
Come to think of it, the Dark Soul I originally had had come about because of Gael’s soul, so it wasn’t that strange for her to end up like this.
Rumble...
Once Ren had been completely consumed by the Dark Soul, the barrier changed the scenery as well.
The world, which had been dark already but still had some terrain, had its landscape swallowed up as everything sank into the ground and was devoured by darkness.
Before long, all that remained was deep darkness.
"This is completely..."
Gray sand rose from the ground.
Above it, structures like the ruins of a shattered castle emerged.
Even the faint sunlight coming down from the sky.
It was extremely similar to Gael’s boss arena.
"The scenery changed?"
"Where the hell are we...?"
While everyone was thrown off by the changed scenery, Ren’s body twitched.
"Everyone! Get ready!"
The moment I said that, Ren reached out and summoned branches, forming something into shape.
It was a greatsword with missing teeth and a worn-down edge, yet longer than before.
A sword similar to Gael’s greatsword was made from branches, and the dead Ren let out a meaningless scream.
-A̷̤̰̙̭͚̫͙̓̊̾̂͐͒̎̊̾͆A̷͎̬̞͇͌͒͌̍͛͗̽̿̃͑̚A҉̗̥͍̭̳͉̫͍͔͇͉̗́̆̃͂́̈̒̏̓͊͊̊A҉̝͇̩̲̝͇̲̟͈̰̭͈̃͆̽͋̀̚Ȧ̵̯̤̫̠̳̾̉̊̍́͊͗̓A҉̰̞̗̯̦̟̱͎̟̰̩͊̅̓̔Á̵͎̮͖͍̣̔̔͒̂̐A҉̜͍̜̱̖̙̣͕̑̄̾̊͒͒̀!̴͍͚̯͇͆̈͑̃̍̒!̴̰̠̣̬̠̫͆̉̊̂̐̂͂̓!̶͎̦̰͖̝͕̱̟̊͆͛̿̚!̷̷̢͈̣͇̰̣̲͙̘̱̺̝̲̭̬̙̮̞͖̈̓̀̐͌̄̍͋̊̔͒̐́͋̂̀́̂́̚͜͞
Letting out a shriek so sharp it felt like it would tear our ears apart, the dead flew high into the sky.
Then, bringing the tip of that sword down, it fell toward me, and I shouted.
"Everyone, move!"
Crash!!!
At the same time I said that, the dead’s sword collided with my spiral sword.
The force was so tremendous that the vibration traveled along the blade, through the hilt, and into my arm.
"G...hk!"
I knocked aside the dead’s sword, which was pressing down on me with overwhelming force, and stepped back.
"Hii! Are you okay!?"
"I’m fine! I’ll draw its attention, so everyone attack while you’ve got the chance!"
Yeah, that thing was too strong for anyone but me to handle.
So the best plan for now was for me to take the hits as much as possible and draw its attention while everyone else attacked.
"I’ll..."
Just as I was about to say something to keep its attention on me, Ren’s gaze shifted—not to me, but to Itsuka-kun.
Since Ren’s original target had been Itsuka-kun’s life, even after becoming a dead thing, her instincts were still trying to kill him in order to fulfill that goal.
"Itsuka-kun!"
"Ghk!"
"Shido!"
Itsuka-kun rolled away to dodge the dead’s attack, and the situation where he would have died never happened.
That was fortunate, maybe, but just the fact that Itsuka-kun had become the target couldn’t really be called good news.
"You damn bastard..."
What mattered now was dragging its attention back to me.
So what should I do?
The answer was already decided.
Crack!
I smashed the Luring Skull in my hand and covered my entire body with its powder.
Now that it had already become a dead thing, its craving for souls had to be immense.
I didn’t know whether that would take priority over killing Itsuka-kun, but considering that the dead shadow Ren had summoned had also been drawn to the Luring Skull, it was more than possible.
And that wasn’t all.
I immediately swapped my spiral sword for Havel’s Greatshield in my inventory and equipped the Skull Ring.
-!!!
As expected, its reaction shifted, and the gaze that had been on Itsuka-kun turned this way instead.
That meant my plan had worked.
"Good. Come on."
I raised Havel’s Greatshield and waited as the dead charged at me.
Crash!
When the dead swung its sword, an enormous impact slammed into me.
As if that still wasn’t enough, it kept pressing me harder and faster.
Bang! Bangbangbang!
"Ghk...!"
Each strike had terrifying power, making my arm shake.
Even while blocking with Havel’s Greatshield, a shield with absurdly broken performance, I was still being pushed back by the force.
Then, just as that happened, crackle! Marina unleashed electricity and attacked the dead.
-!!!!
Even after being hit, the dead kept staring only at me and continued its assault.
That was probably thanks to the ridiculous combination of the Luring Skull and the Skull Ring.
The attacks were powerful, but I thought I could still hold out to some extent—until that moment.
Whoooosh!
"Oh, fuck...!"
The dead stopped attacking and formed countless light bullets, preparing a focused barrage.
"Rinne!!!"
"Got it!"
Calling out the name of Rinne, who could handle light bullets among us, I swapped my shield to Hikinon.
〔Me! It’s been so long since I got to back—whoa! What is that!?〕
"Block it, Hikinon!"
〔O-okay! You damn bastard of a master!〕
KWA-KA-KA-KA-BOOM!
Rinne’s light bullets and the dead’s light bullets collided, producing a cloud of acrid smoke, and the bullets that hadn’t been erased in time were blocked and sent back by activating Hikinon’s electricity.
Crack!
Chunks of ice formed and rushed toward the dead, and the dead blocked them by raising a branch before looking at me again.
〔Gulp... master, we can still win, right?〕
"...Of course."
If I couldn’t beat a dead thing like this, I couldn’t call myself a Lord of Cinder anywhere.
Of course, I couldn’t attack much right now since I was the tank.
-!!!!!
As for the dead’s shrieking attacks...
"Hup!"
〔Kyaaaah! It hurts!!!〕
...blocking them with Hikinon was more than enough.
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