Hikinon wasn’t as sturdy as Havel’s Greatshield, but it still had the high safety of a proper greatshield.
On top of that, it was an ice shield that absorbed and reflected attacks imbued with spirit power, so it could effectively block the Hollow’s attacks.
Crack!
"Aaaagh! Master! It broke! It broke!"
"I know!"
The problem was that while Hikinon itself had no durability, the ice shield did, so if I kept blocking with it, it would eventually shatter.
Thanks to that, the Hollow kept firing off light bullets made of spirit power and souls through the opening created when the ice shield broke and I had to remake it.
"Rinne!"
"Got it!"
Boom-boom-boom-boom!
The one saving grace was that Rinne could also generate light bullets, so we could at least keep defending.
"Hup!"
If I just kept defending blindly, the aggro might shift to the others, so whenever my vision was blocked, I also swung my fists and feet at the Hollow.
Thud!
"Kuh!"
I heard the sound of my fist landing cleanly, but the Hollow had gauged my position and slashed me with a sword made of branches.
Slash!
A deep gash opened in my chest, and blood started dripping down.
"Master!!!"
"I’m fine!"
But I was immortal anyway, so a light wound like this healed easily.
Even now, the blood that had been flowing out turned to ash, gathered again, and flowed back into the wound, and before I knew it, the skin had already regenerated.
What I needed to do now wasn’t to shrink back in fear of getting hurt, but to throw my body against the Hollow and create an opening for the others to attack.
-!!!!
As the smoke from the colliding light bullets cleared, the Hollow immediately charged at me.
As if it had no reason at all, driven only by an obsession to devour souls, it moved on pure instinct while I activated Hikinon’s electricity again and glared at it.
Swoosh!
Branches shot up from the ground.
Had it learned how to fight like Ren? The Hollow was no longer just swinging branches around; it was now summoning them beneath my feet to pressure me.
"Hup!"
But I wasn’t going to fall for something as simple as branch summons, so I rolled aside, dodged, and took the Hollow’s sword head-on.
Krrrk!
The sound of ice scraping rang out as the Hollow pinned Hikinon down with its sword.
"Kyaaaaah!"
"Hang in there, Hikinon!"
Hikinon, whose nerves were apparently linked to the ice shield, seemed to be in a lot of pain, but there was nothing I could do about it.
This was the moment when the others needed to attack.
"Now!"
"Understood! [Sandalphon]!"
At my shout, the angels’ attacks poured in.
Tohka’s sword strikes and Rinne’s light bullets rained down in endless waves, while Yoshino’s ice and the commander’s flames swept over the Hollow from the side.
On top of that, Miku began playing to lift everyone’s spirits, and the Yamai sisters loosed arrows of wind.
Natsumi copied Yoshino’s [Zadkiel] and fired ice spears, the young lady used her clones for focused fire, and Maria and Mayuri unleashed beams.
And as if refusing to lose, Marina also released electricity and concentrated all of it on the Hollow.
-!!!!!!
Unable to dodge that barrage of attacks, the Hollow took them head-on and collapsed with a scream.
"It’s over—"
"No! It’s not over yet!"
Right, there was no way something like that would kill the Hollow.
The power of Dark Souls wasn’t going to end here.
Proof of that was the Hollow’s body already starting to twitch as it slowly raised its head and looked at me with those ominous eyes.
Its obsession with souls was still there, but an even deeper darkness now filled its gaze.
Its long hair had grown even longer, spreading out like a cape, and black-red flames were flickering through it. It was a complete Gael phase three.
In other words, the remaining spirit power in Ren had also been swallowed by the Dark Soul and could no longer resist it.
"Everyone, get ready!"
Swoosh!
The instant I shouted, branches shot up right beside me.
The speed was on a completely different level from the summons the Hollow had used before entering phase three.
Those earlier attacks had been visible, but if I hadn’t dodged this one by instinct, my head would have been pierced for sure.
"......"
"M-Master! You almost died just now..."
"Heh."
It had been a long time.
Since I’d felt my life was actually in danger.
Maybe that was why a meaningless smile settled on my lips.
Maybe I really was crazy.
"I’m going."
"What? Whoa!"
No more defending.
Now I was going on the offensive.
To grant peace to Ren, who had been completely swallowed by the Dark Soul, I would attack even harder.
If my opponent had gained power equal to the King of the Hollows, then I would kill the Hollow in front of me with the blade of a hunter who had slain Hollows dozens, hundreds of times.
The Greatsword of the Hollow Slayer.
Originally the weapon used by Lucatiel of Mira, once a member of some knightly order, and in the end the weapon she left behind after passing everything on to the one who bore the curse.
Just seeing that sword was enough to inspire terror in Hollows, a memory of fear carved into their very minds.
"Now then, foolish Hollow who has taken darkness into yourself."
From this day on, I’ll grant you my peace.
"I’m coming."
So rest now.
*******
Hieta, who had been drawing the Dark Soul-infested Ren’s attention and creating openings for the others to attack, suddenly started attacking Ren himself as if he had become a different person entirely.
Hieta attacked the one who had become a Hollow, wearing a smile so drenched in madness it was almost fair to call it that.
It was completely different from the Hieta Shido and the others knew, a smile that looked as though he was even taking pleasure in the battle.
The sight froze everyone who saw it.
"Hii...?"
Mayuri noticed that something was wrong with Hieta and called his name, but there was no way that voice would reach him while he was focused on the fight.
"That’s... kind of like me."
"What do you mean, Kotori?"
"...When I use Camael, I get tainted by madness."
Kotori thought that the more she used Camael, the more she became tainted by madness and turned into a battle maniac, and that she and Hieta were similar in that way.
"It makes me want to fight."
"So you’re saying Hii is in that state right now?"
"...Maybe."
As Kotori said, Hieta was currently fighting while feeling intense exhilaration in a battle where his life was on the line.
In truth, he had been dropped into the world of Dark Souls 3, a world heading toward destruction, without knowing anything at all.
There, he had kept fighting again and again with the fleeting hope that he would one day go home.
And the result?
Obviously, he had failed to return home and instead fallen into another world called Date A Live.
So then, could someone who had been nothing more than an ordinary person really be mentally fine after that?
Without even realizing it, a part of Hieta’s mind had begun to break.
Because he had been forced to confront in reality the discomfort and exhilaration he always felt while fighting in Dark Souls 3.
Hieta had found himself feeling exhilarated in battles where his life was in danger.
It was a kind of barrier formed so that his mind wouldn’t break any further.
It was the reason he had managed to endure that world filled with nothing but discomfort.
Even if his immortal body meant his life was never truly in danger, he still couldn’t help feeling threatened by attacks flying at speeds he couldn’t react to.
In other words, the moment he found himself in a battle he thought he would never experience again, the barrier that had been lying dormant while he lived a more peaceful daily life finally started working properly and gave Hieta a powerful thrill.
To everyone else, it was more than enough to look like he had been completely consumed by madness.
"No way..."
Shido couldn’t believe what he was hearing from Kotori.
Not even with Kurumi, and not after that either, had Hieta ever once smiled in front of them during battle.
So who would easily believe that he had only now been tainted by madness?
"...It’s probably not like that, Kotori."
"Sachi!"
And Kotori’s words were denied by Sachi, who had entered the barrier at some point.
"You’re okay coming here?"
Sachi, the Fire Keeper, wasn’t very strong in combat.
She could use magic thanks to her ability to move souls, so she was stronger than ordinary people, but compared to spirits or the Hollow Hieta was fighting, her power was insignificant.
That was why she had only informed Fraxinus about what had happened to Maria and Marina and watched the barrier on a screen from there.
"Yes. I won’t die anyway."
But she was immortal too.
Death was nothing more than a trifle to her, so she had come inside the barrier to watch Hieta fight in person.
"By the way, what do you mean Hii isn’t like me?"
"Literally what I said. The Chosen One is different from you, Kotori. It wasn’t the power of souls that made him that way."
Fire Keepers generally stayed only at the shrine, so they had no way of knowing what kind of battles immortals fought.
Still, by hearing Hieta lay everything out over time, she had been able to figure it out.
That his mind was broken somewhere.
"The Chosen One was summoned for no reason and linked the flame. Just to go home."
As Hieta spoke about why he had linked the flame, his expression was deeply sad, yet also full of longing.
Some lingering attachment to his original world still remained in his subconscious.
"But for an ordinary person, fighting the beings of our world was harsh and difficult. They said it was mentally exhausting."
He was better now, at least, but where would that pain go?
It remained inside Hieta, slowly fading in color only because of the happy experiences he had gained.
"That’s what created it. That battle-loving personality."
The expressions on the others’ faces darkened at Sachi’s words.
They had learned something neither Hieta himself nor they had known.
Having learned of Hieta’s darkness, they said nothing and simply watched him fight.
-!!!!!
"Like hell."
His voice was utterly serious, but the exhilaration showing on his face could not be hidden.
Comments (0)
Please log in to leave a comment. Login or Register