Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyusoukyoku (WN)

16-48. Trial of Zaikuon (3) [Revised]

※2018/5/27 The latter half has been hugely altered.

Satou here. I think everyone, regardless of who, has cravings, big or small, for limelight and recognition. That in itself is important as motivation to keep moving forward, but when such a craving is swelled up so big one could only be satisfied by comparing oneself to others, I think that's where it gets dangerous.

◇

"How'd you show up out of nowhere, space magic?"

"And why's miko-chan floating over there?"

Attendants of Hero Hayato, Rusus and Fifi threw me those questions.

Instead of looking puzzled to see me and the rock miko suddenly appearing in the arena, the two seemed very calm as expected of these two veterans.

『Emerge triumphant in the fight, accomplish the trial』

god Zaikuon spoke so through the rock miko who was still floating in the air.

At the same time, a black line was drawn on the edge of the arena.

"So then, are you going to fight us?"

"That's nice~. I was just feeling a little lacking with the fight earlier. We're ready anytime if it's a fight you want, Satou?"

Rusus and Fifi smiled ferociously.

They crack their fists, looking really pleased.

I don't mind fighting these two, but I still can't grasp what god Zaikuon is thinking, having me fight the two apostles that were powerful though imperfect earlier.

The rock miko held her hands up toward the heavens, then a yellow lights descended from beyond the sky, and then three yellow orbs appeared from inside that light, floated away and stopped right in front of me.

『Accept the powers of god, stand among the lowest seat of great apostles』

Nah, I'm good.

Perhaps my inner thought showed, as the yellow light orbs were repelled away in front of my chest.

『Why do you reject』

I mean, why wouldn't you?

Who needs [God's Fragment] that's almost certainly a back door anyway.

The rock miko turns her sight at Rusus and Fifi.

The light orbs floated toward Rusus and Fifi instead, but then a blue membrane-like material manifested itself around the two and repulsed the yellow light orbs away.

That was probably the divine protection of God Parion or something.

"O God! Our great God! Your servant, Holy Warrior Senuma is right over here!"

After the personnels in charge of the arena carried away the [Magic Warriors of Karion], the Zaikuon temple knight rushed into the arena.

The officials tried to go after him, but they were halted by a transparent wall that appeared around the arena.

Looks like the arena has been isolated by god Zaikuon.

The light orbs floated toward the temple knight and then began to orbit around him as if assessing him.

"By the Grace of great god Zaikuon, I shall slay the hounds of Parion and make known the great name of Zaikuon to all!"

The temple knight appealed at the light orbs orbiting around him.

He looks really desperate somehow.

"Satou, isn't that miko-san in, like, a real bad situation?"

At Rusus's warning, I turned my gaze toward the rock miko to find her unconscious with intense yellow light gushing out of her eyes and mouth.

Looks like she's hitting her limit with the Divine Possession.

The light wrapping her dissolved away as she fell onto the ground.

According to AR readings, she's been severely weakened, to the point that she'd die were she left alone.

"I, holy warrior Senuma, beseech your Grace, once again here!"

The cold-hearted temple knight ignored the predicament his colleague in, as he kept appealing to the light orbs.

Seemingly stricken by his desperation, one light orb went inside the temple knight's chest.

AR reading tells me that the Temple Knight has acquired the Unique Skill, [Invincible Warrior (Champion)].

His level has increased from 30 to 45, probably cause he got a God's Fragment.

"Ooooooh! My body is overflowing with powers! God powers of such majesty! No one can stand in my way now!"

Looks like he's intoxicated by feelings of omnipotence from the God's Fragment.

"Here I come, you Parion hounds! Prepare yourselves!"

Yellow light is flickering around the temple knight's body.

According to AR readings, his State is now [Champion] and [Super-Strength].

The former was Unique Skill, the latter is probably from god Zaikuon's sacred treasure.

Now then, that's fine and all, but the situation has gotten complicated somehow.

At first, it seems the trial would be done by defeating Rusus and Fifi, but now I'm not sure if I should cooperate with the knight to defeat the two or beat all three myself.

Working together with the two to defeat the temple knight should be out of question.

Even though he's received a God's Fragment, the current temple knight is probably still not a match to Rusus and Fifi.

◇

"By hound, you mean me? I'm a wolf not a dog y'know?"

The wolfear-kin Fifi rubbed her nose with her finger while smiling ferociously.

"Then, I'll be taking Satou on."

"Ah, no fair, Rusus! We're gonna decide who's going to fight Satou after I beat down this guy!"

I smiled wryly to see Rusus and Fifi disputing.

These two really love to fight as always.

"You bastard! You are before Zaikuon Apostle, the holy warrior Senuma-sama, what insolence!"

While the two were having a carefree chat, the enraged temple knight rushed at a terrifying speed toward Fifi.

The temple knight's sword that was faster than wind flashed and grazed Fifi's cheek.

He's clearly faster than when he's buffed only with [Super-Strength] from the sacred treasure, but he's incomparably slower than the apostle with [Champion] state that I fought before.

It appears that only the real apostle of god could show the true powers of [God's Fragment].

"Oh pretty good. You're as fast as Rusus at least."

"Kuha, kuhahahaha, god's power is grandiose! Having been granted god Zaikuon's grace--"

The temple knight who stopped while getting drunk in his powers got kicked hard by Fifi who closed in at the same speed.

The temple knight rolled on the ground got flicked away by the transparent wall above the black line.

"You're pretty good. Parion Apostles."

The temple knight stood up while bleeding from his mouth.

"Huh, when did we become apostles again?"

"Who knows?"

Fifi and Rusus shrugged their shoulders.

"No point standing around here, let's go at it ourselves yeah?"

"I'd like to give her treatment first if I could, do you mind waiting for a bit?"

"Nope, go on then."

Since I got Rusus's approval, I stopped next to the rock miko and let her drank elixir.

I made use of this timing to put away the holy sword and magic wand I had in hands.

The damage on both rock miko's body and soul should be restored by elixir, but it seems she still won't come to due to exhaustion.

There's no need for me to stay beside the rock miko anymore, but it'd be bad if Rusus noticed that I was done with the treatment, thus I pretend to be treating the miko by circulating mana into her.

"Oh what's this? Fifi's getting pushed back?"

I lift my head when I heard Rusus, and true enough, Fifi who was on the offensive earlier is now busy defending.

Finding it strange, I looked at the temple knight and saw that his level had been raised to 55, and he now has another Unique Skill [Vanquish Archer].

One of the light orbs orbiting the temple knight has vanished.

It appears that the temple knight got a power up while I wasn't looking.

"Fuhn, forget Hayato, you're not even at Meiko's and Seigi's level."

"Damn you Parion hound!"

Provoked by Fifi, yellow light wraps the temple knight once again.

"This isn't the extent of powers granted to me by great god Zaikuon!"

Looks like he hasn't used the Vanquish Archer's powers yet.

"--Take this!"

When the temple knight swung his sword down, an arrow of light manifested from his sword and flew toward Fifi.

Moreover, it split into 10 halfway through and rained down on her.

Cloud of dust whirled up when the arrows hit the arena, leaving it full of holes.

I think the situation is straying a bit too far from the match.

I'm not too worried about Fifi as she should be able to manage, but perhaps I should be ready to jump in anytime.

◇

Fifi jumped out of the cloud of dust that had filled the center of the arena.

A moment later the cloud of dust was split in two.

Right afterward, Fifi who was still in mid air turned around and swung her sword.

Fifi's sword produced intense sparks, sounds of air splitting echoed in the surroundings.

Apparently, the temple knight attacked her with an invisible slash.

Then second slash, third slash, Fifi parried them away while evading.

She couldn't seem to guard against the shockwaves, she's cut here and there, her blood stains her clothes red.

"Need a help? Fifi."

"Shut up! Fifi-sama ain't gonna lose against this level of an opponent!"

Even though there's not much gap in their levels now, and she's up against someone with two battle-oriented Unique Skills, Fifi still believes in her victory.

"Be proud of yourself, holy warrior. I'll show you a technique that I've never used in a match except against Hayato before."

Fifi provoked the temple knight while calmly sorting out her breathing.

Like saying, she's confident that her technique will bring her victory.

"Come at me, Parion hound. Witness as your little tricks stood powerless before holy warrior Senuma-sama who have received the Grace of god Zaikuon!"

The temple knight arrogantly jerked up his chin.

"O original blood that flows within me. O blood vessel of the divine wolf. Together with rekindled ancient memories--"

Light dwells in Fifi's blue eyes.

Feels like this chant gonna revive my lost history of chuunibyou.

I think it's a type of autosuggestion used to access the skill.

"--"

Steam-like white aura rises up from Fifi's body, her canine teeth are transforming into fangs.

Along with that, the white aura wraps around Fifi like fur, making her look like a werewolf.

According to AR readings, this aura has a support effect of adding five times her stats into her status.

In exchange, her stamina and MP gauges are decreasing at an awful rate.

This is probably a big reason why she didn't use the technique while fighting against demon lords.

"UORYAAAAAAA!"

"NUOOOOOOOOO!"

Fifi is closing in while swiftly evading the incoming light arrows shot by the temple knight.

The invisible slashes that came assaulting during her rush were all punched down by the silver aura-clad Fifi.

The moment they were within each other sword range, a fierce sword clash began.

The slashes that Fifi parried crushed the arena, while the shockwaves from Fifi's attacks the temple knight blocked blew cloud of dust.

"Uwaa, that looks so fun~"

Rusus looks like she's truly envious as she watches Fifi and the temple knight who are scattering colorful sparks around and letting out heavy sounds.

It's scary since she said that while looking here, but there's something that's piqued my interest more.

I saw yellow light ripples running through the temple knight's body during this battle.

I'm not sure whether Unique Skills from god Zaikuon are the same as Unique Skills that reincarnated people like Arisa have, but I don't think you could get away willy nilly using powers beyond what human could wield.

"Eat this!"

Fifi unleashed a powerful move on the temple knight while shouting out loud.

I missed it a bit, but apparently she hit him with her finisher right when the temple knight lost his footings by her rapid assault.

The temple knight's barrier was broken down by the direct hit, blowing off his helmet.

◇

"Ooh, did she beat him?"

Rusus shouted out loud when she saw the temple knight laying on the arena's ground.

Fifi who's just unleashed her finisher is also wounded with bone fractures and blood all over her body, yet she still keeps her stance without letting her guard down.

Apparently, she's exhausted up all her stamina, she's no longer in Beast Form.

"--Oh boy, you're pretty tough."

The temple knight rose up while supporting his body with his sword.

It seems the bones in his right arm and left leg are fractured.

Fifi smiled fiercely and beckoned at the temple knight with her hand as if provoking him.

"Gununu--"

The temple knight had his gaze swim all over the place restlessly before it caught on the last light orb orbiting around him.

"O god Zaikuon... Grant your grace upon this holy warrior Senuma who befits your apostle!!"

The temple knight's hand clad in yellow light caught the light orb.

As the orb was struggling to get away in his hand, he put it into his mouth and gulped it down.

"--NUOOOOOOOOOOOO!!"

The temple knight roared towards the heavens.

At the same time, yellow light wrapped around him, and his barrier that was destroyed by Fifi's beast form reformed back.

Furthermore, his broken limbs and wounds were healed too.

Matching that, his level rose from 55 to 65.

With another Unique Skill added; [Great Caster].

"Glory to god Zaikuon--"

The temple knight looked up to the sky and praised the god.

◇

"Isn't that, like, super bad?"

"It is--"

Not Fifi, but the temple knight that is.

A thin layer of yellow crystal has formed on the his forehead.

Similar to Hero Meiko who overused her Unique Skills during the Divine Punishment.

It's still a bit away before he reached Meiko's state, but that limit is coming closer for sure.

"--Tch. You cheat bastard."

Fifi cursed out.

The temple knight's face was filled with joy when he saw Fifi being like that.

He hasn't gone straight onto the offensive because he's enjoying the situation.

"Would you like me to swap with her?"

I asked Rusus while pretending to stop the rock miko's treatment.

"Huhn? Ain't you on Zaikuon Temple's side?"

"Oh no, I'm not really on their side."

With wounds all over her body like that, it could get dangerous for Fifi after all.

"However, we don't need your help."

Rusus walked toward the arena while waving her hand behind.

"After all, I'm Fifi's partner."

Rusus buffed herself up with body reinforcement skill and rushed out to help Fifi.

The level gap should be bigger than their fight against demon lords, yet the two were able to somehow hold their ground by cooperating together.

However, that probably will only last until they've exhausted up their stamina in a few minutes.

I'd like to respect their warrior spirits, but I probably should get ready to cut in anytime.

"--Gwaaa"

"Fifi!"

Fifi who couldn't block the temple knight's sword got blown away.

Rusus begins to cross swords with the knight, but she's clearly at disadvantage with her partner not present.

Nevertheless she's still able to stand her ground against the temple knight's fierce attack, but she's fighting an opponent that has leveled up beyond her level through God's Fragments, and is buffed with Unique Skills, holy magic and the divine treasure's [Super-Strength].

She's nearing his limit--.

"--Tch. Even double physical buff can't hold this thing off huh..."

Rusus took the downswing attack in order to protect Fifi, she got beat down onto the ground and coughed out blood.

"--Die."

"I won't let you."

This time, the wounded Fifi blocked the blow that was directed toward Rusus.

However, she couldn't manage to block the blow as her sword broke down, the temple knight's sword that hadn't lost its momentum broke Fifi's shoulder.

"This is theend--"

The temple knight holds up his sword clad in yellow light high.

"--What do you think youre doing?"

The temple knight whose articulation had gone weird looked down on me.

"Player swap, I guess?"

I thrust myself between the knight and the two with a handmade magic sword in hand.

"Bastard, who areyou?"

The temple knight inquired my identity.

Now that you mention it, I never introduced myself.

"Demon Lord Slayer, Pendragon of Shiga Kingdom."

"--Demon Lordslayer huh."

The temple knight smiled profoundly after hearing my name.

"I couldn't hope for a betteropponent."