The beast tamer exiled from the hero’s party and the cat eared girl from the strongest race meet
“Die.”
With a voice as cold as ice, a small fire bullet shot from Altera’s fingertips.
A rapid volley.
There were too many to count, and they were so fast they were nearly invisible.
And she could fire them continuously.
“Kh!?”
Yuki and I immediately leapt sideways in opposite directions—
A split-second later, gagagagaga! tiny fire bullets slammed into the ground where we had just been.
Dozens of small holes were punched into the earth, then explosions followed.
The ground shattered, flames bursting upward.
What power—this is no joke.
It’s like she’s firing explosive arrows in rapid succession.
If one of those hit us, we’d be done.
We can’t afford to take even a single hit.
“Kyahahahaha! Come on, come on—dance! Show me more! Hey!!! Show me a beautiful dance!”
“Damn it, what a nasty attack!”
“Rain, are you okay!?”
“Somehow!”
The explosive flame arrows rained down endlessly, but I wouldn’t allow them to hit.
Using the ability I gained from forming a contract with Tina—gravity manipulation—I generated a repulsive barrier in front of us.
Using it as a shield, I deflected the blasts.
“Yuki, get behind me!”
“Thank you!”
The flame arrows were dangerous due to their firing speed, but their power wasn’t overwhelming.
Of course, a direct hit would be fatal…
but by deflecting them and shifting their path, we could prevent that.
We had secured some breathing room.
But Altera’s relentless assault prevented us from counterattacking.
“You know, if you just hide in your shell like a turtle, it really kills the mood. So unfair, so unfair. If you do that… it makes me want to be mean too. Kyahahaha!”
While firing explosive flame arrows with her right hand…
She raised her left palm upward.
In response, fireballs began to form.
At first, they were the size of a fist.
Then they grew larger, and larger still—rapidly expanding.
Eventually, it became a massive fireball, nearly ten meters across, filling the entire view.
She held us in place with the explosive arrows while preparing this monster of an attack.
Doing both at once is just plain cheating.
“What the hell is she!?”
“Burn away ♪ Prominence Flare.”
A colossal fireball was unleashed.
It was like a meteor.
Impossible to block.
Even if we focused solely on dodging, escaping the blast radius would be questionable.
Just like before—we have to intercept it!
“Ignition—”
“Second Blade—”
Yuki and I prepared to unleash our respective finishing moves—
“That won’t do ♪”
But Altera continued firing her explosive arrows simultaneously, making it impossible for us to move.
And while we were held in place, the gigantic fireball surged toward us—
“—!!!?”
The ground quaked as a storm of shockwaves and flames exploded outward.
Yuki and I were blasted away like scraps of paper.
Up, down, left, right—my sense of direction vanished.
I didn’t know if I was facing forward or upward anymore.
My body burned, slammed, and battered by the raging heat and force.
The pain overwhelmed everything—
“Guh!?”
After rolling across the ground several times and crashing into a rock, I finally came to a stop.
I was conscious, but…
Honestly, fainting might have been better.
The pain racing through my entire body made me feel like I might cry.
“Kh… R-Rain…!”
I saw Yuki stand, barely able to support himself, bloodied and shaking.
Thank god—he was still alive.
I couldn’t fall behind either.
I could still—absolutely—fight!
“Haa… haa… haa…!”
“Uu… kh… haa… haa…!”
Clinging to our weapons like canes, Yuki and I somehow managed to support ourselves.
Without them, we’d collapse instantly.
Pathetic.
Truly pathetic.
But… it’s okay.
We can still fight.
We won’t give in.
And we absolutely won’t let her walk away.
Altera—
We’ll defeat her here!
“Wow, wow! Amazing, really amazing! I used Prominence Flare twice, and you’re STILL alive. That’s a first. So weird… hey hey, why won’t you die? Why won’t you fall?”
“You wouldn’t understand…”
“Huh?”
“Someone like you, who treats life like a toy—you’d never understand. You and us… we carry different things on our backs!”
If we fall here, the next targets will be everyone else.
Yunia and Ani.
The people who were captured.
Everyone is behind us.
There are people we must protect.
We carry Gray’s entrusted hopes and wishes.
So we cannot fall.
That is absolutely unacceptable.
Yuki and I are not fighting alone.
We carry everyone’s feelings—
and that becomes our strength.
“What’s that supposed to mean? Fighting for someone else? That’s just stupid. You’re humans, and you’ve got enough power to stay alive even against me. So why not just do whatever you want? Having power means you can do anything.”
“WRONG!!!”
“—!?”
My shout made Altera’s shoulders tremble.
“You don’t get to do whatever you want. If you have power, you have a greater responsibility.
And… this power isn’t ours alone. It comes from the wishes entrusted to us.”
I thought of Gray.
How much he must have regretted dying—how much he must have wanted to live.
But he entrusted everything to us.
He believed in us to carry on.
That wish, that hope—
it becomes an unshakeable strength.
“That is… the power of humanity!!!”
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