The beast tamer exiled from the hero’s party and the cat eared girl from the strongest race meet
Gripping Kusanagi, I charged forward in one burst along the road of flames.
“This—! You’re so persistent! Just die! Die! Die, die, die, dieeeeeee!!!”
To intercept my advance, Altera sprouted wings of fire from her back.
She spread both arms wide to either side, then thrust them forward.
As if tracing that motion, the flaming wings beat powerfully, and from them poured a hailstorm of fiery feathers.
Each one probably carried the power of a fireball.
But there were more than a hundred of them.
No—there might have been close to a thousand.
I could feel Altera’s intense killing intent, as if she meant to leave not even fragments of bone behind.
But I had no intention of going down that easily.
I’d do everything I could.
Endure, persist, and cling on—until I could sink my fangs into her throat!
“Aegis!”
I folded Kusanagi once and stored it away.
Instead, I thrust both hands forward and formed magical shields to my left and right.
“Ghk—!”
The storm of flaming feathers crashed into me.
An overwhelming heat and pressure.
It felt like resisting a tsunami, and my speed dropped sharply.
Even so, I didn’t stop moving.
The path everyone had opened for me—I would never waste it.
“Prominence Flare!”
Altera’s finishing move, one that manifests a sun upon the earth.
Blocking that with Aegis would be difficult.
There was only one way to deal with it.
I immediately drew Kusanagi again and deployed its blade.
I loaded the final cartridge—the last one Iris had secretly charged for me earlier.
I pulled the trigger and took my stance.
“I’ll… bring down your flames!”
Kusanagi’s First Form.
With a strike empowered by everyone’s strength, I shot through the oncoming sun.
“Guh—!”
Normally, I would have countered it with the Third Form, but instead I used the weaker First Form.
The strain and backlash were severe, and shock surged through my entire body.
Even so, I didn’t stop.
Forward.
Forward.
Forward.
Everyone had entrusted their feelings to me.
And they weren’t just from the comrades here, or from Al and the others.
Yunia and Ani.
Ruie.
And… Gray.
Because everyone was there, I could fight.
And because of everyone, I had to fight.
“This ends it!!!”
I squeezed out every last bit of remaining mana and split Kusanagi’s blade into twelve.
Then I merged them with Kamui, forming the Third Form.
Seeing that… Altera curled her lips into a grin.
“I was waiting for that.”
Without attempting to flee or evade, Altera charged straight at me.
Her recklessness gave me pause for an instant.
Is it a trap?
But after coming this far, there was no stopping now.
I accelerated further and swung down the Third Form of Kusanagi—Kamui.
“That power… I’ll eat it!”
“What!?”
Altera reached out and grabbed Kamui herself.
Even in her flame-transformed state, Kamui should have been able to damage her.
So what was she—
That question was answered immediately.
“This is… my mana!?”
Altera caught Kamui.
That much was expected.
But—
The mana stored within Kamui began draining away rapidly from the point where her hand touched it.
No… it was being devoured.
“Fufu, ahahaha, kyahahahaha! Thanks for the delicious mana, big brother. For a human, you’ve got surprisingly good mana.”
“Damn you…!”
“My main ability is controlling flames. I can even turn my own body into fire. But that’s not my trump card. Heehee—too bad! My real trump card is eating my opponent’s mana. That’s how I grow even stronger.”
“……”
“You always save your trump card for the very end… fufu. Looks like my win, right?”
“……”
“I’ll burn you now ♪”
Altera released Kamui, now completely drained of mana.
Then flames bloomed in her hand.
A massive inferno surged upward with more ferocity than ever before.
She pulled her flame-wreathed arm back, like drawing a bow—
And thrust it forward in one explosive motion!
“Gah—!?”
Altera’s spear-like strike pierced straight through my side.
Agony upon agony.
It felt like my nerves were being burned away.
“This isn’t over yet! Ahahah! Burn from the inside out!”
“Guuuuuaaaaah!!!?”
Even with her hand still embedded in my side, flames erupted from Altera’s arm.
My body burned.
My blood evaporated.
My bones turned to charcoal.
The pain was so intense I could barely form words, my consciousness on the verge of fading.
Even so, I desperately tried to endure—
“Bye-bye, big brother. That was kind of fun, you know?”
Altera pulled out her blood-soaked hand…
Then formed flames in her other hand and slammed them into me at point-blank range.
“GAAAH!!!”
Engulfed by the raging inferno, my consciousness went dark.
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