Chapter 93: Holy Night Showdown (Time of Blessing)

Souta stood facing Aymok, holding the wooden sword he’d picked up from the stage in a standard guard. In contrast, Aymok spread his arms, both palms up, dark flames coiling around them.

It was Souta who made the first move.

He sank his hips low in preparation to step forward—and in the next instant, vanished.

“!?”

A crash rang out. When I turned my eyes, Souta was slamming shoulder-first into Aymok. Even Souta himself hadn’t expected that movement. No one had.

The two of them were sent flying by the momentum.

Aymok recovered quickly, deploying several shadow tendrils in a net-like formation to catch himself, then swung a fist at Souta in counterattack.

But Souta wasn’t about to let him hit so easily—he kicked off one of Aymok’s shadow tendrils mid-air, twisting himself to evade.

“Whoa—!”

Landing awkwardly, Souta stumbled back several meters, clearly unable to handle the strength now surging through his body.

『Be careful, Souta! The physical enhancement spell—Increase Physical (Minor)—only strengthens your body to a minimal degree. If you crash full-force into a wall right now, you could die!』

I sent a warning via telepathy.

Most of my mana had been drained during the previous battle, but transmitting thoughts didn’t take much.

『Tell me that sooner!』

『…Sorry. I forgot.』

I apologized honestly. His protest was entirely justified.

“You’re using Increase Physical (Minor), are you? But it seems you can’t handle that power. Did you think such a makeshift trick would work against me?”

Aymok had already figured out what had changed about Souta’s movements—and that it wasn’t part of some long-prepared plan.

“Even if it’s a makeshift trick, a blade’s still a blade. Whether it works or not, why don’t you come find out?”

“…Hmph. Arrogant. I’ll crush that confidence first.”

At Aymok’s snap of the fingers, several black shadow tendrils lashed out from his own shadow, attacking Souta.

Souta dodged with wide, desperate motions or blocked them with his wooden sword, doing everything he could to handle the shadows. Their numbers increased over time, assaulting him from all directions.

And all I could do was watch. I couldn’t help him.

『Souta…』

I called his name in silent prayer.

In the middle of parrying the relentless shadows, Souta glanced toward me. When our eyes met, he smiled.

『I’m fine! Just leave it to me!』

…Seriously, now’s not the time to worry about me.

I sighed, half in exasperation. Every one of those shadows could cause real damage if it hit. And if he got hit once and stopped moving, the follow-up blows would overwhelm him. He was one mistake away from death.

And yet… that idiot was enjoying himself.

The corners of Souta’s lips were curled in a fearless grin. He’d always been like this. The more cornered he was, the more he enjoyed the fight. A real battle junkie. He’d probably looked the same back when those delinquents surrounded him.

With every slash, every dodge, his movements grew sharper. He was adjusting to the physical enhancement far too quickly—it hadn’t even been a few minutes since he cast the spell.

I’d expected as much, but now that I saw it happening, I found it unsettling. Souta was adapting to magic-enhanced combat faster than I’d imagined.

『…Hey, Alicia. Maybe it should’ve been Souta who got summoned as the Hero instead of me?』

『Th-that’s… being a Hero isn’t just about combat skills!』

Meaning, in combat, Souta had already surpassed me.

Even as we spoke, Souta’s movements sharpened further. He now handled over a dozen shadow tendrils with ease.

『This isn’t getting me anywhere… Any ideas?』

Souta asked us calmly.

『Souta-san! Use Ikuto-san’s World Tree Staff! It’s a holy-element staff—it should be able to cut through those shadows!』

Right—the World Tree Staff. He’d dropped it when Aymok smacked him earlier.

Scanning the area, I quickly spotted it.

『Souta! It’s by the edge of the stage on your left!』

At my words, Souta immediately dashed toward the World Tree Staff. Aymok, facing him, seemed to catch on to his intention at once.

“The World Tree Staff? I won’t let you…!”

Aymok stretched out his shadows to swat the staff away. They reached it faster than Souta—but without even touching the staff, they were repelled.

“What…!?”

『The World Tree Staff is imbued with holy attributes. The staff itself naturally repels darkness!』

“Hell yeah, got it!”

Using that opening, Souta snatched up the World Tree Staff. Without missing a beat, he spun his body and slashed at the approaching shadows. They were severed with shocking ease, vanishing on contact.

Twisting the staff like a baton, Souta then pointed it straight at Aymok, holding it out like a batter calling a home run shot.

“Nice warm-up. Thanks for that.”

…Okay, he’s getting way too into it now.

…Not that I’m complaining.

“Don’t get cocky, you powerless human without even a blessing!”

Aymok’s expression tightened in irritation at Souta’s taunt, his voice dripping with scorn. With a sweep of his arm, he retracted his shadows and began chanting a spell.

“From beyond to here, open the sealed gate and grant me your blessing—Gate!”

Above Aymok’s head, something cracked. A shockwave rippled outward. I instinctively narrowed my eyes.

『…What was that just now?』

At a glance, nothing about Aymok seemed to have changed.

『That spell… no, it can’t be…』

Alicia, watching the magic, sounded unusually uncertain.

『You know what it is, Alicia?』

『It’s an original spell. I don’t know the details, but… it’s likely a spatial manipulation technique…』

『Guess we’ll just have to fight and find out… Here I go!』

With that, Souta lunged at Aymok.

Aymok countered with rapid, sharp jabs, too fast to follow with the naked eye. Even a jab from his dark flame-cloaked fists would be lethal.

Souta parried with the World Tree Staff, searching for an opening. If that had been an ordinary wooden sword, it would’ve burned to ash by now.

Aymok’s martial prowess was overwhelming.

But Souta’s movements outmatched even that.

“Is that all you’ve got after all that big talk!?”

With each exchange, Souta’s motions grew sharper. Gradually, he began pushing Aymok back.

“Silence—Shadow Bind!”

As Aymok chanted, the shadow beneath Souta’s feet stretched up like creeping vines and coiled around his left ankle. His foot pinned, Souta staggered forward, losing his balance.

“Got you!”

Seizing that moment, Aymok launched a rising uppercut to catch him.

『Souta!』

But Souta reacted instantly—using his free right leg to kick off the ground, he spun his body backward, pivoting on the trapped ankle, evading Aymok’s strike mid-air. Before his upper body collapsed forward, he planted a hand on the ground and, with the World Tree Staff, swept away the shadows binding him.

“So that’s the kind of dirty tricks you’re pulling now?”

With just the rebound of his hand, Souta flipped upright from a prone position and, using that momentum, slashed at Aymok.

Aymok managed to block the blow with his arm—but Souta followed up without pause.

At last, a horizontal slash from Souta’s staff struck Aymok’s torso.

Aymok stumbled back several steps.

“You… you worthless human…! How dare you wound me…!”

His glare toward Souta brimmed with hatred.

“…It’s over. Admit you’ve lost.”

“Admit defeat…?”

“Yeah. That’s what I said.”

“Kuh… kuhaha… hahahaha!!!”

Instead of conceding, Aymok burst into loud laughter. It seemed almost like madness, as if he couldn’t accept reality—but something felt wrong. I had a bad feeling.

“What a delusion! Don’t flatter yourself. Did you really think that was the full extent of my power!?”

“…Guess I’ll have to beat the truth into you, then.”

At that moment, a gust of wind swept down from above.

“…Time’s up.”

Aymok spread his arms as he spoke—and then, it happened.

『No… that’s…』

A black sphere hovered in the sky above. Floating in the sunset-colored sky, it filled me with dread.

The wind whipped violently from its center, distorting the surrounding space.

Screams rang out.

Looking around, I saw the delinquents—freed from their brainwashing—scrambling to flee in terror.

And amidst the growing chaos, I was seized by an odd sense of familiarity.

Souta, watching carefully, tightened his grip on the World Tree Staff and charged at Aymok once more.

『No, Souta! He’s…!』

Aymok snapped his fingers.

From his shadow, nearly a hundred tendrils—several times more than before—exploded outward like a tsunami, engulfing Souta.

Desperately, Souta swung the World Tree Staff to repel them, but the shadows struck it aside.

“Wha—!?”

The torrent of shadows swallowed Souta whole.

“Gwaaah!?”

『Souta!』

Blown away by the overwhelming impact, Souta hit the ground hard, bouncing once before collapsing.

“Ku… ku ku ku…”

『Aymok… what are you…!?』

“I awoke in this world about half a year ago… and I realized. The spatial distortion created during that transfer hadn’t fully vanished.”

Aymok had been caught in our transfer magic.

And the distortion left behind hadn’t disappeared…?

“I analyzed that spatial distortion and built a spell from it. Creating a gate from nothing would be impossible without a blessing—but expanding an existing distortion… that much, even I could manage.”

So that spell earlier—it had opened a gate to another world. And the hole now hanging above us in the sky led to Alicia’s world.

“The gate to the blessed world I came from now stands open. This world shall be bathed in its blessing!”

Aymok’s aura surged with power. As a priest of darkness, he bore the blessing of Daklihpos—the dark spirit god. Now that a connection to the other world had been forged, he could regain that blessing and unleash his true power.

“With Daklihpos’s blessing restored, your childish attacks can no longer touch me! Tremble in fear and sing my praises! For I am the blessed child of the god!”

Aymok’s voice rang out in a triumphant, exultant declaration.