◆Dark Knight; Kuroki

  Cr*ap, I reflexively went and saved her.

  This woman was the very same woman who’d almost killed me before. She might come again to try to take my life later.

  And yet, here I am, saving this ungrateful woman.

  「Are you okay, Chiyuki-san!!?」


  A short-haired girl ran towards us.

  「Yeah, I’m okay Nao-san… He save my life.」


  The woman called Chiyuki spoke to the short-haired girl called Nao while looking at me.

  Her long slit eyes were focused on me. Honestly, her eyes were beautiful, but also scary. It felt like she was glaring at me.

  The girl called Nao then looked at me.

  She was my main objective for this mission.

  I stretched out my arm towards her.

  「What’z matter?」


  「Will you return my comrade to me?」


  According to the information I’d received, Nut had been captured by her.

  「Oya, so Onii-chan is looking for Ruby. Ruby, your ride is here.」


  After she spoke, Nut dashed out from her pocket.

  It seems that she’d already realized Nut’s identity.

  「DIEHART-SAMA~!」


  Nut jumped up at me.

  「IT SPOKEEEEEE!!?」


  Nice scream, Chiyuki.

  Contrary to Nao’s perception, it seems that she hadn’t realized anything.

  「I NEVER EXPECTED THAT YOU’D COME PERSONALLY TO SAVE MEE!!!」


  Nut was crying while clinging on my face.

  「That’s only natural, right. Now please get down for the time being, Nut. I still have to fight the Evil God.」


  I placed Nut back on the floor. Nut would be alright as long as he stayed inside the range of the defensive magic that was protecting the girls.

  「Roger that.」


  With the confirmation, Nut left my side. I looked towards Labrys.

  Labrys was already back up on his feet by now as he looked towards me. He didn’t come close to me. Perhaps he was being vigilant.

  「Let me assist.」


  Though Chiyuki was offering her help, I put my arm to stop her.

  「It’s okay. You should back down to get some rest. Leave him to me.」


  I approached Labrys.

  「Why are you in this place, Dark Knight!? Why are you saving the hero!?」


  The Evil God Labrys shouted at me.

  I wasn’t here to save Reiji. That was just the outcome of me coming to this place. In the first place, why the h*ll do I have to save Reiji?

  「This fire is a hindrance huh…」


  I unleashed my black flames to devour the red blaze that was filling the room.

  「IMPOSSIBLE!! ERASING MY MOROK FIRE SO EASILY!!!」


  Labrys was visibly surprised by that.

  「But of course, God Heibos asked me to defeat you after all…」


  I drew my sword and prepared myself to attack.

  「WAIT A MINUTE!!!」


  I turned around to face the one who’d shouted.

  Reiji came forward.

  「What do you want….」


  「WE’LL WIN EVEN WITHOUT YOUR HELP!!! GET THE HELL OUT OF MY WAY!!!」


  He readied his sword as well as he spoke. One of them was broken, though.

  「It’s not like I come to save you either… 」


  Do as you like, loser. In the first place, it’d be okay even if I didn’t come here to save you. I’m not interested in gaining your gratitude, either.

  I ignored Reiji and pointed my sword towards Labrys.

  「Why are the Hero of Light and the Dark Knight working together!!!? What’s the meaning of this!!?」


  Labrys readied his tomahawk.

  Both Reiji and I stood at the ready against Labrys.

  Thus began the bottle royale between the Dark Knight vs. the Hero of Light vs. the Evil God.

  ===

  ◆Black Haired Sage; Chiyuki

  「Hey Chiyuki-san, can you tell me what’s going on right now?」


  Rino asked me while her eyes were settled on the ongoing fight.

  「Honestly, even I don’t know what’s happening here…」


  I also fixated my eyes on Reiji and the Dark Knight fighting against Labrys.

  I’ve got no intentions of backing them up. The reason for that being that I could see that Reiji and the Dark Knight’s side were starting to gain the upper hand in the battle.

  Labrys was slowly being cornered by those two.

  Thus, I knew that there was no need for me to step in and assist them. Plus, it’s not like we have any leeway to be able to help them either.

  My mana still needs to be restored so I need to take a break as it stands.

  Sahoko’s burden this time around was especially big. She’s had to keep chanting healing and defensive magic continuously since a while ago.

  I wanted to tell her to take a rest.

  「I have no idea what happened but… we’ve been saved by a hair’s breadth.」


  「Yeah… you’re right.」


  We were able to turn the tables against Labrys after he, the Dark Knight, arrived.

  Though Labrys kept using his fire and lightning on him, he didn’t seem to be affected at all by the attacks.

  He was also able to easily parry Labry’s multi-weapon onslaught with a single sword in his hand. His attacks were also extremely fierce, deadly, and unblockable.

  His power was clearly far above Labrys’.

  Additionally, Reiji was also there.

  He was attacking Labrys alongside the Dark Knight.

  Watching them, it was like watching a sword dance between Reiji’s Sword of Light and the Dark Knight’s Black Flame.

  It was a rondo of light and darkness.

  ===

  ◆Dark Knight; Kuroki

  「SUNDERING FLASH!!!」


  Reiji’s sword was going after both Labrys and I.

  I bent my body backwards to dodge Reiji’s sword.

  Reiji’s attacks weren’t taking me into consideration at all.

  Well, from Reiji’s perspective, I’m not his ally so I’m basically being treated as an enemy just like Labrys. It’s also why he can calmly use AOE magic despite me standing right in front of him.

  His sole worry was the women behind him.

  Honestly, this was a highly difficult combat.

  I bent my body again to dodge Reiji’s attack coming from behind.

  The slash went past me and landed on Labrys’ body.

  His reaction towards Reiji’s attack was delayed since he was fighting against me just a moment ago.

  Labrys kneeled down on one knee from the pressure of attack.

  「WHY! WHY ARE THE HERO OF LIGHT AND THE DARK KNIGHT WORKING TOGETHER!!!」


  Labrys screamed at the top of his lungs.

  But, of course, it wasn’t anything close to the definition of working together.

  It was simply Labrys’ misunderstanding.

  At a glance, it might look like we’re working together, but, all I was doing was dodging Reiji’s attacks that were coming from behind.

  We’re definitely not working together.

  Labrys fired lightning from his horn and fire from his mouth.

  But, both of them didn’t work on me.

  Labrys pointed both his spear and tomahawk at me and swung both of them, forming a wide arc with each swing.

  Those levels of attack won’t be able to kill me.

  I parried the tomahawk, turning my body to add more power against Labrys’ residual force and sliced his arms before dodging his spear attack.

  And then, Reiji, who’d readied his sword, stabbed at where I was just a moment ago. I avoided being skewered by Reiji’s sword by a hair’s breadth.

  Reiji kept charging at Labrys without pause.

  Labrys reacted too late and was blown away.

  「MOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!」


  Labrys was rolling on the floor.

  But, in the next moment, his wounds recovered as soon as the room shone.

  Labrys immediately stood up as if nothing had happened to him.

  「I’M INVICIBLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!」


  Labrys screamed at the top of his lungs.

  Labrys’ attacks couldn’t hurt me and the damage from our attacks against him were healed in no time.

  It was troublesome, but we couldn’t defeat him within the confines of this labyrinth.

  That’s why we needed to end this fight as soon as possible. And for that reason, I kept leading him little by little towards the edge of the room during the battle.

  「SHIRONE, NOW!!」


  I signaled to Shirone as soon as we arrived at the edge of the room.

  Something then leaped out from the entrance of the room at breakneck speed all the way towards the altar located in the inner part of the room.

  It was Shirone.

  「WHAT THE!?」


  Labrys only noticed Shirone’s presence a moment later.

  By then, Shirone had already arrived in front of the altar.

  「WHAT ARE YOU DOIIIING!!!」


  I stood firm in front of Labrys, preventing him from returning to the altar.

  「My bad, you won’t pass me!!」


  Suddenly, the room was enveloped with a flash of brilliant light. When the light receded, we were no longer in the same room.

  「This place is?」


  Labrys surveyed his surroundings.

  Our current location wasn’t Labrys’ room on the 13th floor of the labyrinth. We had been transported to the surface part of the labyrinth.

  「Emergency Transfer Magic. This was the emergency escape device made by Heybos on the 13th floor in case the labyrinth is under attack. You should know about it.」


  I spoke as I pointed my sword at Labrys.

  Normal transfer magic couldn’t be cast on the 13th floor, but, an emergency measure had been installed in that area.

  When the magic installed in the altar behind Labrys’ throne was activated, every living being in the throne room on the 13th floor of the labyrinth would be teleported to the surface.

  「Now you can’t recover from your wounds anymore!! Nor will we let you escape!! It’s checkmate, Labrys!!!」


  ===

  ◆Sword’s Maiden; Shirone

  Everyone got teleported to the surface after I activated the emergency escape magic within the altar.

  This was the previous arrangement that I’d made with Kuroki.

  Labrys could gain infinite power while he was in his labyrinth. That’s why we had no no choice but to drag him out of that place. In order to do that, Kuroki and I decided to use the emergency teleportation device which we’d found in the labyrinth’s blueprint.

  We split our jobs. Kuroki would distract Labrys while I would wait for the chance to rush in at once towards the altar and activate the teleportation device.

  Everything was going according to plan.

  Just as intended, we were teleported into the plaza of the ruined metropolis on the surface floor of the labyrinth.

  After flying a full rotation in the sky, I descended before Chiyuki and co.

  「SHIRONE-SAN!!!」


  Chiyuki-san called out to me.

  「Everyone, thanks god you’re alright!!」


  I looked at everyone’s faces. They looked tired, but they were safe and sound at least.

  「Yeah, I’m okay Shirone-san. Thanks to him.」


  Chiyuki-san was looking at Kuroki.

  The fight was still going on.

  Kuroki and Reiji-kun were still fighting against Labrys.

  But it was obvious. We’d already won.

  「They’re amazing, Shirone-san!! Their movement was completely in sync!!」


  Nao-chan called out to me with an excited voice.

  「Yeah. Even though this should be their first time fighting side-by-side…」


  I’d seen them fight back in the throne room as well. Honestly, seeing their united front left me in awe.

  This was the scene that I’d always been waiting for.

  At that moment, the sky suddenly brightened.

  We looked up to see what was causing the phenomenon. There we saw a giant ship floating up in the air. The ship was being escorted by female angels who were flying around it.

  At the bow of the ship, I spotted someone standing tall while looking down.

  「Is that, Rena?」


  The one who was standing at the bow of the ship was the Goddess Rena, armed to a T.

  ===

  ◆Dark Knight; Kuroki

  The shining ship stopped in the air right above the labyrinth. Standing at the bow of that ship was Rena, fully armed with a shield and spear.

  Maybe she’d been standing by above the labyrinth this whole time.

  It seems that she ordered for the ship to descend after we were teleported outside. The battle between me, Reiji, and Labrys stopped for a moment as we looked up at the sky.

  「It’s been a while, Labrys.」


  Rena laughed kindly.

  Though she was quite far away, I could see her face just fine thanks to my enhanced vision. It seems that the same went for Reiji and Labrys.

  「R-RENA!!! DID YOU COME FOR ME!!? ARE YOU GOING TO ACCEPT MY PASSIONATE LOVE!?」


  What the hell is this guy going on about?

  「Sorry, Labrys. My love is just for him. That’s why I’m not coming for you.」


  Rena flat out rejected him, making him look over at Reiji and I.

  「SO YOU CHOOSE THAT MAN FROM SPIRIT WORLD!!!」


  Labrys screamed at the top of his lungs.

  「That’s right, Labrys. I love that man who hails from the spirit world. I have a hard time sleeping at night every time I think of him.」


  Rena flashed an extremely charming smile as she spoke.

  Her eyes were that of a woman in heat.

  The confession of the Goddess of Love resounded in the vicinity of the area. Reiji, who was standing by my side, laughed at hearing her confession.

  Rena was a beautiful Goddess. No man would dislike receiving a confession of love from such a beautiful Goddess.

  「YOU FU*CKER!!! DI*EEEEE!!!」


  Labrys lunged towards Reiji to attack, only for Reiji to dodge it with ease.

  「What a petty man you are, Evil God Labrys!!! Getting jealous and attacking a man just because the Goddess you love won’t spare a glance at you!!! If you’re a man, back off when she rejected your confession and wish for her happiness!!!」


  Reiji spoke confidently to Labrys and laughed at the latter, as he dodged Labrys’ attack.

  「SHUT UUUUUUUUUUUUUUP!!!」


  Labrys became even more enraged as he launched another attack at Reiji.

  「Come at me, Labrys!!! I love the moment when I turned the table against a man like you!!! And let me to show you the difference between us!!」


  With that, the second round of their fight began. Shirone and the other girls in the back were also covering for him. The angels in the sky also joined in the fray to attack along with Reiji.

  Labrys had lost.

  I separated myself from them.

  No need for me to fight anymore. I’ve already saved Nut so I’ve accomplished my original mission here. In the first place, I had no reason to join the fray and help that raijuu.

  「DIEHART-SAMA~!」


  Nut ran towards me. He’d gotten teleported to the surface too.

  「Do you want to returning ahead to Nargol, Nut?」


  「Returning ahead?」


  「Yeah, it seems Kuna is on the way toward this place. That’s why I’ll go to meet her.」


  I looked at the ring on my finger on my left hand.

  It seems that Kuna couldn’t hold herself back anymore and decided to come instead.

  「Understood. Leave the report to Your Majesty to me.」


  「Thanks, Nut.」


  Nut then commenced with activating the magic tool to start teleporting.

  I looked over at the battle between Labrys and the Hero and co.

  Labrys was powerful even without the power of his labyrinth. Nevertheless, he was being cornered bit by bit.

  「Time to leave I guess… They doesn’t seems to need my help anymore…」


  When I was about to take my leave, I felt something was coming towards us at a breakneck speed from the center of the mountain range.

  I turned around and struck down the thing that was about to hit Rena who was standing on the bow of her ship.

  The thing I’d struck down was a spear.

  The spear returned to where it’d come from after I struck it down.

  I quickly landed on the magic ship as it did.

  Cra*p, my body moved on its own even though I never wanted to save her.

  「Thank you for protecting me, Kuroki.」


  When I looked around, I realized that no one was left at Rena’s side. Everyone was fighting against Labrys.

  I really wanted to smack those angels on the head and tell them “at least leave some people around her if you want to protect her, fools!”


  Thanks to their blunder, I ended up saving Rena’s life instead.

  I looked at the direction from where the spear had come from. There, I saw a giant bird in the middle of the mountain range heading our direction.

  「Roc… what is that bird doing here!?」


  Rena spoke with a surprised look on her face.

  Roc was a giant bird who lived in the southern part of the continent. They weren’t supposed to exist in this place.

  Upon closer inspection, I could see someone on the top of that Roc.

  「Is that Zarxis? It seems there’s another person beside him… Rena, do you know the other person?」


  There were two people standing atop the Roc. One of them was Zarxis. THere was no way I could forget the appearance of his ominous mask.

  And there was another woman-like figure besides him.

  That woman-light figure was donned in red vestments while she held a spear in her right hand.

  Was she the one who threw that spear towards Rena?

  Though the woman-light figure had the appearance of a human, I knew that she wasn’t a human since she could stand side-by-side like that with Zarxis.

  「No way… Serpent’s Queen, Diadona. What she’s doing he—」


  Rena’s eyes opened wide as soon as she saw the woman on top of Roc.

  The Serpent Queen, Diadona. I’d heard of her before. The Goddess who was worshipped by the Lamia tribe and the Gorgon tribe who inhabited the archipelago in the southern sea.

  She was also the loyal subordinate of the Goddess of Destruction, Nargol.

  Similar to Zarxis, she should hate Modes as well.

  The Roc stopped in midair after reaching a certain distance away from us.

  Everyone below stopped fighting as soon as they saw the giant bird.

  「We came to bail you out from this place, Labrys!!」


  Diadona descended from the back of the Roc. She took off her vestments as she fell to the ground. A pair of giant bat-like wings grew from her back as her lower limbs transformed into that of a serpent. A pair of giant bat-like horns grew from her head while her eyes shone a golden color.

  「Not so fast!!! My Shield!! Unleash your true power!!」


  Rena held up her shield, pointing it towards the sky. As soon as she did, the shield cast off a blue light.

  Diadona’s eyes shone even brighter as her surroundings were enveloped by golden light.

  「What the he*ll is that?」


  The powerful light magic blinded our eyes, preventing us from being able to see our surroundings.

  When the light finally receded, Zarxis, Diadone, Labrys, and the Roc had long since vanished.

  「What was just now?」


  「That’s Diadona’s petrification gaze, Kuroki. Not even a member of the Divine race can withstand that gaze. That aside…」


  Rena looked out towards the direction of where the Roc had been as she spoke.

  「They managed to get away huh… Never expected that Diadona will come out of nowhere in this place.」


  Rena showed a gloomy look on her face.

  But it couldn’t be helped now. They’d already gone this far.

  「Cheer up, Rena. Labrys’ plan has failed and he will not disturb you anymore. Victory is yours. That’s why you should smile and enjoy this victory, at least for now.」


  Rena’s lips bloomed into a sweet smile when I told her so.

  「You’re right… I should be happy. That’s why, please protect me if they appear again, okay.」


  Rena’s face leaned in so close to mine as she spoke those words.

  「Errr, that’s…」


  I became extremely flustered at seeing her beautiful face so close up.

  Meanwhile, Rena was smiling happily, clearly enjoying my reaction.

  「Well then, it’s about time for me to go down and look at those children. I’ve to meet Reiji no matter what. See you later, Kuroki.」


  Rena descended from her ship after saying her farewell.

  As I looked down, I saw the scene of Reiji being surrounded by so many girls. Reiji was smiling in the middle of the group of girls that were surrounding him.

  They were celebrating this reunion.

  Naturally, Shirone was amongst those girls.

  Shirone embraced her comrades too. She looked really happy at their reunion.

  I gave my blessings upon seeing that.

  Her happiness was what I wanted in the end, after all.

  Shirone might not get enough attention since there were so many beauties around Reiji, but it was the path she’d chosen on her own. All I could do was pray for her happiness. Most of all, I didn’t want to have a quarrel with Shirone over this matter again.

  Rena arrived at their group a moment later.

  The girls opened a path for Rena upon seeing her arrival.

  As soon as she approached, Reiji took Rena’s hand in his own.

  When they were standing together like that, the scene was picturesque like that of a match made in heaven. I couldn’t help but feel jealous upon seeing a scene like that.

  After getting his hands on Shirone and the other beauties, he’d also gotten the beautiful Goddess Rena.

  I couldn’t help but feel sad at seeing this scene.

  「Uuh… Let’s stop this… Seeing more than this will only make me feeling more miserable inside.」


  I activated a flying spell as I muttered those words to myself.

  I couldn’t help but be jealous of Reiji.

  But, I also know that I should be chasing after my own happiness.

  I started flying towards Nargol’s direction.

  Wait for me, Kuna.

  I flew alone under the lonely dusk sky.

  ===

  ◆Black Haired Sage; Chiyuki

  「Chiyuki-san, what is the thing that was shining just now!?」


  Nao asked with a loud voice.

  「I don’t know… maybe it’s some sort of magic but…」


  The snake woman had suddenly cast brilliant light as soon as she appeared and Labrys’ figure had vanished as soon as the light receded.

  It seems that they’d retreated.

  「Look! The angels are…」


  When I turned around to look at the direction Rino was pointing at, I saw the angels becoming transparent, as though they were sculpted from gems.

  「Petrification curse… they’re still alive. But we’ve to restore them later…」


  Upon a closer look, the angels really were turned into gems.

  Though it wasn’t a deadly curse, the petrification curse was still powerful. There should be a way to turn them back still though.

  「But, that curse is so terrifyingly powerful. To think that it’s still this powerful even with Rena’s protection…」


  I shuddered in fear.

  I seems Rena had activated her defensive spells before that snake woman used her demon eyes. I still remember being protected by the pale blue dome at that time.

  Though we were protected from the effects of the curse, the angels, who had less magic resistance compared to us, were still petrified.

  But it was a normal petrification curse that would turn the target into stone. In this case, the target was turned into gem.

  The petrified angels looked as though they were sculpted from emeralds. They might still be alive, but turning them back was going to be a great deal of problem.

  「We’ve to fight against that kind of opponent huh…」


  Nao spoke with a weary look on her face.

  I also wanted to be spared from fighting against a monster like that.

  Everyone’s expression turned gloomy.

  「Geez, stop spitting such disheartening words already!! Look, at least everyone is save right now!!!」


  Shirone embraced me when I declared loudly.

  「Shirone…」


  「Thanks you for being safe!!!」


  Shirone’s face was messed up due to her endlessly flowing tears. It seems that she’d been extremely worried about us.

  「Ah, sorry Shirone… I’ve made you worry so much.」


  Everyone was smiling when the di*ck head said so with a smile on his face.

  「Most of all, you’re safe and sound, Reiji.」


  Rena was walking towards us.

  「RENA!!!」


  Reiji quickly went over towards Rena too.

  「My bad, Rena!! I’ve made you worry so much!!」


  Reiji took Rena’s hand while apologizing to her.

  「I know that you’ll be okay. But still, I can’t help but to worry, Reiji. I always think that something bad might happen to him…」


  Rena spoke with a sorrowful look on her face.

  I felt that something was off about what Rena had said just now.

  I mean, she should’ve said 「Something bad might happen to you」in that kind of situation, right?

  But it seems that it was a trivial matter for Reiji since he didn’t notice nor care about it. On the contrary, Reiji looked like he was deeply moved by Rena’s speech just now.

  「My bad, Rena!! But, no need to worry anymore!!」


  When Reiji was about to embrace Rena, she suddenly dodged his arms from wrapping around her.

  「Reiji… It’s true that I’m glad upon seeing you safe and sound but, you’ve to calm down for now. That’s why, let’s meet again later on.」


  Rena looked seriously at the petrified angels as she spoke.

  It wasn’t like all of them were turned into sculpted gems. Some were safe, while others were partially petrified.

  Rena ordered the angels who were safe and sound to carry their petrified and half-petrified comrades back to her ship before returning to Elios. Rena and co. left us behind to return.

  「Let’s go back to the Republic of Ariadya, Reiji-kun.」


  「 Yeah.」


  Euria had moved to the Republic of Ariadya before our expedition in Labrys’ labyrinth. That’s why all of us were returning there.

  According to Shirone, both Kyouka and Kaya should’ve been waiting for us at the Republic of Ariadya as well.

  「Come to think of it… Kuroki?」


  Shirone surveyed the surroundings.

  There was no one but us left in this place.

  「Come to think of it, where did he go, Shirone? You should’ve managed to take him back from Nargol, right?」


  I was also looking to spot his figure. I had yet to thank him for saving my life.

  But Shirone shook her head upon hearing my question.

  「Uurhm… not yet… he might already be on the way back to Nargol…」


  Shirone was already on the verge of crying again.

  「Let me hear the details later after we arrive in the Republic of Ariadya. Kyouka-san and co have been waiting for us there, right?」


  There were so many things to ask Shirone regarding what happened to her when we weren’t around. In addition, I wanted to know more about him too.

  I recalled the matter of Shirone’s childhood friend, Kuroki, again as I recited the chant for the teleportation spell.