Victoria
The fairy did not lie.
She really helped her get out of this.
With a single touch, she made the orc prince fall asleep. Right before he could violate her chastity.
As the creature snored loudly on the carpet, the fairy gave a mischievous grin to the distressed girl. "There we go! The piggy is now taking his nap!"
"Y-you can't do that!" Victoria protested. "I'm his wife! It's my duty to—"
"Oh, be gone with your duties! You're a half-fey! Act like it! Be irresponsible! Have fun!"
"I… I don't think I'm a half fey." She averted her gaze. "I don't have my wings. I don't have any powers either. He was mistaken."
"He?" The fairy raised her eyebrows. "Oh no, you're definitely a fey! A fairy, just like ! Okay, maybe not exactly like , but you definitely are part fairy! In fact, you're the daughter of Lady Titania herself!" She grinned as she put her hands on her hips.
"Titania?"
"What? You don't know? She's the queen of all feys! And you are her daughter!"
Victoria froze. She blinked profusely, not really knowing how to react.
Her mother… her real mother… was a fey?
"Look, it's a long story. Let's get you out of— ahhhh!"
The fairy's body beca translucent, as if she was fading away.
"No good!" She covered her mouth. "This castle—it has an anti-fey ward covering it! I can't materialize here for long! Hey, I'll co back later, alright?"
"Wait! I still have—"
Too late. The fairy had disappeared.
Gingerly, she looked back towards her bed. Sure enough, her fiance was still there, snoring.
It wasn't a dream. That fairy really was here.
And she—she just told her sothing she desperately wanted to believe.
Victoria, the fairy princess, and not the useless daughter she was now.
---------
Felicia
"You let her go! Let
go too, you imbecile fairy!"
"I didn't let her go." The fairy smirked. "She really broke out from her pocket dinsion on her own. I am impressed, really. With that sword of hers, she actually cut through my dinsion."
"Cut through your dinsion?! Don't give
that lie! There's no way a simple swordswoman like her can just dispel your spell!"
Felicia was aware of how talented Sherry was on the sword. All thanks to Hugo, of course.
"T-that's right! I want to help Sir Hugo too!" Theo butted in with a determined look.
"No, we shouldn't." Tira shook her head as she placed her hand on her son's shoulder.
"Why not?" He turned to face her.
"Because this is Sir Hugo's fight. He's proving himself to the scary woman that he's worthy of marrying that girl." She smiled. "And besides," Her smile disappeared as she averted her gaze. "We're not strong enough to be useful to him."
"She's right." Tama joined, a stern look on her face as she folded her hands under her chest. "Back ho, we beastfolk have such a custom as well. Though only a few still keep it up these days."
"T-then how about Miss Felicia?" Theo asked, glancing at the red-headed woman who was still arguing with the Archfey.
"She can go." Tira answered, a serious look on her face. "This too involves her."
The trio returned their attention back to the alchemist.
"Why don't you try breaking my magic if you want to go that badly?" The fairy said with a smug smile.
"Grr! I can't! I'm not good at dispel magic unlike him!" She yelled back, stabbing the blunt end of her staff to the ground in exasperation.
"Haha, pathetic! That girl is stronger than you then!"
"Why you—!"
Felicia summoned her shadow tendrils, commanding them all to attack the fairy.
Only for them to be blocked by an invisible bubble surrounding her.
It was only natural for the alchemist to be so angry. After all, she just saw her love being punched and nearly choked to death.
However, jealousy was also a factor. If his oh-so-dear Sherry can help him and fight by his side against that villainess, she has to be there as well. She loved him more than her! She would die for his sake! She shouldn’t be here, just watching from a safe distance! What would he think?! He would no doubt grow more fond of that annoying Sherry girl over her!
Felicia gnashed her teeth, glaring murderously towards the fey. Lord Hugo! Don’t worry! I’ll be by your side soon! You don’t have to rely on that girl!
------------
Hugo
She’s distracted! I can do it now!
To be honest, I didn’t really have a plan to surrender. I was just waiting until she dropped her guard completely before executing my plan.
She didn't bother knocking my staff away. Big mistake.
"Thanatos." I mumbled under my breath.
This spell… It basically pumped the entire body with air. Every organ would rupture and fail and air would fill up the bloodstream, causing hemorrhaging at every orifice. Even your skin would start sweating blood.
I tried it before. On our travels here, we t with an arrogant lizardman who wanted to fight
after hearing that I fought off the orc army on my own.
I would've let him live, if not for the fact that he tried to kidnap Felicia in the process.
He knelt on the ground, puking blood, clutching his heart as he begged
to save him.
He didn't even get to swing his halberd a single ti.
But, I doubted it would be as effective if I used it against this woman. Her durability was just insane. She must have the capability to regenerate her organs.
Her reaction was instant. She coughed up blood as her grip on my throat weakened.
I quickly freed myself, running to where Sherry was standing.
Our gaze t — the first ti for so many years. I gulped, my heart skipping a beat.
She really is beautiful now.
"Stop staring, you idiot!" She yelled, blush creeping on her cheeks. "Just be glad that this baboon has co to your rescue!"
Baboon? Oh, right, that fake mory the fairy showed.
I think I said "gorilla" though…
"I never said that!" I fired back, though still keeping my attention on the ex-Demon Lord, who was now on her knees. "That fairy is lying to you!"
"So all those perverted things you did with her—that was all a lie too?!"
"N-no. That one did happen."
"You traitor! I should've just let Grandma murder you!"
And yet, she was still in her fighting stance. Her sword was drawn and her hair was floating in mid-air—her gaze firmly locked to the older woman, who was now slowly standing back up.
Shit! I can't let this chance slide!
"Sorry, Sherry, but I might end up killing your grandmother now!"
I cast my Super Boom Cannon and then accelerated it into its maximum power instantly.
And then, I fired. The massive house-sized ball of death flew with a near instantaneous speed, catching her before she could fully be on her feet.
Only for her to block it once again with her sword.
Holy shit, she can still do that? Even after I gave her Thanatos?
Still, unlike before, it managed to do so damage. Her clothes were now tattered in so places, revealing so of her skin.
She was now standing fully upright, her eyes staring right at , still with that wide-eyed crazed look.
“That’s it. That’s what I want to see from soone who desires to marry my granddaughter. An intent to kill and the power that backs it. I didn’t know how you did it but you had damaged my organs considerably.”
“Unfortunately for you, I possess considerable endurance and regenerative ability. You are wise to attempt to finish
off like that.
Alas, this sword of mine — my Blade of Regret — can cut any magic it touches. Your magic is certainly impressive, and would have dealt significant damage to
if it managed to hit, but such a frontal attack would never work against .”
This woman… not only those bug eyes of hers creep
out, but her intonation is all weird as well. It's like she's a robot. Barely any emotion in her voice.
Well, except when she spoke about
cheating on Sherry. Now that is when her voice is full of malice.
"You're underestimating her." Sherry spoke, giving a small glance at . "She's a monster, through and through. I've never defeated her in a fight. Even after all my training. That's why I could never leave the village. If I could, I would've co after you and punched you in the face for cheating on ."
Well, that's a scary thought.
"And you, my granddaughter. Why are you willing to forgive this man?"
"Don't get
wrong." Sherry frowned, putting one hand on her hip. "This cheater has a lot of apologizing and explaining before he'll even be allowed to give
one of his lurid gazes. But I disagree with you wanting to kill him. I thought this was just a test for his worthiness, not his execution."
"You're a fool, my granddaughter. How long did you cry and weep when that dream ca to you? He is a complete and utter traitor. Killing traitors is the way of us Izurdians."
"...Maybe you're right. But I want to hear his excuses first."
Goddamn. Sherry has matured a lot these past years. Not just in her looks but in her personality as well.
Ooh, I might be falling even more for her!
Noticing my proud smile, she sent
a glare. "Wipe that stupid grin off your face. You have a lot to answer for, Hugo Greenwood."
"Yeah, you're right." I gave her a wry smile. "We have a lot to catch up to."
"...Very well. Then, I shall test your resolve as well. Fairy! Bring her here!"
Wait, her?
Quania's voice snapped
out of my reverie.
I realized whom she was talking about in an instant.
Felicia.
My heart sank.
Before I could do anything, the alchemist dropped out of the sky, landing right into the embrace of Quania's living hair.
"Felicia!" I yelled.
She threw her staff away and wrapped her hair around her waist, neck, feet, and hands. She lifted her arms upwards, showing off her armpits to the world as if her hands were tied to an invisible ceiling.
"L-Lord… H-Hugo…"
"Fight , human, if you wish to see her live. And you, granddaughter, aid him, if you really are as much of a fool as I thought you are."
You… I should've known it would co to this!
I glanced at Sherry. No. No way she's going to help . I'm on my way for this one.
"Wait here." I told her. "You don't want to help your enemy, right? Then I won't ask you to do it."
She did not respond.
I dashed forward, charging a Boom Cannon and an Explosion at the sa ti. rging the two spells together, I created the hybrid spell—
“Azure Lance!”
I fired a massive jet of fire to where the ex-demon lord was standing. Unlike normal fire, however, this fire was blue. I used the highly compressed oxygen inside the Boom Cannon and used it to fuel the fire, resulting in a temperature vastly higher than normal flas could ever reach. Not to ntion that thanks to the directional nature of Boom Cannon, I could cleanly turn an opponent into ash without hurting anyone standing right beside them.
Now, I know what you’re thinking. “That na isn’t really that creative, is it?” But that’s really the best I got. And besides, too fancy of a na will make you enter chuuni territory. And I certainly don’t want that!
The woman quickly ford a thick wall ford out of her air to block the attack. And, if I had to guess, she would use her sword to stop the attack as well.
Thankfully, I wasn’t finished.
The mont I finished firing, I jumped using Wind Step, charging up another spell in mid-air.
And this one—I gave all the credit to Myrilla.
“Wind Tendrils!”
I ford innurable tendrils made out of hardened air around
before sending them towards Felicia. Mine would most likely lose judging by how tough those hair were but it should be enough to buy
so ti to free her.
I then dashed forward, drew my sword, augnted it using my wind spell, and—
—have it cut in half by a swipe of her sword.
I could only watch with an agape mouth as half of the length of the blade went flying, swirling in the air with a soft whirring sound.
Before I realized it, the woman had jumped as well. She was now blocking the path I was about to take to rescue Felicia.
I hadn’t activated Haste since I needed my Dual Casting to be available to do this maneuver, making my movent significantly slower than hers.
In a microsecond, no, maybe even a nanosecond, a bundle of hair shaped like a fist slamd into my abdon.
“Argh!”
As pain exploded inside my stomach, blood ca out from my throat. I could feel my body zooming backwards, so fast that I had no ti to cast Wind Step to counteract it.
I could only brace for the inevitable impact.
"You idiot!"
Instead of crashing into the hard ground, I landed on sothing soft and warm.
It was Sherry. She had caught
just in ti.
"Didn't you hear what I said?! That woman is a monster! You can't win against her!"
Her arms were now wrapped around my stomach. She was hugging
from behind. I could feel two small bumps pressing into my back. Her breasts, I presud.
She quickly released , however, forcing
to stand on my two feet.
I turned around, facing her with a wry smile. "I can't just let her kill Felicia. I like her after all."
"You… like her?" Her voice shook. "Then what about ?! You don't like
anymore?!"
"I like you too. I want to marry you both." I grinned.
"Marry us both?! Are you stupid?! You think I'll ever get along with another woman to share you! I'm an Izurd! Demons that kill their husbands whenever they cheated on them! Didn't Myrilla tell you that?!"
“I know. Still, I want to try. I really think if I try hard enough, I can make you two get along. Felicia, she’s a good person once you know her.”
"Hmph! Of course you'd say that!" She huffed and folded her arms. "You made her lick your… your thing! And you play around with her breasts like the pervert that you are!"
I chuckled. Of course there was no way I could change her mind with just a few words.
"Urgh!"
A searing pain on my abdon reminded
of the punch I just took from the grandmother. I should patch that up first.
I summoned my Water Fairy, ordering her to heal the wound I just took.
"Right away, Master!"
She fired off her healing water from her palms, aiming at my stomach.
"That's… that's your fairy? She… she has grown, isn't she?" Sherry spoke. Her expression seed to be a mixture between awe and annoyance.
"Grown? Yeah, she has evolved alright." I flashed a smile at her. Wait, her gaze—she's looking at her breasts! Ha, so she's talking about that growth instead!
"Master," the fairy spoke with a concerned expression. "This place… there's an Archfey nearby… I… I think you should leave right away…"
"I know." I gave her a relaxed smile. "This is her domain alright."
"This presence… she's the ruler of Sumr, isn't she?!"
"Yep!" I nodded.
"How long are you going to keep
waiting? And her?"
I returned my attention back to the ex-Demon Lord, who now had a slightly annoyed look on her face. She still had Felicia hanging in mid-air though she wasn't choking her anymore.
My smile disappeared. That’s right. I still need to save her.
Unless, she's an illusion as well, like Sherry from before.
I expanded the range of my raw mana, all the way towards her. Xaela had taught
how to detect illusions before. And how to dispel them. It was all in the subtle difference between the mana field inside an actual human and a construct made out of mana.
...No. This isn't an illusion. She's the real Felicia, in the flesh. Damn it.
And I can feel fey magic surrounding this place. In fact, the whole place is an artificial place she has created. I can't dispel that without risking dinsional collapse.
Sherry did tear a hole from her space to this one though. I should be able to do that.
No need to now though. The others — it's better if they're not involved with this.
"I shall offer you a deal, human. Abandon this woman. Then I will let you have my granddaughter.”
"Then what?" I fired back. "You're going to kill her?"
"I'll let her go free."
Well, that's a surprising answer.
I turned to Sherry. "I suppose you want
to say yes?"
She threw her head away. "What do you think?!"
I sighed, moving my gaze back to the ex-Demon Lord. "No."
"No?"
"Like I've said, I love her as well. I'm a greedy man. I won't give up her or Sherry."
My gaze then traveled to Felicia. Tears had ford in her eyes. Oh Felicia. There’s no way I’ll ever abandon you, is there?
A flash of anger resurfaced on the demon lord’s face. “Your greed will be your downfall. The next ti you try to save her, I will cut off your arm.”
I smiled wryly. aning, she will up the ante now. She won’t just be landing non-lethal blows like she has done so far.
This is no longer a test. This is just her lashing out on my betrayal.
Geez, it’s like it was her who got cheated on. Not her granddaughter.
As I stepped forward to take on her challenge, however...
“Wait!” I felt Sherry’s arm around
once more. “Don’t go! She’ll seriously cut off your arm! That look in her eyes — she isn’t lying in the slightest!”
“Help
then. Help
save her.”
“What?! You want
to help her?! I… I can’t! I would rather let her die than have her filthy hands on you ever again!”
I could feel her head buried on my back, as her height only reached up to my chest. She was now sobbing, her tears dampening the clothes I wore.
“You don’t understand. She… she has no one else. No one but
in this world. I can’t just abandon her.”
“How about ?! I don’t have anyone either! Renee and Alan — they’re dead now!”
“At least you have a place you can call ho. She has nothing like that.”
Gently, I placed my hands on hers. Slowly, I pulled her hands one by one.
“It’s fine. Like I’ve said, you can stay here if you want. I don’t want you to risk your life for a woman you despise.”
Before she could say anything, I dashed upwards.
“Water Fairy! Earth Sprite! Co to my aid! Help
defeat this woman!”
Water Fairy, being already there, simply flew upwards to chase after . Earth Sprite, on the other hand, appeared mid-air, right above .
“Earth Sprite! Armor Mode!”
She nodded, before transforming into multiple pieces of rock, all shaped like a certain piece of armor. Each piece then threw itself at , attaching to the suitable part of my body according to their shapes. Pretty much like Ironman.
To be honest, I hadn’t been using this much, if at all. But I thought it was a neat idea. It added to my durability quite significantly without harming my mobility. So I asked her if she could do it and she answered with a yes.
"Water Fairy! Robe Mode!"
"Yes, Master!"
She, on the other hand, was to transform herself into a robe made out of water. She would aid both
and Earth Sprite at receiving attacks, healing any wounds that they both received.
And now, it was ti for
to attack.
"Boom Orbit!"
I surrounded myself with a revolving Boom Cannon.
My plan was not to attack Quania herself. I only aid to free Felicia.
Then, I would free the others and we would just run out from this place.
I said I wanted to prove myself to the grandmother. That still hadn't changed. But Felicia's safety ca first. And as I was now, I didn't think I could beat her.
No, this isn't running away. I'm saving everyone here. I'm not abandoning anyone, like I did with Marina and Leila. Call it a tactical retreat instead.
I charged forward, maximum speed with Wind Step. Once close enough, I dived down and quickly activated Haste. My mid-air dodge was nowhere near as fast as my ground dodge, so I intended to keep the battle on the ground. I would cut through all the hair holding her up and then catch her once she fell down.
“Foolish child!”
As expected, a swarm of her hair flew towards
at incredible speed. My Boom Orbit, orbiting around
at Mach 5 speed, managed to deflect most of them, shredding them into nothing the mont it ca close to . Other hair tendrils who could sneak it were repelled by my armor before being shredded themselves. I also contributed by dodging on the spot and parrying so of them with the half of a sword I still had.
And then, the big one ca out.
She sent a horizontal slice with her cursed sword, aiming to bisect
into two. Hey, what happened with only taking one of my arms’ off?
I responded by taking off Haste. Evading ant backing up, sothing I couldn't do when Felicia was now right in front of . I then used both Wind Wall and Boom Orbit to block her swing. As I feared, even those two weren’t enough, as they were made out of magic, sothing the sword could handle very well.
The last line of defense was the stone armor protecting my right arm. That, and my own Fortissimo.
And to my surprise, it actually halted her blade.
Now!
I used the opportunity to cast Thanatos, destroying her insides once more, hopefully slowing her down considerably. And, at the sa ti, with Dual Casting, I cast Boom Cannon. Risky at this close of a range, but it had to be done.
And, for a flash microsecond, I saw a hint of surprise on her face.
She moved her left hand to where the spell was forming, intending to squish it before it could get big—
Too bad that I could cast Boom Cannon pretty much instantly now.
The spell fired, crashing right onto her left hand and arm at point blank range.
Yes! There's no way she can survive—
Pain.
A sharp, unimaginable pain had exploded from my right arm. The arm her blade had landed on.
The ex-Demon Lord was flown backwards from the force of my spell.
I ignored it, gritted my teeth, and did what I ca here to do. I looked up and saw Felicia falling from the sky. As I predicted, that blow had loosened her grip on her.
I threw my staff to the side and readied my hands to catch her.
Hands?
I only have my left hand. Where did my right hand go?
…
…
“Aaaaaahhhhhhhh!”
M-my right hand! I-it’s gone!
A-and not just the hand! The whole arm, it’s—it’s not there! It’snotthereit’snotthereit’snotthere—
She had cut my arm. Just like she said she would.
Felicia fell on top of . I collapsed to the ground together with her.
And then, darkness.
Reviews
All reviews (0)