Volume 9, Epilogue

Sharp teeth flew everywhere. Savaris avoided all the teeth by centimeters. A chill went down his spine after he took one look at the gigantic pillar of tooth stabbing the ground that was as tall as he was. Still, he smiled through his helmet. Instead of increasing his distance to the filth monster, he ran close to it.

Ten more seconds till the next attack. That was Layfon's conclusion after observing Savaris and the filth monster. Savaris deliberately slowed down as he closed in on his opponent in a relaxed manner.

Ten seconds.

The filth monster opened its mouth and at that moment, its mouth exploded.

That was Layfon. His External burst type Kei had shattered the sharp tooth the filth monster was about to shoot out. The shattered pieces ran wild inside its owner's mouth. The filth monster spat out liquid and roared in fury. It changed its target to Layfon.

Layfon kept his distance as he evaded the attacks. The filth monster chased after him, its every step shaking the earth. Layfon had to move cautiously to prevent himself from falling due to the intense shaking of the ground. He kept his speed the same as his opponent's. The distance between them remained constant. Felli's map appeared in a corner of his vision. The blue dot was him. The red dot was the filth monster, and the yellow dot chasing the red dot was Savaris.

Layfon ran in a straight line. Finally, both red and yellow dots overlapped.

"Twenty more seconds till the destination," Felli's voice sounded in his helmet. Tension was mixed in her voice.

"Please take immediate action when the target enters the destination. Don't mind me," Layfon said. He knew Felli's tension would affect the success of the fight, so he confirmed it with her again.

"...... Roger."

He kept running at a steady pace as the filth monster followed.

(Please don't let it notice.)

He prayed as he ran.

He entered the area not long after with the filth monster right behind him.

"Explode!" Felli and Fermaus both shouted.

An intense and huge keening from the earth buried his surroundings. Having anticipated the explosion, Layfon had jumped. This was the place where he first discovered the filth monster, the place where the filth monster had been shooting out the eggs. A female filth monster was beneath it which meant there was a massive empty hole in the ground. Felli and Fermaus had laid the flakes in the ground and triggered off a Psychokinesis mine explosion, causing the ground to sink. Having lost its balance, the filth monster failed to escape the mine but it did not entirely sink into the ground. Hence Savaris gave it a final kick.

"Get down there."

The External Burst type Kei of that kick shocked the filth monster all the way to its lower body. The colossal creature fell into the hole. Savaris had used the rebound force of the kick to leap into the air.

The filth monster rolled as it fell, gathering momentum and increasing its falling rate. In the end, it fell with its back on the ground and its abdomen facing the sky.

Layfon snatched out the Adamantium Dite and the Sapphire Dite with his left hand. Their handles were still connected. He condensed the Kei in the Dites to their limits, to the limit of the cracks spreading through the Sapphire Dite. As the light that exuded from the Dites turned from green to red, he executed his move - External Burst type variation - Rumble Sword.

He threw the Sapphire Dite. The sharp Katana, holding a huge amount of Kei, stabbed right down. The color of Kei turned redder than it was allowed. The Katana stabbed the filth monster's abdomen as it drew sparks in the air. Next, the Sapphire Dite exploded and the Kei suppressed inside it shot everywhere. A large part of the filth monster's outer skin was peeled off from that result to reveal the meat of its body.

"Time for me to go," Savaris said.

Holding the Adamantium Dite, Layfon turned around the back of the blade for the Heaven's Blade to use as his dive point. The rebound force of Savaris' jump helped Layfon to stay in the air longer.

Savaris shot straight down. Since he hadn't made any special modification to the fighting suit that he borrowed from the Mercenary Gang, he couldn't use the Luckens move - Roar Kei. He now held his fist.

(Let's try this then.)

One word flowed in his mind, an absolute. He had mentioned this to Gorneo once. This didn't belong to the skills passed down in the Luckens family. This was an ultimate move that one came to learn through training. He himself hadn't yet mastered this move as he didn't want its training to prevent him from growing more. However, he couldn't train since coming to Zuellni as he had to hide himself. And training Gorneo had given him second thoughts. He had changed, and he had chosen to attempt this move. He had attempted it so he could only keep on honing it. Although one could say "hone", he could only do it all in his head. Using it in real battle for the first time was probably foolish. However, he chose to execute that move. That was what Savaris, the Heaven's Blade successor, was like.

External Burst type variation - Absolute, full power, Stab.

His fist hammered into the filth monster's body. This move belonged to the Kei skill that ran through an enemy's entire body to destroy it. This was the true essence of the Luckens' combat skill, a skill invented against filth monsters, a move made to allow bare-handed fighting. Roar Kei was one of those moves, a secret that allowed one to fight without physically lifting a finger. Since too few people managed to master this move, it had become a high level move in the Luckens family. To Savaris, the shaking first spread through the air, and then the explosions started from the filth monster itself. A full power stab was more intense than a mere strike by a fist. It was a move that could sink Kei into the depths of the enemy's body and explode from the inside.

Bearing the destructive power of the Kei in the fist, the armored plates failed to shoulder the enormous Kei, but there was a way to solve this problem.

The filth monster shook intensely. A large amount of liquid shot from its mouth.

Savaris stepped back quickly, took out a small spray from his clothes and sprayed the liquid on his fist, filling the cracks in his gloves. However, that failed to alleviate the pain in his fist. It seemed he couldn't use his right hand anymore in this battle.

At the time of Savaris taking out the emergency spray, Layfon's shadow cut through his vision. He landed in front of Savaris with the huge and long Adamantium Dite on his back, as if it was hiding behind him. The Katana on his back rattled from the massive amount of Kei condensed inside it.

The Kei in the blade suddenly disappeared.

Heaven's Blade technique - Kasumirou.

This was a technique that he invented when he was a Heaven's Blade successor.

Similar to Savaris' Absolute Stab, Layfon's technique was a strike that let his Kei run into the filth monster's body. The Kei then turned into numerous strikes like rain to destroy the enemy from its inside.

"Wu!"

Layfon tossed away the Adamantium Dite. As it couldn't bear the pressure of the Kei, it exploded.

The organs of the filth monster had taken Savaris's blow and were now being cut down by Layfon's move. A filth monster was still a living creature. Even though it had the power to re-grow its outer skin, the level of damage to its body was too severe for it to revive.

Layfon and Savaris watched the enemy from a distance through a screen of dust and sand.

"Almost finished?"

"If that's the case, then good," Layfon replied.

Savaris had sacrificed his right hand and Layfon had lost two Dites. Forget Savaris for now. Layfon had lost the Sapphire Dite that could turn into steel threads and the Adamantium Dite that was his greatest fighting strength. The loss of these two had dramatically decreased his fighting power. If the filth monster didn't fall, Layfon had nothing left to fight it.

"We should cut off its neck just in case, but that thing is under the ground and it's got thick skin and tendons...... It's a bit much for us right now," Savaris calmly analyzed the situation.

So now they could only wait for the result.

Next came Felli's unfortunate report.

"........ The temperature of the target is rising."

They hadn't killed it.

The ground around the filth monster trembled. Liquid continued to shoot from the filth monster's abdomen. Savaris silently held his left hand as Layfon restored the Shim Adamantium Dite.

"Well, we can only go in."

".... Yes," Layfon agreed.

Felli's voice sounded in his helmet. "Please escape!"

...... But where could they go? Zuellni's multi-leg was broken. Even if it could move, it couldn't run forever from the filth monster. They could only make a bet with this fight.

Layfon pondered another strategy.

BANG!!

This sound was impossible. But after knowing this sound came from the filth monster and thinking that if it was that person, then nothing was too strange.

It was a pillar of light. The light had shot through the rising filth monster and dispersed into the air. But this was all after the fact.

"...... What?" Layfon was at a loss. The filth monster was dead. He didn't need Felli to confirm it for him. It was completely dead.

"Anyway, we're saved. Even though it's an insult that has got nothing to do with my real strength......" Savaris's reply was cold. "Next is to complete the mission I'm here for."

His words restored the calmness in Layfon's head. Savaris was here to take the Haikizoku, the Haikizoku that lived in Nina.

"...... Can you just leave it?" he asked with carefully chosen words. He knew Savaris's strength. Even though Savaris didn't have his Heaven's Blade with him, Layfon still didn't want to fight him.

"........ Personally, I want to fight you, but would Her Majesty be satisfied? Or, even if she forgives him, would Kanaris understand? She'd be angry. And that's gonna be troublesome."

"Really!!" Layfon swung the Shim Adamantium Dite at him without hesitation. The remnants of Kei exploded. His strike drew an arc in the sky.

Savaris was gone.

"I knew you'd do that," came his carefree laughter. He had first read Layfon's move.

"Let me do this, then you'll use your full strength."

Savaris's presence was disappearing fast. Layfon rushed out of the screen of dust and saw him riding the bike for Zuellni.

"Damn!"

He ran for his own bike.

150 Jimels. Target was Zuellni. The curtain of the long chase rose.

Blue light accompanied every shake of the space. The ground shook.

"Damn, this isn't the time to play!" Dixerio rolled his tongue under the attack of the iron whips. The amount of Kei in the Haikizoku continued to increase, and the density of Internal Kei rose as well. One's dexterity increased. Dixerio knew this theory earlier than Nina. Still, an increase in fighting power didn't usually translate to an improvement in skill. Sure, however good one's skill was, one would fall in front of overwhelming power, but this was different when both fighters possessed the same amount of power. In that case, the outcome came down to one's skill and experience. He deeply believed that he wouldn't lose to her in both skill and experience. Nevertheless, she managed to corner him.

(Can't she see I'm holding back?)

He didn't plan to kill her so he held back in his every move. Was this it?

(Is that why she has the advantage?)

This was the truth. Nina had cornered him step by step despite his confidence in his strategies, as if she didn't fear her enemy, no matter how strong he was. Dixerio wouldn't understand that Nina could reach this level because she kept challenging the high wall that Layfon's presence held.

"But!" he shouted after tens of rounds.

His heavy metal whip hit her right shoulder. She didn't stop moving. Dixerio was surprised as he felt the feeling through his right wrist.

Kongoukei.

Still, Dixerio's strike did have its impact. Because she had failed to completely defend herself from his Kei, Nina's right hand lost its grip on the iron whip. The iron whip fell onto the ground. But she didn't stop her movement. She lifted the left iron whip to strike his face.

Suddenly, blue light rippled out in that space.

Nina stopped. Dixerio stopped.

Nina's iron whip stopped.

Dixerio's hand gripped her whip.

"My hand isn't that cheap."

The skin of his hand ripped and blood flowed. He pulled her down onto the ground with her still holding tightly to the weapon. He raised the whip.

Kongoukei.

She continued to release her Kei to defend. However, he had already anticipated that move.

Internal and External Kei variation - Raitei. Raijin, a move used in close distance with the enemy, had become Raitei. It broke through Nina's Kongoukei and the whip hit her on her stomach.

"Haaah!" she screamed and fell immobile. The mask fell from her face as she fainted.

"Geez.... Took me so much strength," he bent to pick up the mask but the mask slipped from his palm.

"What?" he looked at it, confused.

The mask was now in someone's hand. He looked at this new person, speechless.

"Hey, hey........"

Speechless. Before being forcefully pulled into Zuellni, he had once infiltrated Grendan just to see this person. Now....

"Hey, why are you here?"

The girl wearing funeral-like black clothes didn't reply. She kept silent.... and vanished.

A person stood in the courtyard of Grendan's palace. Her two hands were put together as if she was aiming a shot.

historical

"Straight through the heart!" Alsheyra, the owner of the palace, shouted happily.

"I'm sorry, I didn't see it......" Kanaris said calmly behind her. A scarf encircled her neck to hide the trace of injury on it. However, the person who made that injury didn't seem to care.

"Aaa, well, whatever. It's a feeling of obliterating an interference. Compared to that, look over there. Over there! You can see the flag. Aaa, it's spotless as I imagined. Great. A brilliant reunion! As if I'm a knight on a white horse, out to rescue an imprisoned princess!"

"No, you're the Queen. Compared to that, I can't even see the filth monster. Do you think I can see what's beyond it?"

Alsheyra didn't seem to hear her.

"Wait for me Leerin, I'll be right there to receive you!" she said happily.

Kanaris sighed.

Grendan moved forward. It kept heading straight for Zuellni.