With a great swing, Excalibur falls towards the crown of my head.
However before it can hit, a silhouette rushes before me like a gust of wind.
Sparks fly as the two blades meet with a clang.
“Dammit, you’re Demon Lord Takumi’s disciple”
“It’s a million years too early for the likes of the hero to challenge Takumi-san”
In a flash, Reia charged between me and Hero End. With Chiharu still on her back.
Their blades lock together as they put force into their swords.
“Don’t think a katana like yours can match the Sacred Sword Excalibur”
End puts even more strength into his sword and Excalibur begins to glow, giving off a bright light.
“Haaaaaaaaah, Beheading Light Blade”
The black dungeon is lit with Excalibur’s light.
Does he intend to split Reia along with her katana in half.
However, Reia maintains a calm expression and stops his blow.
“What’s wrong? Is that all Excalibur is capable of?”
“Impossible, it can’t be! The only thing capable of matching a sacred sword is another sacred sword! Unless!?”
With a smile on her face, Reia murmurs.
“Sacred Sword Masamune”
Two of the world’s three great sacred swords have gathered here.
In the first place the other one, Sacred Sword Takumicalibur, is nothing but a cheap sword, so really the set of two sacred swords is complete.
Reia and End, along with their sacred swords, push against each other, glaring at each other while neither move from their interlocked state before the open door.
“During the time where I was devoted to my training, this Sacred Sword Masamune was…..”
This is bad. While fighting, Reia has begun to recount what seems to be a long flashback.
Right now the priority is to determine the true cause of the otherworldly presence felt from beyond the door.
“Excuse me”
I try to crawl past Reia and End in the gap between where their blades are locked when my right elbow brushes against End’s chest.
“Hyaah”
Suddenly, End lets out a cute voice and covers their chest while crouching.
It was soft.
It was really soft.
There’s an indescribably delightful sensation remaining on my right elbow, that you wouldn’t expect from touching a guys chest.
“Hey, could it be you’re…..”
I halt my words as End glares at me.
They must have some circumstances for keeping it a secret.
I feel sorry so I’ll stay quiet.
“As expected of Takumi-san. To be able to defeat the Hero that I had so much trouble with simply by touching them. This must be another one of your hidden techniques”
“I-I’m glad you understand, that’s exactly right”
If I say that it was actually just simple sexual harassment I’ll be killed.
“You two, now is not the time to fight. Do you not feel anything coming from the room?”
At my words the two finally pay attention to the room.
“…..! This presence is!”
“Takumi-san”
Both Reia and End notice that unworldly presence.
I nod wordlessly and enter with the others.
A room of stone.
Apart from the chains, scattered in pieces across the floor, there’s nothing here.
That’s right. In this room of nothing, Alice was standing here alone.
Alone? Was she really alone?
Ten years ago, I certainly only saw Alice herself.
The young Alice I met was unable to speak human language, on all fours growling like a beast.
Facing towards me who had entered the room?
That’s not it. Alice was growling in a different direction the whole time.
That wasn’t growling, it was talking.
At the time I met her, an existence I couldn’t see was beside Alice.
“As expected, It’s still here”
The one who said that was the one on Reia’s back, Chiharu.
Not with her usual child’s voice, but with her adult one.
She jumps off Reia’s back and briskly walks to the back of the room.
She quickly reaches the end and stands there, staring closely at the wall before her.
Ten years ago, we were fully preoccupied with Alice and wasn’t able to investigate the room.
In the end what was Nuruhachi’s objective in the Demon Lord’s Labyrinth I wonder.
Chiharu holds the answer to that.
That’s the feeling I have.
Chiharu points her two hands towards the wall.
“Release”
With her murmur, light flows from Chiharu’s hands.
That light hits the wall and spreads, causing it disappear as if melting.
I swallow my spit.
Reia and End also do not make a sound, staring fixedly beyond the wall.
A new room was behind it.
Blooming on all the surfaces of the room are blue flowers.
And, as if enclosed by those flowers, is a giant pillar-like lump of ice in the centre.
It was a fantastical scene, enough to make me forget that we are in the deepest parts of an underground dungeon for a moment.
“That’s!”
Reia cries out.
In my surprise, my voice won’t come out.
In the lump of ice, as if sleeping, she was there.
Not wearing a single piece of clothing, her arms crossed around herself, hiding her breasts.
The bottom half is covered by her long hair giving a mysterious look.
“Why are you in this place……”
I finally let my voice out and confirm.
There’s no mistaking it, this face is…..
“Nuruhachi”
Nuruhachi, who was said to have died in a fight with Alice, was right there.
I stand still in shock, dumbfounded by this development.
Reia and End also stay still, observing Nuruhachi within the ice.
Amidst this, Chiharu walks up and puts her hand on the ice.
“Wrong. This isn’t Nuruhachi”
Her voice is trembling slightly.
Perhaps with anger, perhaps with sadness, Chiharu gazes at Nuruhachi within the ice with a complicated expression.
“This is the Demon Lord. The true body of the Demon Lord without its soul”
Alice, Nuruhachi, The Demon Lord, and me.
The sound of something clicks.
After ten years, the frozen gears have begun to turn again.
Translator’s Notes:
Just a brief note that last chapter I translated Sacred Sword Excalibur as Holy Sword Excalibur. It doesn’t really make a difference but I used sacred sword in another chapter a while back so I’ve changed it to sacred sword for consistencies sake.
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That plot twist though.. thanks so much for the chapter!
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