Ryuu Kusari no Ori -Kokoro no Uchi no “Kokoro”

Somia's POV

I, Somiliana, can only be frustrated, important people are hurt in front of my sight.

Tima-san and Mars-san are full of wounds trying to help me who couldn't do anything.

Ane-sama is still fighting, but her beautiful body has a number of scars running on it.

An incarnation of death that descends in front of me, ignoring my older sister and trying to reap my soul.

My body trembled and my voice became hoarse due to the impending death.

"Fear"

Fear clings to me with the Grim Reaper’s chains that binds me, and the coldness as ice and snow deprives my body of freedom.

The scythe was swung to tear my body apart.

"Tsu!"

I close my eyes tightly as to escape from the pain that causes me to die.  I could only close my eyes and escape from reality.

………… But no matter how long it takes, the pain does not come. When I wondered and opened my eyes, there is a man's back, not a grim reaper.

The back is not big at all.

But above anything else, for me, it looks big and reliable.

***

Nozomu was laid Ena down in a vacant room, brought out the weapons, and returned to where Somia and the others were.

He saw Rugato's familiar, who was about to swing his scythe down.

Nozomu immediately sends his Qi to the katana, cuts off both arms of the familiar with "Phantom", and cuts the familiar with the returning slash.

"Nozomu ... san?"

Somia called out to Nozomu to make sure, but he couldn't afford to answer that question. He is not allowed to be negligent towards the opponent in front of him now

Rugato looked at Nozomu, who had cut off the contract familiar, with a surprised expression.

"... How come, the contract familiar can be defeated with one slash..."

Both Irisdina and Tima have their eyes wide open.  Only one person, Mars, was looking at him with a stunned expression.

Nozomu lowers Mars's greatsword on his back and kicks it towards Mars.

The greatsword slides on the floor and reaches Mars's side.

"Good grief ......... You're late ..."

Mars picks up the greatsword while complaining. However, his hands were bloody and his legs quivered, making it impossible to continue the battle.

"……Sorry"

"…………Hmm"

"But I defeated the contract familiar. Now the contract is ..."

When Nozomu muttered, the fragments of the arm decoration, which was the core of the familiar he crushed, floated and began to gather in the air.

"Na!"

The fragments gathered in the air were dyed jet black and became a mass of black light and began to pulsate.

From that state, Nozomu and the others could see that the grim reaper was about to revive.

"Wh, Why ........."

"The familiar will be revived as many times as I have the contract."

"... Are you going to take Somia-chan no matter what?"

"Yes, that is the decree of my Lord."

Rugato answers immediately without hesitation. He has no doubts about what he is trying to do. Nozomu's voice naturally becomes rough due to that attitude.

"Why! The people in question didn't know anything about the contract 300 years ago! Do you think that such a contract will be accepted !? The content of the contract is only to return the Furnace of Spiritual Flame! There is no mention of bringing Somia-chan's soul! "

Nozomu does not understand the obligations of the noble family or the circumstances of the Francilt Family 300 years ago.

But Nozomu finds it unacceptable to sacrifice Somia unilaterally, who doesn't know anything and leave everything to the child.

"To be honest, I wasn't informed until I confirmed it right now that the Furnace of Spiritual Flame was fused with Somia-sama's soul. My lord also doesn't attach much importance to this contract. Rather, I should say He's not interested ... "

"If it's the case!"

"But the contract has already been signed. Once it has been signed, it is absolute."

Rugato made a clear statement without waiting for Nozomu's words.

"It's true that the Furnace of Spiritual Flame has merged with Somia-sama's soul and probably can't be peeled off anymore. But that doesn't mean we didn't have a contract. Once a contract is broken, it can be blamed on the credibility, dignity, and in some cases, hostility of both parties. Even if He's not interested, my Lord wouldn't be silent if the contract was unilaterally violated. The Francilt Family also wants to avoid making this secret agreement public ... "

"I don't care about that! Let go of Somia!"

Rugato puts a threat in polite words, but Irisdina dismisses it.

For her, her little sister in front of her is the most irreplaceable treasure, more than the people in the household who were drowning in money and power.

“………………………”

Rugato's atmosphere who was watching the situation changed.

“………….. In our country, strength is the most important thing.”

It was for that reason that the Dizart Empire was founded, the stronger it is, the more revered and respected it is. Even if you suffer damage, it is forgiven if the other party is strong. It's their national custom.

"If you can't accept this contract then..."

Magical power overflows from Rugato's body. That attitude was clearly stated, "this is the final warning".

He will definitely come to kill if Nozomu and the others resist any further.

"Prove yourself stronger than me!"

"Just break this contract with your strength", Rugato declared. 

In front of Rugato who became serious, Nozomu also holds his katana. Irisdina also came to Nozomu and talked to him.

"... Nozomu-kun. How many more times can you use the previous technique?"

"... There aren't many. The limit is a few more shots."

Nozomu's Qi is low under the Ability Suppression. No matter how much he wants to use it, he can't really use the technique that works for that opponent.

"... I'm sorry, but I can't beat Rugato. I'm counting on you. Rugato's black ball is probably manipulating the contract familiar ... Please. Destroy his blackball."

"... I understand. I will go."

Nozomu responded to Irisdina's sincere wish, but his voice was trembling somehow.

His opponent is a fierce man of the same S rank as his master. He hesitated to fight such an outrageous opponent

(I will fight now. I have no choice but to fight !!)

Forcibly suppressing his own hesitation using the current situation as an excuse, Nozomu sprinted toward Rugato, while applying physical strengthening to himself. 

Rugato's ten fingers move as if playing an instrument in the air and draw a formation again. Ten magic bullets are fired at Nozomu from the formation drawn in the air.

The ten magic bullets approached trying to wear Nozomu out, but they were prevented by the five magic bullets that flew from behind Nozomu.

Irisdina, who was behind Nozomu, immediately deployed five magic bullets to offset Rugato's magic bullets.

However, she was able to offset only 5 magic bullets, and the remaining 5 were approaching Nozomu.

Nozomu thrusts into Rugato, focusing his attention on his legs, and explodes.

Qi technique "Instant Move -Kusemai-"

Nozomu runs through between the five magic bullets and approaches Rugato. He slashes as it is, but Rugato quickly draws a magic formation and forms a blood sword. Hold the sword in his right hand to prevent Nozomu from slashing. Nozomu took it for granted that he could be prevented, so he fired a series of attacks.

Diagonal slash, left round up, right slash, left slash.

He uses his whole body muscles without waste and connects his movements without stopping.

On the other hand, Rugato uses a blood sword in one hand to quickly prevent it. The movement is certainly fast, but unlike Nozomu's movement, it is straight and uneven. Perhaps Rugato isn't very good at close combat. Nozomu is better than him for pure swordsmanship.

However, Rugato, who has extraordinary physical ability, does not make such a difference in skill. By correcting his useless movements, calculating and moving even the time spent on the useless movements, Nozomu's continuous attacks can be prevented.

That work can be done because of his overwhelming experience.

"Ku!"

Despite the distance that the opponent is not good at, Nozomu's face is distorted because he can't attack.

Rugato draws a formation with his left hand, that does not have a sword. Nozomu sees the magic formation drawn at his feet and breaks away with a quick move.

At the same time as Nozomu left, a dark flame erupted from the magic formation. If he had stayed there, his bones would have been burned.

Due to the wide distance, Rugato shoots magic bullets at Nozomu in rapid succession. Nozomu cannot repel the magic bullet from the front like Mars, so he hits the side of the magic bullet and deflects the orbit.

However, due to the large number of magic bullets that could not be handled, and before he was pushed out, he repeated the full speed movement with an instant move.

Rugato tries to chase further, but this time Irisdina slashes from the other side, so Rugato handles with the blood sword of his right hand.

"Waaaaaaa!"

Irisdina wields her rapier continuously. It is elegant and there is no waste to her movement. Her rapier is shining faintly, perhaps with enhanced magic, and every time Rugato handles it with his blood sword, magical elements and sparks scatter.

When Nozomu sees Rugato, who has stopped moving, he sheathes the katana he had pulled out. Immediately after the katana was sheathed, he sent his Qi to the sword and compressed it in just half a second.

Rugato, who was slashing with Irisdina, also noticed this and deployed a magic formation with his left hand. Double the magic barrier in half a second.

Nozomu pulls out the sword. The extremely compressed air blade flies at high speed and lands on the magic formation developed by Rugato. The blade cuts through the first barrier and explodes in the middle of the second barrier. The barrier is fatally destroyed and dispersed.

Nozomu's returned katana slashes at Rugato, but Rugato's left hand moves faster, and the constructed magic formation creates a blood sword.

The "Phantom -Return-" released by Nozomu in pursuit is parried by sending a huge amount of magical power to the blood sword.

The two teamed up to sandwich Rugato from both sides, but despite Rugato's only using one hand, Nozomu and Irisdina couldn't push him.

"Hha!"

"Uwa! Kuh"

When Rugato put his strength in for a moment and turned his body, Nozomu and Irisdina were blown off like a toy.

As soon as Rugato let go of his blood sword, he built a formation with both hands. Shoot countless magic bullets at them.

The two managed to handle it, but by all means, they were almost have nothing left. Nozomu's energy is exhausted because he is fully strengthening his body, and the number of times he can release phantoms gradually decreases. Irisdina is also very tired because she has been fighting with all her might.

When he noticed, they were separated by a considerable distance. He doesn't have enough power anymore, he has to settle it with one more blow.

Nozomu kept the idea in his chest and spoke to Irisdina.

"Ha~aha~a......... Irisdna-san, how much more can you attack with all your might?"

"Fu~ū .... Well, I think it's limited to one more time."

Nozomu tells Irisdina so that his thoughts cannot be heard by others. She was surprised at first,

"......... I will open the path. After that ... I leave it to you."

"…………All right"

After confirmation, Nozomu thrusts into Rugato with a quick move. Immediately, a magic bullet approaches, but Nozomu tries to dodge it with Instant Move -Kusemai- but the number of magic bullets is too large to dodge and he got hit.

"Kuh!"

Severe pain ran in the area where it was hit and blood came out, but Nozomu continued to dodge it by enduring the pain.

On the other side, Irisdina continues to dodge the same magical bullets. It's the same one-sided development as before, but this is also assumed by Nozomu and others.

The question is how to escape the rain of that magic bullet and bring it into close-quarter combats. The method has already been set up in Nozomu's mind, but the problem is Qi. The technique he is going to use is a bold move beyond his Ability Suppression. With one use, most of his Qi will be exhausted. If he uses it in the current state of being exhausted in battle, he may die himself.

Return the scabbard to the waist belt, raise the left hand, and send a large amount of Qi into the left hand. Because he concentrated on one point, which was several times more than the previous phantom, it emits a fierce light with the Qi of the left hand.

"Mu!" 

Rugato's expression changes to the scene, but Nozomu slams his left hand on the ground regardless.

Qi technique "Light of Extinction"

At the next moment, Rugato's feet burst, and a torrent of light wrapped Rugato.

***

Nozomu's POV

"Gu~u~u~uu~u~u!"

I’m in a state of danger to my own life activity due to the release of Qi beyond the limit, as the Qi suddenly disappears and the line of sight becomes dark.

Light of Extinction has the greatest range of effect among the techniques I have. If Rugato-san is within this range of effect, he will not be able to attack us and will have no choice but to defend himself.

Irisdina-san is already preparing for the next attack.

A number of magic formations emerged on her rapier, and black magic light undulates violently on the blade.

It is a simple decision for her to do. It is a stack of enhanced magic. By applying the strengthening magic many times, the explosive power is finally launched. It's the same kind of technique that I have, "Rinne Kaiten".

However, the activation time is incredibly fast and accurate. It takes a considerable amount of time to maximize the power of the "Rinne Kaiten", but she has the ability of Immediate Deployment, and she activates the strengthening magic at a speed that is incomparable to me.

Magic sword "Lunar Eclipse"

Eventually, her magic is completed. A magic sword was created there. The jet-black magical power wraps around the blade, although it emits waves of darkness, the blade of the sword itself shines white, like a comet shining in the dark night.

Irisdina steps in. I canceled the Light of Extiction at the timing when she wielded her sword. A comet wrapped in darkness cut through the remnants of the torrent of light.

"Na~!"

Irisdina leaks her voice and stops moving completely in an unexpected situation. There was no Rugato in the space she had torn. Her whole magic sword only cut through the void in vain.

"Wh,where ... kyaa!" 

A magic bullet rushing from her blind spot in a hurry, overlooking the surrounding, lands and blows her away. Four magic formations are deployed around her, and the magic formation summons chains. It has detained her.

"Wh, what is this ... guh!"

Nozomu is confused by the unexpected situation, but in the meantime, like Irisdina, he was restrained by magic.

When Nozomu looked around, black shadows were flying around.

If you look closely, it was a bat that was flying around. The flying bats eventually gathered in one place, from which Rugato appeared. He turned his body into bats and escaped the Light of Extinction. He restrained Irisdina in the gap of a big move.

Nozomu concluded that Rugato had transformed into bats. Perhaps he is ...

"Vampire…………"

"Yes, that's right, I'm a vampire." 

Vampire.

There are a wide variety of races on the Arcmeal Continent, but among them, the vampire is a race that has top-class potential.

Extraordinary physical ability, enormous magical power, extremely long life, and a wide variety of different abilities. The ability to turn one's body into bats is also a vampire's unique ability.

Although the number of individuals is small, its ability is extremely high.

However, because of its high ability, it has a history of being persecuted for fear of having to drink the blood of others in order to live.

In fact, the Dizart Empire itself is a country founded by a group of such persecuted races.

Nozomu looks at Rugato again. His crimson eyes are certainly one of the characteristics of a vampire.

However, everything was too late as he learned now. Everyone has already been detained or forced into incapacitated and there is no way to do it anymore.

Looking at Nozomu and the others who couldn't do anything, Rugato went to Somia.

***

Iris's POV

The old man goes to Somia, and I can't do anything in front of it.

"Ku! Get off! Get off!"

I desperately tried to remove the magic that restrained me. Maybe this magic has the effect of suppressing the opponent's magical power, and I can't refine my own magical power.

When the old man activates his magic, the contract familiar is revived.

"Ah ... stop, stop it ..."

Remembering what the familiar in front of me would bring, I became very emotional.

"Stop! Stop it! If you want a soul, take my soul! So stop taking Somia's !!"

Desperately begging, but the old man and familiar did not seem to stop. When the familiar turned its hand to Somia, Somia's soul slowly popped out. Perhaps she hasn't been completely disconnected from her body yet, part of her soul is connected to her body, but Somia's complexion is lifeless.

"Ah ... st, stop ........." 

The most important treasure. It was Somia that kept me from losing sight of myself in a house swirling with desires.

Somia who was following me from behind while saying Ane-sama, Ane-sama. My irreplaceable little sister who always smiled and said she loved me.

Somia's death.

Her body collapses in front of me. I have no strength in my whole body and can only keep watching the sight of my little sister being killed.

Please. Anyone is fine, you can do anything to me. My body, my soul, everything I have, I can give it all!

So ... so, please .........

"Someone ... please. Help me ........."

***

Nozomu's POV

Nozomu bites his lips.

There was an element that could be inferred that Rugato was a vampire. However, he overlooked it and it became an irreversible situation.

No, if he had released the Ability Suppression from the beginning, neither Mars nor Tima might have suffered any extra injuries ...

Only regret tightens his chest.

That's always the case. I can't do anything important.

I can't move on from my relationship with Lisa. Knowing the power of dragonslayer, I'm afraid of being rejected, and I can't tell people who are worried about me. After all, it's self-protection.

By "keeping an eye on the fact that I'm running away" that Shishō taught me, I became aware that I had run away, but even in such a case, I can't move forward.

Suddenly, when I looked up, I saw Rugato standing beside Somia-chan and Irisdina-san who kept screaming.

When Rugato drew a formation, the familiar that had become a mass of black light in the air revived. When it goes to Somia-chan, it points its hand with only white bones toward Somia-chan.

Then, a lump of white light slowly popped out from Somia-chan's chest, which was silent in fear.

The light is connected to Somia-chan's chest with a string that also glows white. Maybe that is her soul.

Somia-chan's face turns pale and she is unconscious. 

It is a dead face ………… Yes, the same as Shishō at that time …….

I still feel sad when I remember that time. I couldn't help Shishō. Even if I get the power, I still couldn't help Shishō.

But I didn't regret it.

Shishō was laughing at the end.

She was "satisfied," she said. She said she had no regrets.

It's still sad that Shishō died, but I was able to accept Shishō's feelings.

Then how about now? Is it okay to just watch Somia-chan's death as it is?

Somia-chan lost her vitality after her soul being pulled out. Irisdina-san who hangs her head down.

It's not good. At least I can't accept this ending!!!

At that time, there was a sudden voice.

"Someone ... please. Help me........." 

What I heard was Irisdina's worn-out plea. A weak voice that can't be imagined from the usual her.

The moment I heard it. When I noticed, I released all the anguish I had so far and released my Ability Suppression.

***

Rugato's POV

Explosive power overruns the surroundings. A torrent of Qi that easily swept away my magical power and rampaged as if to say, "Don't do as you pleases."

"Na!!!"

When I turned to the source of the raging power in a hurry, there was a boy who cut off the familiar of the contract.

The boy tears off my restraint magic like scraps of paper, and he wipes it out of the spot.

The next moment. The boy is above the familiar.

The katana held in his waist is pulled out, and the familiar is torn again without my knowledge and disperses.

I hurriedly took a distance and saw the boy. His appearance hasn't changed, but his power has risen by orders of magnitude.

Certainly, I was impressed with his skill. Excellent swordsmanship and outstanding control of Qi. The contract familiar is a powerful familiar that has only been created by the former Lord and can reach A rank if ranked. 

I knew he had enough weapons to watch out for, given that he had defeated it with one slash, but, I didn't think he could beat me.

His movement was accurate, but it was too slow. His skill and his physical ability were not balanced, and he was excessively mismatched.

However, I couldn't see his movement even though I wasn't careful about the previous movement.

Looking at his companions, their faces were also astonished and petrified.

They also seem to know nothing about the boy's current state.

I recognized him as an enemy that should be defeated immediately. I use ten fingers to cast multiple spells at the same time.

A storm of magic bullets attacks the boy, but the boy leaves with a quick move. The speed is orders of magnitude faster, and I can see almost no afterimage.

The released magic bullets land on the wall or floor without grazing him, and it only vacantly rolls up the rubble.

I activate magic in quick succession regardless. I not only shoot magic bullets, but also shoots flames from the floor and manipulates blood swords to slash him, but he draws a fast and complex curved trajectory and dodges all the magic that I have released, or handles it with a sword.

I couldn't believe the sight. I've never seen anyone move at such a high speed and make such a complicated curve movement.

I know that his technique is an instant move, but with such an explosive acceleration, he should only be able to move linearly!

Agitated that my magic is slightly less accurate.

The next moment he rushed in without hesitation.

Despite this magical interception, he erased the distance between us and started slashing.

I took my blood sword and tried to push him back ………….

(Ku !! I can't push him at all!)

My specs as a race should be far superior, but I can't push him.

No, rather, I'm starting to be pushed, and his sword is gradually approaching.

If it remains as it is, I thought I would be pushed out, I poured excessive magical power into the blade of the blood sword and exploded it.

I was blown away by the impact of the explosion, and my body was innumerably injured, but as a vampire, if I have such injuries, it will heal immediately. In that gap, I tried to get further away, but the boy cut through the smoke of the explosion and slashes.

Given the boy's skill and current ability, I have no chance of winning in close-quarter combats. While concentrating my magical power on my feet and leaving, I cast magic, but he still dodges and dealt with it.

I'm not very good at close-quarter combats, I give top priority to getting away from him, and devote all my magical power to speeding up.

We are slashing at each other while moving at high speed, but the exchange is completely won by the boy. For me, who is moving in a straight line and the shortest distance, the boy takes a curved movement, so the distance traveled should be longer than mine, but he is caught up and attacked unilaterally.

"Gu! Ttsu! ~Tsua!!"

The boy's slashing while entwining like a snake was extremely fierce, and wounds were carved into my body without being able to handle it.

"!Oh no!" 

And finally, my destination was predicted and he was ahead of me.

My foot was stopped and I was slashed as it was, completely, I was no match at all.

While further wounds were carved into my body, I suddenly transformed my body into innumerable bats. The boy's slash slashes the sky without reaching the countless bats.

I just sent the bats to the boy. Countless fangs and claws attack the boy, who skillfully uses his sword and scabbard to shoot down the bats.

However, he begins to be pushed by the overwhelming number of bats, and the boy's body is gradually damaged.

The bats rushed to swallow the boy as it was. However, the moment the boy slammed his fist on the ground, the lights burned down the bats.

"Guaaaaah!"

I got literally burned, I return from a bats state to a humanoid. Smoke rises from my whole body, and the smell of burning meat fills my body.

The boy was ready to pursue when he noticed that the pain was so severe.

An enormous amount of Qi was sent to the sheathed sword.

I feel chills like never before and I do my best to develop barriers.

I have developed four magic barriers that can withstand advanced magic. Generally speaking, only the largest ceremonial magic attack that can break through this barrier.

However, that only my wishful thinking.

The sword that was pulled out and the extremely compressed blade that was released at the same time cut the quadruple magic barrier effortlessly and cut the black ball and the contract together that on my body.

***

Nozomu's POV

The Qi technique "Phantom" cuts off Rugato's body. It seems that the black ball was cut off together, and the familiar who was trying to revive disappeared, and at the same time, the chain that bound Somia-chan disappeared.

It seems that Irisdina-san has also been released, and she rushes to Somia-chan.

Her facial expression, which was tense at first, looked relieved when she checked Somia-chan's appearance, so she seems to be okay.

When I turned my eyes back to Rugato-san, I walked towards him. He is surprisingly still alive, even though he was cut off from his right shoulder to his left hip.

"Fu ... fufu. A vampire like me ... heart ... innards ... brain ......... unless it's destroyed ... I won't die."

I was surprised and relieved at the same time. No matter how one-sided it was, it wasn't pleasant to be a murderer. The question is whether he is still aiming for Somia-chan ………….

"Fufu, don't worry. You ... beat me. That's why ... I won't take Somia-sama ... anyway ... to manipulate the familiar. The magical tools were also destroyed along with the contract. This effectively made the contract fulfillment ... impossible. The rest ... will be settled in discussions between the Waziarts and the Francilts. "

Nozomu exhales at Rugato's words and sits down as if it was finally over. Suddenly, the Francilt sisters holding hands come to us with the others. Regardless of how difficult it is to explain my strength, I was happy that the two smiles were protected now.