1.7 Maou’s Castle and Sora

The door to Maou’s Castle opens on its own for no reason.  Is this a trap?  Sora, having just finished a fierce, life threatening, battle with Cerberus, is near his limit and therefore, more cautious.  Regardless, he strolls inside without hesitation.  Yami holds Sura as she follows behind him.

The chandeliers hanging from the ceiling brighten as he enters as if they were waiting for him.  In the middle of the room is a large statue of Elias.  Next to the statue is a set of large, black, doors.  A closer look reveals that both halves are already opened.  Spread over the floor is a red carpet.

How surprising.  Sora expected Maou’s Castle to be a filthy place.  It’s practically the opposite.  There is no blood or skeletons anywhere.  Heck, there isn’t even a speck of dust.  This place is way too clean.

While Sora is distracted by the castle’s cleanliness, an akuma appears before him.  His eyes are small and sharp, with beautiful blue pupils.  The short beige hair on his head is parted by two horns.  From the way the horns grow, the akuma almost looks like a knight.

Yami hurries to get in front of Sora in order to attack if needed, but the action is soon rendered moot.

The akuma says, “Dai Maou-sama has ordered that no one is to lay a hand on you.  We have no intention of harming you.”

Yami tilts her head at the explanation.

Makes sense, I told her we’d be going to Maou’s Castle, but I never mentioned anything about Dai Maou Elias.

Sora place his hand on Yami’s right shoulder, pon, as he steps past her.  He says to the akuma, “I understand, but did you show up for any reason in particular?”

“Dai Maou-sama ordered me to bring you to her.  Please, come with me.”

“Understood.”

The akuma turns for the door upon hearing the reply.  Sora follows after, saying to Yami, “Let’s go.”

The akuma comes to a stop before a door and knocks.  The door opens on its own.  Wait, an akuma wrapped in a robe opened it from the inside.

Inside is a large staircase covered with a red carpet.  Sora looks around as they climb and notices that various paintings decorate the wall.  They range from being mysterious to depicting acts of cruelty.  At the end of the staircase is an enormous painting where the path splits left and right.  The akuma leads right.

Various doors line the corridor.  I wonder what’s inside them.  The akuma then places his hand on the wall and, kururi, the wall flips around and takes the akuma with it.

A hidden room!  That’s so cool…

Sora places his hand on the same spot as the akuma and, kururi, he, Yami, and Sura are also swallowed by the wall.  Before them is a long passageway.  The heavy fog makes measuring the exact length impossible.

The akuma seems to have gone ahead, leaving Sora and his group to continue on their own.  A large door soon comes into view.  The akuma from earlier stands before it.

The akuma says, “We’ve arrived, step inside.”

“Understood.”  Sora tries to open the door with his right hand, piku, but can’t.  The akuma is reluctant, but helps him.

—Gogogo

The door makes a loud scrapping sounds as it slides over the floor.  The first thing Sora notices upon entering is a beautiful stained glass.  The second thing he notices is a round table.  Seated around the table are 6 akuma.  While most glare at him, one watches him with a warm expression.  I know that silver hair and those purple eyes— it’s Dai Maou Elias.

Sora, possessing Elias’s memories, should also be familiar with the akuma surrounding her, but is currently too tired to check.

Elias destroys the tension hanging in the room by saying, “Like I thought, it’s Sora~!”

A pale, black haired, akuma says to Elias, “Dai Maou-sama, are you acquainted with this human (inferior being)?”

Elias stands up and lifts the akuma by his head.  All of the other akuma are shocked by her actions.  Sora too is unable to look away.  Her grave warning is a complete flip from how she destroyed the tension earlier.  She says, “Watch your mouth.  Next time, I’ll kill you.”

The real Elias can be terrifying.  This is the Dai Maou…

Elias releases the pale, black haired, akuma and approaches Sora.  She glances towards his missing left shoulder and despite the tension says, “Who stole it~?  Hold on, was it that queen~?”

“No, this… is the result of a fierce battle.”

“A fierce battle?  Against what~?”

“I fought a Cerberus on Deekos Volcano.”

“Cerberus!?  That’s, really impressive~.  Did you come visit so we could play~?”

“Sorry, actually—”  Sora explains his confusion about the Dai Maou’s divine protection, the evil eye, and her memories.

“I see~.  The fastest way to understand about my divine protection and my memories is by fighting!~”

The surrounding akuma panic at Elias’s words.  Could the thought of her fighting be that nerve wracking?

“No, that’s somewhat impossible right now.”

“Really~?”

“Right now, as you can see, I’m completely at my limit.”

“Ye~ah~, you are!  Rose, restore Sora’s stamina~.  Vera, [create] a new arm for him~ and make it marvelous~.”

“I understand.”

“Of course!”

A blond akuma with a gradient styled haircut and golden pupils with a slight droop to them steps up to Sora. “Beecome, lively!”

Sora’s stamina replenishes itself in an instant.  She must be Rose.  He says, “Thank you very much!”

Rose says, “Fu~n, giving gratitude to an akuma… you’re quite the pleasant child.  No wonder Dai Maou-sama is please with you.”  She then returns to her seat.

An akuma with crimson hair shaped in a gradient bob cut style and crimson pupils walks up to Sora next.

She must be Vera.

Vera speaks in a harsh tone.  “What’s your name?”

Sora’s first inclination is to name himself as Sora Kouki, but then recalls his name change.  He says, “…. Sora = Basard.”

The various akuma in the room shrink back, zawa zawa, at the revelation.  Vera looks back to Elias and says, “Dai Maou-sama, did you grant him your name?”

“Yep, that’s right~.”

“Wha! … So that’s what happened.”  Vera turns back to Sora.  She keeps the same disrespectful tone as she says, “Sora = Basard, I’ll be assembling a new arm for you starting from your left shoulder from now on.”

She’s going to assemble… an arm for me?

Vera takes out a black lump of something and places it on the wound created by Sora’s missing shoulder.  The jet black flames Yami placed there earlier incinerate the material.

Vera says, “Huh!  This…”  She then sees Yami.  “I see, this is your doing… Will you lift the fire?  Rose rehabilitated him so his arm is fine now.”

Yami says, “…..Fine.”

Just how amazing is Yami?

Vera takes out another black lump and places it against Sora’s wound.  The material changes shape, taking the form of a shoulder, an arm, and finally a hand.  The color remains black, but has blood red lines running through it.

To Sora’s surprise, he can move it.  He first tests it by moving his shoulder and ends by clenching and unclenching his fist.  He says, “This is amazing… Thank you very much!”

Vera says, “By the way, this item is for the exclusive use of Sora = Basard.  It becomes stronger with your emotions,” and returns to her seat.

Elias says, “Alright, let’s fight~.  First, how about we move places~?”  The scenery changes with her words.  There are no buildings, just withered trees.  She brought everyone in the room to Di Nodel.

Sora pets Yami and Sura before facing Elias and drawing his weapons.

Elias holds her hand out to the other akuma and says, “Well then, let’s fight~.  Oh~, don’t worry about dying, I’ll resurrect you afterwards~.”

“Fuu, I won’t die!  Let’s do this— physical strengthening [Body Reinforcement]!”  Sora dashes towards Elias and swings with the short sword in his right hand.

Elias stops the charge by grabbing the blade.

Sora says, “Wha!?”

As expected of the Dai Maou…  Except—!

Elias says, “You’re fast~, just~, not fast eno— Kyaa!”

Sora slashes Elias’s cheek with the blade in his left hand.  He then pulls his other blade free and creates some distance from her.

The scratch on Elias’s cheek heals as she says, “How terrible~, that actually hurt?”

Sora charges again to thrust with his blade as he says, “You’re going to hurt more!”

Elias once more stops him by grabbing his weapon.  Sora anticipated the action and activates a skill.  “—Envelop my sword!  Dark magic [Darkness Sorcery]!”

A black flame covers Sora’s sword and incinerates Elias’s hand.  He then goes to stab Elias— She vanished?  “What the?”

“What’s with~ that fire?  Isn’t it a bit strong?”  Elias voice drifts into his ear from behind.

Sora turns around and discovers that her hand had regenerated.  While he wonders how he’s going to defeat her, Elias says, “I guess~ it’s time for me to fight back~.”

“Eh!  Try it!”

Elias hurls a withered tree towards Sora while saying, “Hora hora~, you’ll die if you don’t try your hardest to dodge~.”

Sora makes a frantic leap to the side while saying, “Damn it!”

“You did it~.  In that case, how about this~?”  Elias hurls multiple trees at Sora.

Sora realizes he can’t avoid them and activates a skill.  “Gravity manipulation [Gravity Control]!”  The trees are forces down into the ground.  The sight of the trees being forced down reminds him of his anger—

Elias says, “You did it~!  Then, how about this~?”  She conjures spheres of ice, fire, water, darkness, and light over her head and flings them at Sora.

He avoids the ice sphere, but gets hit by the fire sphere.  The strike drops him onto the ground, allowing the water, darkness, and light spheres to hit.  Even though blood flows from his body, he’s lucky.  If not because of physical strengthening [Body Reinforcement], those spheres would have gone straight through me.

“Oh~, you with stood it~, in that case—”

“Not a chance!  Gravity manipulation [Gravity Control]!”  Just like when Cerberus bit him, he crushes Elias’s internal organs with gravity.

—Busha

Elias coughs out blood as she’s forced onto the ground.  –The blood returns back into her body and she rises as though nothing had happened.  She says, “Nope~, I never thought there’d be a technique like that~.  You surprised me.”

“Shit!  Will something work….?  Fine—”  Sora engulfs his short sword with jet black flames and thrusts at Elias.  She stops him.  Sora then slashes with his left, but Elias also catches it.  All according to plan.

Elias says, “This again~?  I like it~.”

“How about this!”  Sora focuses on his left hand and “physical strengthening [Body Reinforcement]!”  He plunges the blade into Elias’s stomach.

Elias says, “Ugh!  What did you do—”

Niyari, an eerie smile floats across Sora’s face as he says, “—It’s over!”

A/N: Okay, this chapter left an open question.  What anger was Sora reminded of earlier?  I’m assuming it has to do with the queen.  I’m also assuming it has to do with that smile of his at the end.  Still, I would like to know what his classmates are up to.  Have they fried any giant shrimps, barbequed dragon back ribs, made kraken styled calamari?  Just what have they been eating these past few days?

Anyway, I miss reading about Yun-chan’s adventures in OSO.

-Gandire Alea