Welcome to the Impregnable Demon King Castle

227 – All Together Against the Unyielding Knight

Honestly, I thought we had already won.

Because the plan could not have gone any more perfectly.

In fact, it was going well.

Fenix’s Holy Sword approached Astrea and…should have slashed and burned her.

Just before it hit her, Astrea’s body twitched.

There are two reasons.

There are possibly two reasons why she was able to move in this situation.

The first being that she had already predicted this and possessed magic resistance.

Just like how Paladins and Holy Paladins have magic resistance, she may also possess that Aptitude. Well, she pretty much already has it since she’s a Hero but she probably has an especially high Aptitude for it.

It’s also possible that she has a Magic Tool, but at any rate, this could be the reason for her strangely quick response.

Even if I, myself, am spending Magical Energy to offset the Invisible Pressure, to break free from it this fast is…

And the reason she was able to immediately respond to Fenix’s Holy Sword is…

This explanation is even simpler and even more astonishing.

Pure reflexes.

The moment her awareness was interrupted and suddenly returned, there was a sword about to cut her right before her eyes for some reason.

In that situation, she readied her sword rather than be surprised.

However, my Blank Space was surely worth something.

She managed to sandwich her Holy Sword in between Fenix’s Holy Sword and her own body.

That’s right, this wasn’t a counter or a defensive move, but rather her body simply reacting by reading her blade.

This meant that Fenix’s pressure applied through his Holy Sword forced her own sword to cut into her right shoulder.

「Despite receiving Lem’s Black Magic…」

「…I felt as if time itself flew away.」

She reduced the gravitational pull on herself and she floated up even higher.

「Think you can get away?」

「I do, yes.」

My body continues to fall.

That’s not the only thing falling.

With the gravity manipulation canceled when she was affected by Blank Space earlier, even the tower she made…fell.

「Uh…hey Bella, you got any more Magical Energy left to freeze things?」

「It is said that to deceive your enemy, you must first deceive your allies. The exchange we just had was designed to disguise my role.」

「…」

「Kidding.」

「Ahaha, joking, huh? Alright then, let’s do this. Fran, you go catch Lem.」

「Mm.」

Those three will be fine, probably. I’ll let Fran take care of catching me.

Fenix chased after Astrea by emitting flames but this isn’t an ideal position.

Rather, it is correct to aim for the shortest distance between them. You don’t want to give her any more time in this situation.

But that’s exactly why she escaped upwards.

To lure a bird down a bad path in the sky.

By floating higher than Fenix, she can pile on her Invisible Pressure without reservation and if he still continues to approach, she can intercept him with her Holy Sword in her remaining right arm.

「Fall, Flame Hero.」

「You would have to pluck my wings with your own two hands if that is what you desire.」

「If there are no other options, I’ll do just that.」

She probably increased the gravity on her own Holy Sword.

I wonder what would happen when the two Holy Swords collide.

The flames that once enveloped Fenix’s Holy Sword were already put out.

He was already at his limit when he attacked her earlier and now while he’s chasing after her.

This isn’t a matter of Fenix’s Magical Energy ability. That guy is excellent in that area too.

But the amount required to offset the gravitational forces were too great. He and Wraith were the two who fought with Astrea the longest, so it’s understandable.

Astrea raises her Holy Sword overhead.

Fenix closes in on her.

And that’s when it happened.

「…」

An arrow pierces the Scales of Justice’s right hand.

「How was that, Lem?」

It was Lily.

Lark, Lily, Josh, and Melania were certainly able to regroup.

After that, Lark covers Lily with his shield to hide her from Astrea’s sight.

Utilizing the time there was a lot of dust flying around, Lily moved and hid behind Melania.

As far as Astrea knew, Lily was still behind Lark.

Estimating the right time to do it, Josh used his White Magic to increase Melania’s physical strength and she then picked up Lily and…threw her toward the sky.

After that, she took aim at Astrea just as she was applying her Invisible Pressure onto Fenix and fired.

My eyes met Lily’s.

「It was perfect.」

She giggled slightly.

「Indeed, well done, Lily.」

Muttered Fenix.

Astrea’s Holy Sword fell out of her hand and flew by Fenix.

Fenix flew higher than Astrea, reversing their earlier positions, and brought his Holy Sword down.

「It is you who will fall.」

「…So it seems.」

For a moment, the burning Holy Sword erupted in flames as if it was about to explode, as if trying to muster its last strength.

「…」

Receiving the slash at her chest area, Astrea falls rapidly from her great heights to the ground.

As she crashed into solid ground, dirt and mud flew everywhere.

And then, almost as a reminder, the live commentary rang in my ears.

『Th-th-there’s the match…!!! By banding together, the captain of the knights, the Scales of Justice Astrea, who showed tremendous ability, has now fallen to the ground…!!!』

『……gasp I-I forgot to breathe for a second there…! A-and then~! The match is over! It’s time out~!』

『Who could have possibly imagined that the fight would turn out like this?! Ten people have survived! ……Hm?』

『Huh…? Ten…? Huh~? R-really?』

Wraith and Bella stopped the tower, which is now not a Holy Sword and just a giant lump of dirt, with a big lump of ice.

Fran caught me mid-flight.

Panicking, Melania went to catch the falling Lily.

Seeing that, Josh called out to calm her down while Lark breathed a happy sigh.

Fenix was able to somehow land on his own.

Isn’t that nine?

As soon as we landed, I asked Fran to let me down and then I ran there.

To the place where a cloud of dirt…no, sand appeared when Astrea landed.

Fenix and Wraith noticed as well and came too.

Our eyes were wide with astonishment.

A burning slash wound on her chest armor, a broken left arm, a lacerated right shoulder, and an arrow wound on her right hand.

And yet, there she was. The Scales of Justice Astrea, was standing.

She was standing on sand. I’m pretty sure that was solid ground before.

This means that she used Earth Magic to turn the ground into sand in order to soften her landing.

On top of that, she is still conscious.

「…It would…seem that I have lost.」

She said in a hoarse voice.

None of us agreed.

「Hey, not at all. I know I said I was the stronger one, but I’m not shameless enough to call this a win.」

「…Well fought, Lady Astrea. You embodied the very figure of the knight you envisioned. You are surely the unshakable incarnation of justice.」

『A-Astrea was not defeated!』

『Whaaaaaaaaaaaa~?!』

「We had to win…with this, the people will…」

「Astrea, please take a look around.」

I say to the woman who was standing there like a ghost.

Absentmindedly, she looked around.

「Please listen.」

「Whoooaaaaa!! Is she immortal?!」「Being able to endure the combined forces of the Fenix and Wraith party until the end of the match is inhuman…!」「You’re awesome, knight captain!」「The people living in your town must sleep soundly every night!」「Get to the main tournament! I want to see you fight again!」

「…! ……sniff」

Astrea’s expression scrunched up.

「There isn’t a single person who is worried.」

「Everyone…is smiling. They’re excited…and happy. I see. So this is the work of you Adventurers… Truly, it was an utter defeat.」

She continued.

「But…if we were to ever cross swords once again, we will win.」

We all smiled.

「Took the words right outta my mouth. Next time, we’ll win completely.」

「I’m sure none of us, you included, have shown all our cards. If there truly is a next time, let us have a different battle.」

That’s right.

Neither Fenix, Wraith nor Bella borrowed Magical Energy from the Spirit this time.

The two Four Great Spirit Contractors fought to the very end without using their Spirit Magic, including their Esoterics.

And in that area, neither did Astrea.

The three Adventurers refrained from using them in the preliminary rounds in anticipation of the battle ahead.

I’m sure Astrea has her own reasons for not using them.

「I, too, wish to fight you and your crew once again.」

At that moment, a voice could be heard from the audience shouting out her name.

She looked troubled.

「How about giving them a wave?」

「B-but I…」

「I am sure that it will bring them joy.」

「…In that case.」

She awkwardly and kinda forcefully raises her right hand a little and the crowd explodes into applause.

「Sorry…you’re injured, right?」

「…Heh. No, it’s fine. As you said, this will bring them joy.」

Saying that, Astrea seemed to be smiling.

◇

The final rankings for the preliminaries are as follows; The Wraith party is in 1st place, the Fenix party is in 2nd place, with the Astrea party is in 3rd.

Regarding the points gathered, we are unable to see how high or low our scores are because the overall results haven’t been announced yet.

If it exceeds a thousand, that means that more than a hundred people were defeated. So if you keep in mind that there were five hundred people in each preliminary…

Well, I’ll just wait for the totals to be calculated.

Now then, after the end of the preliminaries.

After we return our consciousnesses to our real flesh and blood bodies, we celebrated the fact that we were in 1st place, but we also shared opinions about how we weren’t able to completely defeat Astrea or have a fight with the Fenix party, but then we figured that 1st place is still 1st place, which means we should celebrate.

Then, as we exited the venue.

「Sir Lem, if I could please have a moment of your time.」

It was the Scales of Justice Astrea.

「Yo, Lem. I got sumthin’ I wanna ask ya. Ya mind if I borrow ya for a sec?」

The Dragon King Valac was here too.

「…My apologies, but could it please wait till after I talk with him.」

「Huh? Hey, I was waitin’ for him this whole time too.」

…H-how did it come to this?