CHAPTER 127: A DUD

　Aaron swung down his sword at the same time that Luka put her hand on her hilt.

　—Kin!

　A clear sound echoed around the area.

　Aaron’s attack was not in time.

　In Luka’s hand was the sacred treasure of the devil they had just defeated. As soon as the attack was received, Aaron quickly moved away.

　His action of not striking was the best choice. As long as the fine sword is a sacred treasure of unknown ability, it is dangerous to continue to stay in close proximity.

　Aaron approached Lily backstepping and said,

“…It’s this. I never imagined that Luka would sneak the final strike on the devil and get a sacred treasure.” (Aaron)

“Maybe this is what she’s actually after.” (Lily)

“Tsk… Luka, if you surrender now, I won’t make your punishment worse.” (Aaron)

“That’s right Luka. If you’re a follower of the God of Justice, you should surrender!” (Graf)

　Aaron and Graf try to persuade Luka.

 

　However, the person who is being persuaded is unaffected. She swings her Sacred Treasure Rapier to check its ability.

“Are you listening to me, Luka!?” (Aaron)

“Oh for f*cks sake, Luka, Luka, so noisy. My name isn’t Luka—” (Luka)

　Then they heard her name,

“It’s Amy.” (Luka => Amy)

　Lily’s emotions burst.

　—-*Crackle*!!

　Magic power springs freely from her body.

　Lily had been suffering from a lack of magic power until a few minutes ago, but now she was releasing magic power from her entire body.

　(I thought I had seen that smile somewhere before.) (Lily)

　(I had thought I had heard this way of speaking somewhere before.) (Lily)

　(Those doubts finally melted away.) (Lily)

　Her name is Amy.

　She was the demonic soul who had slaughtered Lily’s dear friends.

“What’s wrong with you all of a sudden, releasing so much magic power? What’s wrong? Your eyes have changed color, too. Oh no, you’re scaring me.” (Amy)

 

“Shut up!” (Lily)

　—[Silence].

　The mana gathered in her eyes was converted into magic.

　That magic immediately attacks Amy.

[Instantaneous Magic Eye – Adamas]—is a magic eye that compresses the chanting time to zero and immediately activates the magic.

　Originally, any elf could use it, but over the long years since the War of the Gods, there are no longer any elves who can use it. Today, almost no one can use it. It is a very rare magic eye.

　It was at this point in time that she was able to use it. She was the second person in the world to acquire a magic eye, but there was no room for rejoicing.

　Lily glanced at her one more time, and the intermediate magic [Silence] was activated. However, the effect was cut off in front of Amy. She seems to have quite strong magic resistance.

(Hmm… because of the baptism?) (Luka)

　Amy’s body belongs to Luka, who was baptized by the god Forcels. Clergy receive stronger blessings from the gods. Therefore, they are less susceptible to ability-lowering magic or debuffs.

　Lily suppresses her anger, which is about to start to rage, and asks,

“Do you remember? A hundred years ago, you killed two adventurers in Mount Rheitis.” (Lily)

“Well? I don’t even remember what I ate a week ago.” (Amy)

“And you stole the body of another priestess.” (Lily)

“A priestess? Oh, I remember that. I remember now.” (Amy)

 

　While Lily and Amy were talking, Aaron glanced at Graf. He is saying that they should use this opportunity to attack. However, Graf shook his head.

　At first glance, she appears to be defenseless, but if they attack, they will be quickly dealt with. This is a trap to lure Aaron and the others.

“I wonder, was it Mina? I was expecting to see how strong she was since she was a B-rank adventurer, but she was a total failure. Perhaps she was cheating to get her rank?　This current body is much better than that one.” (Amy)

“Kuu…” (Lily)

“It was so useless that I immediately transferred it to another body and threw it away.” (Amy)

“Where did you throw her away?” (Lily)

“I don’t know. I threw it away tattered, so it might have become food for wild dogs.” (Amy)

“–!!” (Lily)

　Not only did she take over her body, but she also destroyed her…

　The anger that had been suppressed until now burst out. Lily’s entire body became hot.

“… Die.” (Lily)

　Lily activates her magic eye.

　[Holy Ray] is released without a twitch.

　The spear of light that pierces through everything comes at Amy.

The [Holy Ray] pierced her forehead.

 

　But…

“Oops, that was a close one.” (Amy)

　Amy avoided the magic with a slight tilt.

　She has terrific reflexes and physical ability.

“It’s so sudden. The killing intent of that magic is too obvious.” (Amy)

　Amy smiled wryly.

　A faint red line appeared on her forehead. The magic must have grazed her slightly. It seems that it was not completely unavoidable.

(I can do it!) (Lily)

　There is no need to compare their strength.

　She is far too inferior to Lily.

“I’ve waited a hundred years for this moment.” (Lily)

　Today, on this day, here, she will avenge Tucker, Liger, and Mina.

　Lily releases her magical power.

　A wave of magic shook the air with a thud. It was enough mana to make a person without resistance faint.

　Her magic power has already exceeded its limit. However, Lily ignores the pain of the lack of magic power and forcibly pulls mana out of her body. If it was still not enough, Lily converted her life to magic.

 

(Tucker, Liger, Mina…) (Lily)

　She has never forgotten the friends she once traveled with, not even for a day. Even now, she can clearly remember their faces. Lily unleashed her magic power toward Amy, who had taken the lives of her three precious friends.

[Holy Ray]

　But,

“–eh?” (Lily)

　The magic that was supposed to be fired didn’t activate. The converged mana spreads and disappears all.

(Did I make a mistake?) (Lily)

　Lily panics and channeled the magic spell again. However, that too ended in failure.

(Why……?) (Lily)

　Lily was stunned, forgetting the existence of the target of her revenge.

　The magic that she usually use has suddenly become unusable. [Instantaneous Magic Eye] does not activate either.

　It is not that Lily made a mistake in her chanting, nor that she lacked magical power. It was as if she had forgotten the skills she had cultivated up to this point and no longer knew how to activate her magic.