Side Story 43. Anemone Smiled Brightly (19)
"If you can move, raise your sword!"
At Buddy"s cry, the paladins struggled to get up and ready their blades. Except for the five who fainted from the strong shock, every paladin stood and treated their wounds with divine power. Paladins weren’t called the c.o.c.kroaches of the battlefield for no reason.
"Wow, great! It"s been a while since I"ve seen such tough guys!”
Doomstone raised his evaluation by two notches.
‘If they can heal, it should be fine to be a little more sincere toward those other than Buddy,’ thought Doomstone.
At that time, Buddy took the lead, raising his sword.
"We are!"
"Strong! Invincible! The best!"
When they shouted boomingly, the strings of divine power were strongly connected among the paladins. It was a secret technique in which paladins rapidly boosted their strength by sharing their divine power. It was an extreme use of divine magic that could not be done unless those involved had absolute trust in one another.
"Oh!"
After becoming connected and amplified, the paladins’ divine power could be compared to a dragon.
"Is it similar to a 100-year-old dragon that became an adult?"
With this much, they could win against an average Crow, but Doomstone was a monster that far exceeded the bounds of an average Crow.
"Let’s go!"
Under Buddy"s instructions, the paladins moved as one and attacked Doomstone. Three people came from each side and stabbed their swords toward him. To avoid this, Doomstone jumped high in the air and threw out superior auras.
The six paladins raised their divine power to block Doomstone"s superior aura. Subsequently, more paladins stepped on the shoulders of the six paladins, jumped up, and tried to cut Doomstone from all sides.
Doomstone did a flip, attached his feet to the ceiling, and grabbed the swords wrapped in sword aura with his bare hands. "Enlightenment, Catching a Gecko. Catching Swords!"
After they had their swords taken away in an instant, the paladins were shocked.
"Hurricane Kick!" Doomstone, with his feet still stuck on the ceiling, kicked the paladins in the air out of the window.
"Hahahaha! This is a fun fight!"
As individuals, they were nothing much, but when they formed a group, they did better than expected.
Drunk on excitement, Doomstone took one of the swords he s.n.a.t.c.hed, raised his martial arts, and stabbed Buddy with all his might. "Extreme Enlightenment! Dropping the Sun!"
Boom-!
The sword was stabbed at a speed invisible to the naked eye, creating a sonic boom and greatly destroying the surrounding windows as well as the outer walls. At the same time, from the aftermath alone, half of the paladins fainted and fell alongside the broken walls.
"Tsk, I failed. My strength dispersed."
The perfect Dropping the Sun was an extreme sword of a.s.sa.s.sination, and it was a highly difficult sword technique that left no traces on any of the surroundings, only showing on the target. However, the target, Buddy, was intact without any scratches, and the nearby environment was devastated.
This was because the tip of the sword shook during the attack. The sword in Doomstone’s hand was not able to withstand his power and got worn out to the point that it was as good as sc.r.a.p metal.
"Is it natural since the level of difficulty itself is the same as the Dance of the Fireflies?"
Unlike the Dance of the Fireflies, where the user was heavily burdened, this was a complete, riskless Enlightenment. Doomstone"s Dropping the Sun would have been successful if it had been performed with a fist, not a sword.
Of course, if he had succeeded, Buddy would have been turned into dust and his body irrecoverable, so it was fortunate that he failed. Even though everything was smashed, no one was killed or disabled. Although, they would probably have to recuperate for a few months.
Doomstone took a deep breath as he descended from the ceiling. "Ah! I got too excited. Let"s reflect."
It was dangerous to lose your cool. After leaving his hometown, the still-young Doomstone trained in controlling his power and maintaining a cool head in the empire. This later became the greatest foundation that allowed him to surpa.s.s his limits, but this realization was still in the distant future when the windflowers scattered.
After more than half of the consecrated paladins fainted after displaying tremendous power, their aura was cut in half.
“Shoot, I could have enjoyed it more." Doomstone smacked his lips.
The paladins suddenly grew greatly fatigued when they lost connection with each other. In fact, with the situation essentially concluded, Buddy was about to put down his sword and surrender.
It was a battle where there were no benefits to be had in the first place. However, contrary to Buddy"s thoughts, a sword-wielding trainee paladin stepped out bravely from among the fallen paladins.
"Not yet!"
"Albatoss!"
Buddy called and tried to stop the trainee paladin, but it was too late, as he’d already rushed in.
"Oho~!" Doomstone simply flicked his finger to hit the sword away, then lightly flicked the paladin’s forehead.
"Argh!" Albatoss fainted and flew away.
Doomstone smiled at Buddy. "That kid looks like he has guts. You should try raising him. I can"t judge his talent because divine or whatever is not my specialty, but I don"t think it"d be bad."
Even though Albatoss was called a kid, he was actually two years older than Doomstone.
"You have a good eye. His sword techniques are decent, but he is so talented in divine techniques that he’s considered one of the top talents. Paladins are also knights, but for paladins, divine techniques are of greater import than sword techniques.”
Rather, Buddy was a unique case whose excellent swordsmans.h.i.+p was better than his divine techniques.
Buddy sighed deeply and said, "The youngest one mustered up his courage, so the leader should not give up, right?"
After saying that, he immediately rushed toward Doomstone. He thought he couldn"t win, but he still wanted to try fighting. It was his desire as a warrior. The battle against an opponent stronger than himself relit his ambition that had grown dim after a lengthy period of peace.
"Third Thrust!" Buddy stretched his body forward, poured divine power into his sword, and stabbed.
The sword full of divine power stabbed the forehead, heart, and solar plexus at the same time as if it were splitting into three. At the sharp attack, Doomstone circulated mana around both arms to block it. "Swallow Restoration!"
When the sword was deflected by the rotating mana, Buddy turned his body like a water swallow and stabbed Doomstone"s neck from the side again. Doomstone pulled back and avoided the sword, then grabbed Buddy’s arm and sent a roundhouse kick at his side.
"Uck!" Buddy readied himself for it with divine power, but due to Doomstone’s superhuman strength, he still vomited blood from the roundhouse kick.
To escape from the hold, Buddy put strong aura on his sword and stabbed Doomsone in the shoulder. Since he became off-balanced from his kick, Doomstone let go of the arm and took a large step back rather than blocking the sword.
"Cough, cough! d.a.m.n. Are my ribs broken?" Considering a little bit of blood came up every time he breathed, it seemed there was a hole in his lungs.
After he checked his physical condition, Buddy smiled. Although it hurt like crazy, there were few places that had as many high-ranking healers as this temple. In other words, it meant that even if he moved about violently, he wouldn’t die.
"Hey, you"re going to die if you do that?"
Doomstone admired Buddy as he saw him use divine power to strengthen his whole body rather than to heal. He couldn’t believe there was a man outside his hometown who didn"t care about his own body. He was moved.
"It"s okay. It was my childhood dream to die while fighting."
"I agree with that!"
Doomstone"s fist and Buddy"s sword collided. Buddy moved quickly, unbefitting a person with broken ribs, and swung his sword. In response, Doomstone smashed Buddy"s swordsmans.h.i.+p from the front rather than deflecting it.
"This is the end!"
Doomstone had fought this way dozens of times before, and he struck Buddy into the wall of the cardinal"s office. The office wall was smashed as it was, and Buddy vomited blood then fainted. Anemone was in the middle of a conversation inside, and she looked back and forth between the wall-destroyer, Doomstone, and the fainted Buddy, letting out a deep sigh.
* * *
I thought the ceiling was shaking, but then when I looked at the sight past the broken wall, a sigh came out. Because we were having a close conversation, Cardinal Fernando had cast soundproof magic around us, so we didn’t even know that there was a disturbance outside.
At that time, Lucien unni"s husband, Joseph, freaked out when he saw the knight that broke through the wall. "Sir Buddy!"
Buddy? The head of the Consecrated Paladins, Buddy? The Buddy who was called “The Living Undead" because he heals injuries right away with divine power?
"Doomstone?"
When I called Doomstone"s name, Doomstone frantically avoided my gaze. "It’s, it"s not my fault! They drew their swords first!”
When I stared at him with suspicious eyes, Doomstone whistled, even though he couldn’t whistle well.
Well, since he also fought with Roland, I had somewhat expected him to pick a fight with the strong people here as well. But anyway, what did he do to make all these people who were called immortal half-dead?
I couldn"t help but shrug and say, "How should I explain this to the consecrated paladins?"
"Oh, that"s..." Doomstone awkwardly smiled.
No way? I approached the open wall and stuck my head out. "What"s this? Why are they all sprawled out?"
"Ahahaha... They came together as a group."
I got a headache and touched my forehead. Since I understood the situation, I had to deal with it. The fact that the consecrated paladins were beaten like this was the same as me saying that we were enemies of the Vatican and even the pope.
Should I meet the pope to explain the situation and persuade him? Hmm...
"Okay, I"ve decided.”
At my words, not just Doomsone but also Fernando and Joseph looked at me as they treated Buddy with divine power.
"Let"s run."
Whether the Consecrated Paladins were broken or fainted, was that my business? For me, only my success and stability were important. It would be nice to have peace for my father and family as a bonus.
"Are you done with your business?”
In a nuanced manner, Doomstone asked if it was okay to really run away. I smiled and nodded. "Of course. Do you know who I am? Don’t you agree? My partner?”
When I asked for agreement from Cardinal Fernando, his expression soured. "Are you telling me to clean up this mess?"
"Ayy, please take care of it. Your Excellency also needs the strength of my family, right? And since he says that they drew their swords first when he was staying still, it should be easy to fix."
Cardinal Fernando seemed to be at a loss for what to say at my confident att.i.tude.
"Oh, of course, you know my visit is a secret, right?”
"... I know."
The Imperial Secret Intelligence Department must have already figured out that I was with Doomstone, so the emperor would know, but it should be that he was just not reacting to it externally. After all, Doomstone was the eldest child of the Crow Tribe’s chief and was the expected successor of the Crow Tribe. He had no choice but to be careful as it could cause discord with the Crow Tribe. And I also planned to make him have no choice but to be careful in the future.
"That"s a relief. Then please say h.e.l.lo to Lucien unni, ahjussi, and Missus for me. I think we will have to leave the holy land now."
Joseph nodded silently at my request.
"Let"s go! Doomstone!"
"Oh!" Doomstone lifted me gently and jumped down the collapsed outer wall.
"Let"s go to the hotel first and collect our luggage and Wheat Crepes."
"Okay!"
Like a few days ago, he jumped high, cutting through the wind.
The streets of the holy land at night were wonderful, but the streets of the holy land during the day were also full of energy and excitement. Originally, the next destination was the capital, but since Cardinal Fernando was going to the Great Temple in the capital, I decided to move up the schedule and head to Enharayton, the capital of the Imperial State.
Since it"s boring just to visit, should we greet the pro-emperor faction n.o.bles on the way? It would be a so-called friendly visit.