Chapter 9: Menosorpo (8)

Dirt and blood mingled in a filthy mess. I lifted my faintly trembling eyelids.

“Hhh... Hah...”

My side throbbed with every breath I drew. The bleeding still hadn't stopped.

“Saibel, Saibel! Focus!”

“I know! I know, but...!”

Elodie's voice sounded as though she was pressing Saibel, whose voice quivered on the verge of tears. It seemed I'd only been unconscious for a moment.

I moved my eyes to get my bearings. Looking up a little, I could see Saibel and Elodie. Elodie was restraining Rockbel. I couldn't tell for certain, but she seemed to be using wind magic to keep him from moving.

A blow probably wouldn't knock Rockbel unconscious now. He was already in something like that state, moving as though possessed. In other words, she had to keep restraining him. And with his frail child's body, she couldn't use too much force.

Elodie's maximum output was tremendous, but she wasn't good at controlling the output itself. She'd probably hardly ever tried. In Constel's Divine Power Measurement Room, first-years only measured how much their power had increased; they didn't concern themselves with control. Focusing on fine control from the first year risked keeping them from drawing out their Divine Power's full potential.

“Kill Frondier, Saibel! Frondier!”

“Ghh, ngh...!”

Saibel, meanwhile, seemed unable to move her body as she wished, struggling against Serf's command. So that was his ability. I didn't understand how it worked, but he seemed to make other people obey his orders. Since it wasn't working on Elodie or me, there must be some condition. Physical contact, perhaps, or handing the target an object he'd enchanted.

“... Sai... bel...”

I called to her in a voice that was barely more than breath.

“F-Frondier?! You're awa—ngh!”

Somehow, Saibel heard me and responded, but she was still sweating with the effort of resisting his command. Rockbel had lost awareness the instant Serf gave his order.

You're incredible, Saibel.

“Hngh!”

I planted both arms against the ground and pushed. Agony shot through my side. Goddammit, it hurt so much my eyes watered. My arms shook violently with every few centimeters I raised myself.

It hurts.

I don't want to get up.

I want to rest.

This is going to kill me.

As those pathetic thoughts kept passing through my mind...

... I stood.

“Fron... dier...”

Elodie's and Saibel's eyes widened more than I'd ever seen, as though they couldn't believe I'd gotten up.

“Don't look at me like that.”

You'll make me think I'm seriously injured.

Not that I could take a single step now. Or even lift my arms.

Inhale. Exhale.

How many times had I done this miserable breathing routine? But without it, the pain wouldn't let me breathe properly.

“F-Frondier! Lie down! Don't try anything stupid! I'll handle this!” Elodie shouted.

I was starting to understand the way she spoke. She was putting everything into restraining Rockbel, and Saibel was struggling just to control her own body. Yet even now, she was telling me to lie down.

“Don't worry, Elodie.”

“Who's worried?!”

“Elodie.”

I looked into her eyes. Blue eyes. The first time I'd seen Elodie, those eyes had reminded me of a lake. Frondier had probably thought the same thing. Probably always had.

Watching Elodie forge ahead, her back growing ever more distant. Seeing her smiling face as she still occasionally turned to look back at him. Frondier had sunk into a terrible inferiority complex. At the end of that suffering, he'd decided to take away her Divine Power.

The reason was simple. He'd wanted to walk with her. He'd wanted to stand by her side.

Now I understood what Frondier had wanted to tell Elodie for so long. Even as he felt inferior to her, even as his own helplessness brought him crashing down, he must still have wanted to say it. Whether that wish had remained pure or become tainted.

Those few words.

I'd say them for him.

“Now it's my turn to help you.”

“... Huh?”

Leaving Elodie to her dazed reply, I took Menosorpo out of the Workshop and spread it across the ground. Just as Weaving needed no physical materials, I didn't need to actually draw my magic circle.

‘Will my mana hold out if I do all of it?’

It felt as though my mana was draining away along with the blood flowing from my side. Whether that was just my imagination or how mana actually worked, pouring it into Menosorpo brought a wave of exhaustion.

Inhale...

One more time.

Exhale.

After releasing that breath, I infused my words with mana and spoke.

“Menosorpo.”

As I spoke, the magic circle's outline began to shine. It was enormous. Even that word wasn't enough. It spread beyond my immediate surroundings, beyond Elodie, Saibel, and Rockbel, reaching into the woods where the Indus bastards were hiding.

“This is the one from...” Elodie murmured.

She must have remembered this magic circle, the one I'd tested in the clearing at the Roah Estate. Nothing had happened then, even though I'd used mana.

“Wh-what is this...?!”

I heard Serf's flustered voice. But the magic circle merely shone. Nothing in particular happened. Aside from its outline becoming visible, it was no different from the previous Menosorpo.

“Ha! You were bluffing, Frondier! Just shut up and die! Saibel can't hold out forever!” Serf roared.

Quite a confident voice for someone hiding in the woods. And where had all his polite language gone?

“F-Frondier...” Saibel called in a trembling voice.

She was facing me, a little closer than before.

“Run...”

When I looked at her face, she was crying. Tears and strands of hair marred her beautiful features. Even so, she pleaded with me.

“I'm going to kill you, Frondier...”

Her arms shook violently, as though she'd truly reached her limit. But I no longer had the strength to lift a finger. Just standing was hard enough.

“It's all right.”

Still, I reassured her. I had a plan. It was based on conjecture, and I wasn't sure my body would hold out, but it was a move that would definitely work.

Serf hadn't realized it yet, but checkmate was just ahead. He'd been giving only simple commands this whole time. All I'd heard so far was for her to kill me. In other words, he couldn't give Saibel detailed instructions. Kill someone, stab someone—that was his limit.

“Serf.”

I called to him, wherever he was.

“Do you really want to kill me? My family, Roah, won't let you get away with it.”

“Ha. I don't care. I'm neither a noble nor a commoner. I belong nowhere. The nobles can't catch me. Until the ‘revolution’ comes, I'll simply hide in the shadows.”

“... Is that so?”

‘Good, Serf.’

I'll give you what you want.

Menosorpo

Weaving in Midair

Grade - Divine

Chryselakatos, Iocheira

I activated Weaving without moving a finger. Chryselakatos and Iocheira. Artemis's bow and arrow, respectively. But rather than appearing in my hands—

“Huh?”

Amazingly, they appeared right in front of Saibel. Right under her nose, even though she was still a fair distance from me. She could see them clearly, even without Black River.

This was Menosorpo's ability. It allowed the caster's magic to manifest anywhere within the magic circle. Even if I couldn't raise my hands. Even if I couldn't take a single step. The weapons I created through Weaving could come into being far away from me.

“Wh-what is this?”

Saibel stared in bewilderment at the bow and arrow that had suddenly appeared before her.

“Take them,” I said.

She answered in frustration, “I-I told you, I can't move!”

“Take them and shoot me.”

Her expression froze. She looked at me as though asking what the hell I was saying. Fair enough. To anyone else, it certainly sounded insane.

“Hahahaha! You've lost your mind, Frondier! Saibel! Give him what he wants!”

Serf's voice rang out. His command was to kill me. That meant Saibel should be able to take that arrow and shoot it at me.

“F-Frondier?”

“Trust me.”

“T-trust you? I don't want to kill you!”

Saibel shook her head vehemently.

I smiled. It was all right. It really was.

“Saibel.”

“What?!”

“What does fate mean to you?”

“Huh? What?”

Saibel, beloved by fate. She must have known it too. How circumstances arranged themselves to suit her wishes. How everything kept her from harm.

“You're loved by fate.”

“... Even if I am! My fate only protects me. It doesn't care about anyone else! I can't trust it. I'll hurt you!”

Honestly, I was surprised to see this side of Saibel. I'd thought of her as nothing more than an irritating villain. But she still didn't understand what kind of being she was.

“Saibel, like it or not, fate is on your side.”

“Th-that's what I'm saying. For other people—”

“I told you. It's on your side.”

“... Frondier.”

She still struggled to believe me, so I said, “Saibel. Don't let fate drag you around. It's already at your feet.”

“A-at my feet?”

Saibel wasn't a character tossed around by her own good luck. If she'd been that easy a villain to deal with, she wouldn't have been so notorious among Etius players. Fate did not stand above her.

It might look as though fate loved her, handing her whatever pleased her and watching from on high. But as I'd said, fate was always waiting at her service. Saibel wasn't following a fortunate destiny. Fate revered Saibel.

“Saibel, what do you want to happen?”

“... For all of us to get out of here safely. Together.”

“Right. That's what will happen.”

Saibel bit her lip hard. Taking the bow and arrow before her, she drew the string all the way back and aimed at me.

“You'll really be okay, right?”

“Of course.”

“Y-you, if... if you're lying, I'll seriously kill you!”

Unfortunately, I couldn't oblige her there. If I was lying, I'd die here with an arrow in me.

“... Ngh!”

As though she couldn't bear to watch, Saibel squeezed her eyes shut and released the string. The arrow flew straight at me.

Well.

Whether fate loved Saibel or not, I didn't believe in fate.

[Chryselakatos]

? Grade: Divine

? Description: A bow made by Hephaestus, the God of Smithing, and given to Artemis.

Ability Details >

- Women Only: At Artemis's request, only women can draw the bowstring.

- Unerring: Always strikes the enemy the user targets.

Because that was the kind of bow it was, the arrow flying straight at me veered along an impossible trajectory, passed me by, and flew into the woods with a brief sound.

THUNK!

An eerie hush settled over the forest.

At the same time, I slowly began to topple.

“Frondier!”

Saibel ran over and caught me.

She seemed able to move freely now. The arrow had struck Serf.

That made twice today already. Being held in Saibel's arms.

‘At this rate, I'll be the one who owes...’

My consciousness didn't last much longer.