The town bells rang like the world itself was panicking.
Axel's gates burst open as adventurers flooded out, weapons drawn, faces grim, postures heroic in the very specific way people get when they're about to be paid hazard wages. The lingering snow crunched under boots, breath fogged the air, and at the center of it all stood the reason for the alarm.
A headless knight on a headless horse.
'Finally, this bastard again.' Orion internally grumbled, seeing his old opponent once more. This was going to be their last fight.
Beldia the Dullahan sat atop his steed, holding his own helmeted head under one arm like an inconvenient grocery bag that didn't recognize him, since this one was the real deal. Blue ghostly flames flickered from his neck, casting an ominous glow that immediately clashed with his mood.
"I HAVE HAD IT!" Beldia roared. "EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD IT IS TO MAINTAIN A CURSED CASTLE WHEN SOMEONE KEEPS BLOWING IT UP AT PRECISELY THREE IN THE AFTERNOON?!"
He shook his head for emphasis. Unfortunately, the head was in his hand, so it wobbled dramatically.
"I JUST FINISHED RENOVATING THE WEST WING!"
The adventurers murmured, half baffled at why the undead was there and half restraining themselves from snickering.
When Team Kazuma arrived late—as usual—they caught the tail end of the rant.
Kazuma squinted. "Uh… why does that sound really specific?"
Aqua leaned forward. "Leave it to me, Kazuma, that's an undead. There is no better person to take him on than a goddess…"
Megumin on the side froze.
Slowly, mechanically, every head turned toward her when Beldia's words registered in their cabbage-filled brains.
Megumin laughed nervously. "Ahaha… what a strange coincidence. Someone blasting a castle every day? Truly a mystery of our time."
Beldia's flaming eyes locked onto her.
Like she was fooling anyone there.
"YOU IDIOT !!!!" Kazuma roared, feeling his blood pressure rising.
Before Megumin could protest—or proudly confess—someone stepped forward.
Orion, of course.
He cracked his neck once, calm, steady, like he'd been waiting for this exact cue. Because he kind of was, ever since he came here. Snow crunched beneath his boots as he moved past the line of adventurers.
"I did it," he said.
The square went silent.
"HEH ?" Kazuma blinked.
"Since when do you know explosion magic ?" Darkness blinked in confusion.
"Orion, you were holding out on us all this time ?" This was Aqua, of course.
Megumin whipped around. "W–what?! Orion?!"
Beldia tilted his head. Then tilted it more. Then realized he was still holding it and adjusted his grip. "YOU?"
"Yes," Orion said evenly. "I'm the one responsible."
Megumin's eyes went wide. "Wait, no—!"
Beldia's aura flared. "YOU HAVE SOME NERVE ADMITTING IT SO CASUALLY!"
Orion shrugged. "Your castle was a convenient landmark."
Megumin grabbed his sleeve. "Orion, stop! I wasn't you! I'll take responsibility! I'll even apologize properly! With a longer chant!"
But Orion was already walking forward. "Nah… I'll take him…"
Megumin stared, heart pounding. '
…Is he trying to protect her?
Her face flushed. "Idiot…!"
Beldia drew his cursed blade, dark energy crackling along its edge. "VERY WELL. THEN YOU SHALL PAY WITH YOUR LIFE."
"Like hell I will… come here, you dead fuck, revenge shall be mineeeeee…"
Orion shouted and charged.
Beldia didn't understand why the revenge would be his, but he didn't care. Humans are weird like that. He just charged in response.
Steel rang against cursed metal as Orion barely deflected the first swing, boots sliding across the frozen ground. The impact sent a shock through his arms.
"Oho?" Beldia laughed. "YOU HAVE SOME SKILL."
"Thanks, worked extra hard for your reunion…" Orion grinned, ready to give back tenfold of what he had experienced against this guy.
Behind him, Kazuma yelled, "WHY IS HE FIGHTING THE GENERAL SOLO?! THAT IDIOT!"
Darkness was vibrating. "Such overwhelming pressure… such despair…!"
"Not now, Darkness!" Kazuma screamed.
Orion ducked under another slash, rolled, and came up with a counter that clipped Beldia's armor.
The Dullahan staggered half a step. Gasps rippled through the crowd.
Megumin clenched her staff. "He's actually holding his own…"
"Is that kid really that good ?"
"What is his level ?"
"Orion, he was really that good in swordsmanship…" Darkness gaped. Compared to her own swordsmanship, this was like heaven and earth.
Beldia snarled and raised his blade. Dark energy surged outward.
"CURSE OF DECAPITATION—"
Aqua suddenly popped up beside Orion. "Nope!"
She slapped a glowing hand forward. "Turn Undead!"
Holy light exploded outward. Beldia shrieked, stumbling back as smoke poured off his armor.
"THANKS, AQUA…!" Orion grinned. He was ready to chant for Order's Blade incantation, but Aqua arrived just in time.
"GAAAH! THAT HIGH PRIEST—!" Beldia shouted in pain.
"HEY!" Aqua puffed up. "I am extremely useful when it comes to bullying undead!"
Orion just snickered and raised his own sword.
"YOU READY, GODDESS…" Orion grinned.
"HELL YEAH !" Aqua shouted.
[He was not speaking to you, you numb-skulled excuse for a goddess.]
Marika chided. Every time when it came to Aqua, she felt like someone personally assaulted her by calling Aqua a goddess.
Orion rolled his eyes, ignoring the woman around him for once.
[Hear me, O Order everlasting. By law unbroken and light untainted, let this blade be bound to grace. Clothe steel in holy flame and thunder, that it may judge the impure and strike true—Order's Blade.]
The air changed around him; even someone like Aqua felt it. ' Divine power ?'
And just as Orion's chant ended, a golden lightning bolt came crashing down onto his raised blade, bathing it in golden lightning and divine power.
Aqua's eyes were widened, mouth open wide in complete flustered look. "W-what, but how ?"
Orion didn't bother replying. He charged. Beldia, who was back up again, also noticed the golden lightning around Orion's blade and tensed. His very nature told him not to get touched by that lightning.
Orion used the opening, rushing in again, blade flashing, forcing Beldia back step by step.
But the Dullahan recovered quickly, slamming his sword into the ground and releasing a wave of dark force that sent Orion skidding back.
He dug his heels in, breathing hard.
Beldia pointed his blade at him. "IMPRESSIVE. BUT THIS ENDS NOW."
"Wait!" Megumin shouted.
She stepped forward, staff raised, eyes blazing.
"If this is about your castle," she declared, "then I, Megumin- the arch mage of Crimson Demon Clan, the master of explosion, take full responsibility! The explosions were my—"
Orion glanced back. "Megumin."
She froze.
He smiled. Just a little. "I told you, this one's mine. You can take the next one."
Her breath caught.
Beldia turned just in time to hear—
"Explosion…"
The blast swallowed the battlefield in fire and light, sending Beldia flying backward in a spectacular arc.
Silence followed.
Smoke cleared.
"THAT ?!" Kazuma's eyes widened.
Beldia lay sprawled in the snow, armor cracked, dignity shattered.
'A smaller explosion without a chant.' Darkness' mouth was wide open.
Even Aqua looked flabbergasted.
"I learned it…" Megumin shouted.
Orion blinked…
"As you said, make explosion smaller, faster, and save power to cast them again. I learned it." Megumin shouted, hands still grasping around her staff, face flushed.
'Wait, you can do that, I was just taking it out in the air.' Orion was speechless. If she could really do that, then why the hell the entire series she was a one-explosion-girl character?
[Life never ceases to amaze. I knew she was the only capable one among those useless party you gathered around you.]
Marika almost looked like her own child figured out a divine spell.
"Go on, Orion… I'll cover you." Megumin shouted, staff ready in hand.
"Huh… O-okay. Thanks, Megumin." His grin came back with vengeance.
'Oh yeah, this time around, he's gonna clear it. This will be the last run for this boss.'
"…Then I'll leave it to you, Megumin," he muttered before vanishing in a burst of speed.
Then Orion met Beldia head-on, his blade humming with golden holy lightning, the air around it crackling like a restrained thunderstorm. Each swing carved light through the dusk, clashing against the Dullahan's cursed halberd in showers of sparks.
"WHAT MASTERY OF SWORD, YOU'RE INDEED WORTHY TO FACE ME IN FIGHT !" Beldia chimed.
Orion didn't respond; if anything, he was far too concentrated on the fight itself to even listen to the Dullahan.
Step by step, strike by strike, they matched each other.
They traded blows relentlessly. Beldia's strength was monstrous, every swing carrying the weight of death itself, while Orion answered with speed and precision, holy lightning flaring brighter with every clash. For a moment—an impossible, breathless moment—it looked like a deadlock.
Beldia snarled, his floating head twisting in irritation. "So the little human dares bare his fangs again—"
"Yeah," Orion shot back, teeth gritted as he parried, boots skidding across the dirt. "Worked out since last time."
And it did. Parry always works. The moment Orion parried, Beldia's balance faltered, staggering him just for a moment, giving Orion the first real hit in the entire fight.
The holy blade ran deep into Beldia's armor, earning a howl of pain from the Dullahan.
"Got ya…" Orion grinned.
Then Beldia laughed.
"Indeed you did, such a tricky trick, that shield of yours did. So be it. I shall hold back no more… RISE MY SOLDIERS…"
The ground split open.
Undead poured forth—skeletons, rotting knights, ghouls dragging rusted blades—an army crawling out of the earth like a nightmare remembering how to walk. Orion's breath hitched. This was it. This was the move that ended him every single time in the simulations.
If not finish him, then left him completely empty to fight the real boss himself.
But then again, he wasn't alone this time, was he…
"GYAAAAAAAH! WHY ARE THEY COMING THIS WAY?!" Aqua shrieked.
The entire undead army turned, in perfect unison.
And charged straight at Aqua.
Beldia froze. "…What."
'Hehehehehe…' Orion grinned like mad. He knew this was gonna happen; he had seen the anime after all.
Kazuma grabbed Aqua by the collar and started sprinting. "WHY DO UNDEAD HATE YOU THIS MUCH?!"
"I DON'T KNOW! I'M PURE AND HOLY!" Aqua wailed as skeletons tripped over each other trying to reach her.
Orion didn't waste the gift.
Holy lightning surged as he lunged forward, blade slashing across Beldia's armor once more, carving a glowing wound that sizzled with divine fury. Beldia reeled back, snarling in disbelief.
Meanwhile, Kazuma skidded to a stop, eyes narrowing. "Wait. I've got an idea."
"No more ideas!" Aqua screamed as a zombie grabbed her ankle.
Kazuma pointed toward Beldia. "Line them up. Megumin!"
Megumin was already vibrating with excitement. "So… many… targets…"
Orion saw it instantly. He disengaged, rolling away from Beldia and sprinting clear. "Do it! Don't hold back…"
"YOU GOT IT…."
"Darkness blacker than black and darker than dark,
I beseech thee, combine with my deep crimson.
The time of awakening cometh.
Justice, fallen upon the infallible boundary,
appear now as an intangible distortions!
I desire for my torrent of power a destructive force:
a destructive force without equal!
Return all creation to cinders,
and come from the abyss!"
"EX—PLOOOOSION!"
"BOOOM!!!!"
Just like how Orion said, she didn't hold back, gave everything she had.
The blast erased the battlefield.
A pillar of crimson light swallowed the undead army whole, shockwaves flattening the ground. When the smoke cleared, there was nothing left but scorched earth.
Megumin collapsed instantly. "Worth it…"
And then Aqua stood up, glowing.
"My turn…"
"Sacred Turn Undead."
What little remained dissolved into holy mist, vanishing with pitiful shrieks.
Silence fell.
Only Beldia remained.
"Thanks, guys… now leave the rest to me…"
Kazuma blinked. "You sure?"
"Its will be better if we fight him together, you know…"
Orion looked aback and smirked….
"NAH! I'LL WIN…"
xXx
A/N : I geniunely wondered why the heck Megumin just didn't tone down her explosion, it doesn't violet her only Explosion spell policy, save a crap ton of mana for her and for once made her actually useful outside when they had to just want everything to go Kaboom.
As for that last line, come on. It was so far before I could resist from pulling Gojo's line.
I wouldn't mind pulling some stones from you guys though. Consider sending some stones this way yeah…!
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