Last Stand (1)
"Reaper's Dance."
The moment Natasha's voice reached him, a dull shock hit Rian's face.
The last place he'd seen her was a point forty meters away.
She arrived at the same instant as the sound.
No—she may even have been faster.
The scene in his vision blurred side to side; he didn't even register where or how he'd been struck.
I need to put distance between us.
Rian pushed off the ground and fell back.
If Natasha was pursuing him, she'd be in front regardless of the line she took.
"Yaaa!"
He drove his greatsword into the earth. A boulder the size of a house rose into the air like a cannonball.
Could she even pierce that?
Rian set his foot on the rock and shoved with everything he had.
"Hah!"
Natasha, charging, saw the huge stone fly toward her like a projectile.
Huh.
As she closed the distance her vector flipped; she recoiled and threw a right jab.
Tok.
Before fragments could even scatter from the fist-sized cracked rock, a left jab followed.
Tok, tok.
Her torso moved in lockstep with the flying projectile, leaving afterimages as it flashed left and right.
Tok tok tok tok tok tok.
Her arms and fists, moving from the shoulders, hammered the rock at a speed invisible to the eye.
Tok tok tok tok tok tok tok tok!
"Gnawing away" would have been an accurate description, but her speed was so extreme the boulder shattered in an instant.
"Damn!"
By the time Rian managed anything resembling a thought, Natasha was already in front of him.
Her fists, moving at the same speed that had broken the rock, slammed into Rian's body with crushing force.
She accepted the delay of repeated strikes, wound up, and threw a heavy blow that snapped Rian's jaw.
"Ugh!"
His skull ringing, Rian slid back across the ground to steady himself.
"Aiya—?"
Natasha froze with one leg raised, turned to Rian, and dusted her fist off.
"Solid. A fist that can break rock."
Rian said nothing.
If not for Idea's information-restoration ability, his muscles would already have been torn and his bones crushed.
If it were just about moving fast, I could do that too.
But thought follows the speed of nerves, and the range of thought narrows accordingly.
What kind of woman is she?
Natasha had none of those weaknesses. The reason she'd removed her eyelids was that even blinking would have been an impediment at her level of speed.
"A so-called genius, huh."
Rian lifted his chin. "Tough luck. I've never let someone who fights with talent walk away uncut."
"I'm a woman, you know?" Natasha jabbed a finger at him.
"I know what your ability is. It's the same as Gai's, right? Your swordsmanship looks a lot like his."
Ogent Gai.
Rian's chest tightened at the thought of his brother, but he swallowed the sorrow and said, "Don't get the wrong idea."
He pointed at himself. "I am the origin."
Isn't that right, brother?
"Really?"
Natasha feigned surprise and nodded with an intrigued look.
"Anyway, want more? You're strong, but honestly, you don't seem very good at fighting."
From Natasha's point of view, that might be true.
"Don't worry. I've heard that a lot. This time you won't be disappointed."
Rian gripped the greatsword hard.
The cavalry aren't coming.
If something happened where Tess is, he had to end this fight quickly.
One supreme strike.
No matter how sharp her combat sense, if he could cut faster than she could react, that would be enough.
Huuu.
Maha's aura radiated, making the scenery around Rian swim.
Ho.
Ten luminous cords glowed over Natasha's crouched figure—the avatar of the Reaper manifesting its lines.
"Going."
The moment she spoke, a streak of light erupted centered on Rian.
When the force of the Heresy strike slammed into the ground, the earth split with a roar for hundreds of meters.
A powerful seismic wave rolled forward and spooked the distant cavalry's horses.
Ho?
Havitz turned.
"Interesting one."
The realm of Idea lies outside the Law because it alters information itself, beyond mere physics, but—
"That doesn't mean you can ignore the Law."
Havitz wasn't worried. "Tearing a small hole in the veil of the universe doesn't make you as fast or strong as the universe."
While the muscles in two arms that had been torn restored their information at speed, Rian looked ahead.
Straight fissures stretched endlessly from beneath the turned stance of Natasha.
Out of the ten cords linked to the Reaper's skull, three were severed.
Hua.
Natasha drew a breath and exhaled. "You're really fast."
Praise meant she was alive, and that pleased Rian not at all.
She had dodged the Sword of Heresy—an attack even True Demon Faust couldn't evade.
Maybe—
The thought that few in the world could stand toe-to-toe with Rian made it conceivable that this woman might be the strongest here. At least on this planet.
"You're Rian, right? Maha's swordsman." Natasha's eyes held no hostility—she'd been like that even after killing many humans.
"Why do you kill humans?" Rian asked. "What's the point of waging war? Havitz might do it for fun, but you don't seem to have any conviction."
Hmm.
Natasha touched her lips, considering. "No special reason. Honestly, it's not fun. I just do what I'm good at. Havitz said I was good too."
She smiled brightly. "What I really loved was dancing. But I can't do that anymore."
"Why not? Your athletic ability is the best."
"I'm not the best."
Her pupils slid sideways. "I'm just a puppet."
Silence fell.
"Can you not fight for humans?"
"You want me to join your side?"
"In a sense. You're human too—wouldn't it be better to stand with humanity against the demons?"
Apparently she'd never really thought about it. After a long pause Natasha shook her head. "Sorry. I don't want to betray Havitz. I found him first. I don't even know what it would mean."
It sounded like someone missing a cog, and Rian's frustration grew. There must be a clue. Her manner with words was poor.
"Rian!"
From far off came Tess's voice, and a squadron of cavalry thundered toward them.
Havitz rode behind Tess—no one had noticed him.
Having confirmed Natasha was still standing, Tess made a wide detour and reached Rian.
"You okay?"
Tess tried to dismount, but Havitz held her waist so tight she couldn't.
Rian watched Tess pretend to get down while Havitz gripped her.
Most of the cavalry had an arm hacked off; some were missing an ankle.
Seeing them bleeding profusely, Rian's brain treated it as normal, but—
What is this?
His stomach churned.
Am I missing something?
Doubting it was already a big step. He couldn't stand the unease—Idea's realm? Or the fresh, strange sensation of witnessing something that had occurred in another space?
Probably just nerves.
But humans can't give up on their brains.
"Rian, what's wrong? You look pale."
When Havitz released his grip, Tess finally dismounted and approached Rian.
"Nothing. Rather—"
Havitz slit the throat of the man just beyond Tess's shoulder; Rian's sentence died.
What the hell!
Havitz turned back with a smile. "Decide quickly. If I kill them all now, next time it'll be your girlfriend's turn."
He shoved his sword into another soldier's back; the blade burst out through the chest.
Rian's retina registered that blade clearly, but his brain treated it as if it hadn't existed.
"Let's go back. You don't look well."
Tess checked Natasha's position and grabbed Rian's arm to pull him away, but soldiers kept dying all around.
"Tess—?"
Rian hesitated.
Should he say something? No—there was no way to explain it. They'd call him mad. It would be like insisting you'd heard a clap when you only clapped—utterly strange.
"Three left."
Havitz, picking off the cavalry, steadily approached Tess while spinning his sword.
"Two."
Rian's shoulders trembled as he watched a soldier's neck snap cleanly.
I'm missing something important.
Sometimes you get a bad feeling, and this was that feeling amplified a thousandfold.
"One last."
The cavalry were annihilated. Havitz eased his sword and stepped toward Tess's back.
"Tess."
"Hm?"
He didn't care if they called him crazy. "Get down!"
At the moment Havitz set his sword horizontally, Rian pinned Tess's shoulder down.
"Yaaaah!"
He threw a strike into the air with everything he had, intended to sweep everything around him.
Poooooom!
A massive shockwave laden with the Law of Maha flew at Havitz's neck.
At 0.666 seconds into the event—
"Ooooooooo!"
Twelve Sioks rose up from beneath the earth and formed a ring around Havitz.
Except for that 0.666-second instant, the attack landed at every other moment, and Natasha used the gap to move quickly.
The sound of the world splitting vibrated Tess's eardrums and she squeezed her eyes shut.
"Ugh!"
When the pain subsided she leapt to her feet and shouted, "What the hell are you doing?" Rian kept his mouth clamped shut.
His gaze fixed on the ground two meters from where Tess had stood.
What is this?
Twelve black holes formed a circle there, as if someone had set fire to the spot.
They hadn't been there a moment ago.
Maybe he'd simply not seen them. That alone wouldn't prove he wasn't mad, but—
No. Something had definitely been there. An abnormal phenomenon had existed here.
Kiiiiiiii!
At that moment a monstrous bird from the demon ranks flew over and gave a strange cry.
A retreat signal.
Natasha checked the moon's position and said, "Let's play again sometime."
She pushed off the ground, her body evaporating as she left, and Havitz approached Rian.
"Interesting. They call it Idea, I think. Worth watching."
It was everywhere, but no one could sense it.
"One day I'll seize control of all the links. Until then, you'd better keep digging into secrets."
A whisper from Satan.
Havitz left and unleashed his avatar technique beyond the perimeter. Tess's eyes widened.
"No way…!"
Seeing the bodies of the fallen soldiers, everything finally clicked into place.
"Havitz was here."
He'd blocked their path, slaughtered the men, and even ridden here alongside them.
"How could I not have known? No— I knew. I knew! Rian!"
Rian swallowed.
The twelve holes that had opened where the Sioks had stood looked like passages leading straight down into hell.