Xenia’s eyes were filled with nothing but killing intent. But the moment she saw Dane standing far away, she stopped.
Dane. A person she had first seen yesterday, yet one who strangely drew her heart. A person who had the same necklace as her.
Then Gainak’s voice rang out.
“Kill those two men in front of you. Melt them both completely.”
At those words, fierce resistance seemed to rise in her eyes, but it soon scattered along with pain. Xenia opened her mouth with doll-like eyes.
“……Yes, Master.”
Countless tentacles stretched out from Xenia’s body. Amid the lightning and blade-like winds Gainak fired, Xenia rushed forward.
Unlike what they had seen before, the tips of her tentacles had been sharpened like blades. They carried the force of something that would pierce and kill.
The tentacles themselves were already sharp, but the places where viscous liquid dripped from them melted with a burning sound.
It was powerful acidic mucus. It would melt not only flesh, but weapons as well. Cesare dodged the tentacles and shouted.
“Master! What do we do about Xenia?”
She was the most troublesome enemy. If she had been an ordinary magic beast, they could have cut out her core, but they could not bring themselves to kill Xenia.
The method of grabbing her and infusing mana into her was difficult in the current situation as well. If they caught Xenia and stopped her, Gainak’s attack would hit them directly.
Perhaps pleased by this situation, Gainak was smiling now, unlike before. The smell of burning rose from every direction, and the air crackled.
“Cesare.”
Even then, Dane’s tone was calm.
“I will neutralize Gainak. You face Xenia and buy time. Can you hold out?”
Cesare answered with a grin.
“Of course.”
As soon as he heard that answer, Dane ran straight toward Gainak. Just as Xenia turned to stop Dane, a large figure blocked her path before she knew it.
“Hey, where do you think you are going?”
“Do not get in my way.”
With emotionless eyes, Xenia poured attacks onto Cesare. Her tentacles writhed like monsters, and acidic liquid dripped from them.
Cesare narrowly avoided the attacks coming from every direction. Then, suddenly, Xenia noticed something strange.
Cesare was bare-handed. His spear was strapped to his back, as though he had no intention of using it from the start. Xenia looked at him in puzzlement.
“You cannot beat me just by dodging.”
“Who said I was dodging?”
At that moment, Cesare grabbed the tentacle flying toward him with tremendous force. The smell of his hand burning from the acid was terrible.
Even as his brow twisted in pain, Cesare bared his fangs and smiled.
“Your big brother will play with you. For all the time I left you alone these past fifteen years.”
―BOOM!
Cesare roughly pulled on the tentacle, then slammed Xenia straight into a boulder. Even as her eyes gleamed fiercely, Cesare did not let go.
“Even if it hurts, endure it a little. After this is over, I will listen to all the insults you want.”
While Xenia was caught by Cesare, Dane was heading toward Gainak without hesitation.
Even though his disciples were fighting fiercely against each other, his gaze did not waver. He had only one target.
Gainak.
Under that gaze, Gainak felt as though all the blood in his body had frozen. To stop him, he poured out every spell he knew. Lightning, wind, flames, and countless disasters surged from every direction.
But Dane did not stop. Disasters of that level could not stop him. Each time one blinked, Dane drew closer.
The distance to Gainak was now ten steps.
Five steps.
And then, right before him.
The moment Dane raised his sword to cut Gainak in half, ―CLANG!
A sharp metallic sound rang out. However, Gainak did not bleed or groan.
Dane’s blade had been blocked in midair.
Before anyone realized it, a translucent sphere had formed around Gainak. It was a protective barrier made of mana. Gainak grinned with a face drained white of color.
“Ha, haha……! This is not a barrier that can be broken by a physical attack like that!”
Dane raised his sword and struck down once more. Only a sharp sound rang out, and the barrier did not budge.
Because Gainak had drawn in even the mana meant for attacking and used it all to make the barrier, even an archmage would not be able to break it easily.
Dane stared at it, then swung his sword again. It seemed he did not properly know what this barrier was. At that, Gainak sneered.
“Do you think you can break it because your sword carries mana? In the end, you are still a swordsman. You do not have the kind of mana that can overwhelm me!”
“If it were an ordinary swordsman, that would be true.”
He had crossed the line between life and death countless times against countless enemies. He had fought mages and barriers until he was sick of them.
In Dane’s eyes, the flow of mana was visible. He could see the faint cracks in the barrier.
Dane swung his sword once more. A sound rang out, like metal scraping and glass shattering at the same time.
―CRACKLE……!
Gainak saw a small crack appear in the once-perfect sphere.
It was an extremely thin crack, like a root. But it was unmistakably there. Every time Dane brought down his sword, that root stretched in every direction. Gainak’s eyes began to tremble.
‘He is breaking this barrier with a single sword?’
With every metallic sound, the cracks spread like roots. The barrier looked precarious, as though it would scatter into fragments at any moment. Now, it was only a matter of time before it broke completely.
He tried to seek help from Xenia, but Xenia was battered as well. Perhaps she no longer had the strength to handle her tentacles, for she was barely using only one now.
‘Did I drain too much of Xenia’s mana?’
While Gainak was drawing out her mana, Xenia had to face Cesare. Because Cesare had clung to her so persistently, she had already exhausted much of her strength.
Cesare’s whole body had also been burned until he was ragged. Even so, he seemed to have no intention of releasing Xenia.
The sound of the cracks spreading like roots became clearer and clearer.
He could not meet death like this. Gainak’s mind spun tautly. Just before his overheated mind seemed ready to burst, he shouted.
“Xenia! Jump off the cliff and kill yourself!”
At those words, Xenia stopped. In the stillness, Xenia’s voice rang out.
“Yes, Master.”
Xenia cut off the tentacle Cesare was holding and ran toward the cliff without hesitation.
Cesare tried to catch her, but he could not keep up. Acidic liquid was soaking his legs.
“Xenia……!”
Xenia threw herself over the dark, deep cliff. Darkness. Xenia closed her eyes.
In a few seconds, she would collide with the rocks. Even if she was a magic beast hybrid, in this state, she would die.
She had no choice but to die.
But Xenia did not die.
She slowly opened her eyes. Her feet were hanging in midair. Dane was holding Xenia’s waist with one hand and a tree root growing from the cliff with the other.
The moment Xenia jumped off the cliff, Dane had jumped with her. Without the slightest hesitation. Confusion entered Xenia’s emotionless eyes.
“Why did you save me?”
“Because I am your master.”
“But my master is…….”
Xenia felt a strange sense of déjà vu.
There had been someone who spoke in this way. After she caused trouble, someone had gone around apologizing in her place.
She had asked that person why he apologized for her. She had asked why he did not get angry. At that time, that person had surely…….
“Ha, that crazy old bastard……! Kh……!”
Then Cesare’s groan, filled with pain, was heard. Gainak had driven a Mana Arrow into Cesare, who had collapsed on the ground, and now he staggered toward the cliff.
“Haha, ha……! Yes, I knew you would jump after her.”
Gainak’s haggard face was filled with a sense of victory. As he muttered a magic formula, a single Mana Arrow began to form in the air.
Compared to what he had created until now, it was a small, insignificant arrow. Dane glared at him and said.
“You raised her for fifteen years, and still you ordered her to kill herself?”
“It is time for Xenia to repay the favor she owes me. I fed her and put a roof over her head for fifteen years, so is it not only right that I receive this much in return?”
Once the casting was complete, Gainak drove the Mana Arrow straight into Dane’s shoulder.
Blood flowed down the arm holding Xenia. Dane tightened his grip and embraced his disciple more firmly.
“A domus master is also a parent. Does a parent demand payment from their child?”
“Of course.”
Gainak merely laughed.
“Why do parents raise children? So that they may be repaid in the future for what they gave.”
Xenia quietly looked at Gainak. As even Gainak’s own mana began to run dry, the restriction slowly began to creak.
Several memories rose in her mind. A person who had spoken to her long, long ago. A person who had given her a necklace, a place to live, and a family.
Master.
When she asked why he was doing this for her, whether he wanted something in return, he had said he wanted no such thing.
Master.
He was a person full of mysteries. She had wanted to know more about him. Curiosity had formed, and that curiosity had become affection. A person she had wanted to keep learning about.
Master…….
Meanwhile, Gainak had nearly finished his casting. With three Mana Arrows floating in the air, Gainak smiled cruelly.
“Where shall I pierce next? The eye? Or the tongue? If not that…….”
“Master.”
Then Xenia spoke. Gainak looked at her with a frown.
“I remember now.”
Xenia gripped her necklace tightly. Emotion filled the eyes that had only been still and empty.
“Master gave me this necklace. Master went around apologizing for me. Master taught me how to live with people. He did it without asking for anything in return.”
“What? What nonsense are you…….”
At that moment, a tentacle pierced Gainak’s chest. Blood spread in an instant, and acidic mucus began to seep out. Gainak screamed and thrashed.
“Aaaargh! Xenia! Stop at once! What are you doing to your master……!”
Even at those words, Xenia did not hesitate. Instead, her tentacle dug even deeper into Gainak’s stomach. Xenia held Dane tightly and said,
“The master I wanted to know more about.”
Her firm voice and gaze turned toward Gainak.
“Is not you. It is Dane Balanus.”