Chapter 215

At the foot of Mount Sirulia.

When we departed from the mountain riding on Olivia’s back, I sensed holy powers similar to the one I felt in Maraton’s Spring on the ground.

I made Olivia wait in the sky and I jumped off holding Eleanor and Hikari.

After I landed, I searched for the source of that power.

I immediately found it.

There was a giant hole ten meters away from where I landed.

The white snakes from before came out from that cave-like hole that is connected to the underground as if they reacted to the Demon Swords.

I drew Eleanor and Hikari and took a stance.

「I’m already starting to feel like I’m old friends with these guys」

『I’m already fed up seeing them. It is only tiring making an opponent out of them』

『Hikari doesn’t like them that much too……』

「They’re the natural enemy of Demon Swords after all」

Eleanor only seemed annoyed but Hikari seems like she really hates them.

「Anyways, let’s clean them up. It will be troublesome if we leave them here and bother us later」

『Umu』

『Hikari will do her best!』

I gripped the Demon Swords but when I was about to attack.

A girl holding a staff fell from the sky.

She released her magic powers when she was about to land to break her fall.

Her big magician’s hat fluttered for an instant but she grabbed and held it in a hurry.

The one who fell wasーー

「Io?!」

I was surprised and looked up to the sky.

Olivia was still in the sky. She is still leisurely flapping her wings in the place where I jumped off.

She is about a hundred meters from the ground.

Io jumped off from that high.

「What’s the matter? Did something happen above?」

「U〜un」

Io shook her head and stared at me.

「Kakeru-san, leave them to me」

「To you?」

「Un」

Io nodded as she stared straight to my eyes.

Her expression is serious and her eyes are burning with a flame.

“……why?”, I thought, but I sheathed Eleanor and Hikari and nodded.

「I got it」

「Thank you!」

Io said with a smile. She gripped her magic staff and faced towards the white snakes that slithered out of the hole.

『Hou』

The next instant, the sounds disappeared.

Io’s body was enveloped by a faint light.

Her massive amount of magic powers swirled.

『It looks like she’s planning to do something』

「Yeah, on top of that, it’s something different from up until now」

『It is〜?』

「Probably. That’s what I feel」

It is a complete guess. However, Io currently possesses that kind of air around her.

Io’s face was frighteningly serious, you could even feel that she is seriously challenging something.

Although the white snakes are the natural enemy of Demon Swords, on the other hand, they are just slightly stronger monsters for humans.

They are opponents that Io could defeat if she normally fought. She does not need to make a face like that against them.

If that is so, her opponent is not the white snakes.

Her opponent is Io herself.

Io’s magic powers rose to its peak. She chanted and released her lightning magic.

The lightning shot through Io herself!

『Io-oneechan?! Did she fail?』

『Nope』

「She succeeded instead」

Although the lightning fell towards Io, it did not reach the ground.

Although the lightning fell to Io’s head, it was absorbed by her body.

Io’s body changed after absorbing the lightning.

It was as if she turned to lightning itself, possessing an intangible body.

With a blink of an eye, Io’s appearance disappeared.

She instantly moved closing her distance from the white snakes and swung her magic staff that turned into lightning with her.

She did not use magic that time, but her staff that was swung towards the white snakes chopped them in half.

And that she did with a single attack, although her technique was subpar.

『Her speed is incomparable to before』

「She took in the power of lightning, turning into something like an energy being or a spirit」

『How brave of her to do such a dangerous feat』

「It was really dangerous, huh」

『Of course it is. It is insane to hit yourself with a magic spell that uses up all of your magic powers』

「That’s true」

However, Io succeeded.

She succeeded in doing something that even Eleanor would describe as “insane”.

All of the white snakes were quickly killed.

Although they are opponents that Io could easily defeat, she now annihilated them with overwhelming power.

After cleaning up the white snakes, Io’s magic powers gradually left her body and she returned to her original form.

But when I was thinking of that, she suddenly got unsteady with her feet.

I ran up to her and embraced her when she was about to collapse.

「Are you alright?」

「I’m okay. I just used up all of my magic powers」

「You’re fatigued huh」

If so, there’s no need to worry, huh.

「Why did you suddenly do something like that?」

「I was stimulated by Hikari-chan」

『Fue?』

「Looking at Hikari evolving even though she’s a Demon Sword, I thought that I couldn’t lose to her」

「I see」

I kissed Io.

It was a kiss where our lips shortly touched, but that was enough since she’s weak right now.

「Let me take a better look at it next time」

「Un!」

Although she seemed weak, she nodded happily.

「Now that’s done, let’s return to Oliviaーー」

The next instant, a white light pierced through my head.

I put Io down before thinking and jumped straight upwards.

I leaped with full strength and quickly passed by Olivia reaching the sky above her.

I guarded using Eleanor and Hikari who I sheathed halfway and made a cross with them, then I felt an impact.

It was a strong impact that shook me to the core of my body.

I defended against that something that attacked Olivia.

「U, OOOOOOO!!」

With a roar, I parried to the side that thing that attacked.

Even so, I was unable to do it completely, and was pushed back to the ground by “it”.

I quickly fixed my posture and landed and looked at “that”.

『What……?』

『Eh? Ehhhhhh?!』

The mother and daughter Demon Swords were surprised.

They can’t be blamed.

It was Eleanor.

Eleanor in her human form, the one I can only meet in the lottery place.

However, the air around her is different.

The Eleanor in that place is a doting parent who really dotes on her daughter, but the Eleanor in front of me has a sneer on her face.

Demon King.

Her appearance was something that made me think of those words.

「You are……Eleanor?」

「To think you knew the moment you saw me. I’m finally starting to get curious about your identity. Also, it is the same with those two Demon Swords that look exactly like me」

「Rather than that, what happened? Why are you in human form?」

「I received a physical body」

Eleanor answered while making a sneer.

「The body that is the strongest and most adaptive with my powers」

『Rodotos……』

「Did you took over that guy’s body?」

「Exactly」

「Oi, Eleanor! What does this mean?」

『E-Even if you tell me that……』

Eleanor unusually gave off a confused emotion.

Although there are many times that her memories were unreliable since we came to this era, she was still the usual Eleanor.

It’s the first time I felt Eleanor confused like this.

And the individual that made her like that.

I looked at Eleanor in the pastーーin her Demon King-like appearance.

Not only she possesses a physical body, the Eleanor right there has purified powers which even seem to solidify.

The Demon Sword’s aura, with the amount far greater than I use, it was condensed into a human shape.

That was how I saw her.

And that was very beautiful.

This purified existence, this is the real Eleanor, I thought.

“Her existence should be called as the True・Eleanor”, I thought.

「……fu」

「What’s funny」

「No, it’s just that I’m having fun」

「Fun?」

「I knew with that exchange. You are stronger than Rodotos」

「Of course. Don’t treat me like those humans」

「You are stronger than any opponent that I have fought, far stronger, even. Probably because you turned into that appearance」

「……what are you getting at?」

「Well, nothing much」

I gripped Hikari.

I glanced at Io who was looking from afar with a dumbfounded expression.

「I just thought that I can’t lose out」

The next instant after I said that, I strongly sensed the presence of the two Demon Swords.

Beside the Demon Swords, appeared two girls that seemed to cuddle close to their selves, an illusion that came from imagination.

「Two……me?」

The Eleanor in front of me widened her eyes in shock.