[LN] Volume 1: Chapter 6.4

[LN] Volume 1: Chapter 6.4

This chapter was brought to you by the collaboration between PolterGlast and Saekano Translations.

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Volume 1 Chapter 6.4

An Unforgettable Birthday Part 4

Translator : PolterGlast

Nozomu, who had just severed the familiar of the contract, did not look back and silently kept a vigilant eye on Rugato, despite the Somia's voice behind his back.

He could not afford to let his guard down in the slightest against the opponent he was now confronting.

Rugato, on the other hand, was looking on in disbelief as he saw Nozomu slicing the familiar in two with a single strike.

"Oh my, I would never have imagined that the contract's familiar would be defeated with a single strike......"

Both Irisdina and Tima had rigid expressions on their faces, and Mars let out a dry laugh in amazement.

Nozomu lowered the great sword on his back to the floor and kicked it toward Mars.

Picking up the great sword that slid across the floor and came to his side, Mars uttered words that sounded like a complaint.

"Goof grief ...... You're late."

With his blood-soaked hands, Mars picked up his great sword and managed to stand up using it as a support.Geett the latest novels at novelhall.com

But his legs were shaking so badly that, even from the side, it seemed to be impossible for him to continue the battle.

"...... Sorry."

"Hmph."

"But the familiar of the contract has been defeated. With this, Somia-chan is- ......"

The familiar who was trying to fulfill the contract was defeated.

However, as if to betray Nozomu's relieved feeling, the core of the familiar he had just shattered began to rise up into the air and gradually assemble.

The fragments that gathered in the air turned jet black and once again became a mass of black light that began to pulse with a thumping sound.

It was clearly a sign that the familiar was coming back to life.

"W-, why......"

"That familiar is merely an entity that carries out the contract. As long as I have the contract in my possession, it will be revived as many times as necessary."

Grimacing and gritting his teeth, Nozomu glared at Rugato.

"...... Are you really going to take Somia-chan's soul with you no matter what?"

"Yes. Otherwise, I will not be able to accomplish my duty."

Rugato answered immediately without hesitation. He had no hesitation at all about what he was about to do. Nozomu's voice naturally became hoarse in response to his answer.

"Why!? They have no knowledge of the contract that was made 300 years ago! Do you think such a deal is acceptable? In the first place, the only thing mentioned in the contract was to return [the Furnace of Spiritual Flame]! There's not a single word about taking Somia-chan's soul along with it!"

Nozomu had no idea of the duties of a noble family or the circumstances of the Francilt family three hundred years ago. But he could not approve of unilaterally sacrificing Somia, whom they knew nothing about, and dumping everything on their own descendants.

"To be honest, I was not aware that [the Furnace of Spiritual Flame] was fused with Somia-sama's soul until I confirmed it just now. In fact, my Master does not consider this contract to be that important. Or perhaps I should say that She is not interested in it ......"

"If so, then-......."

"However, the contract has already been agreed upon. Once it is made, it is absolute."

Rugato did not wait for Nozomu to respond, but simply brushed him off.

"[The Furnace of Spiritual Flame] has already fused with Somia-sama's soul and will no longer be able to be separated from it. But that does not mean that our contract no longer stands."

Unilaterally breaking a contract once made would be a serious blemish on one's credibility and dignity, and would be an opportunity for those who behave badly to take advantage of one's situation.

Because the Francilte family has great authority and power, the repercussions of such a scandal becoming public would be immeasurable.

"Even though my Master has no interest in it, She will not remain silent if the contract were to be unilaterally violated. Nor would the Francilt family want this secret agreement to be made public ......"

"I don't care about that! Let Somia go!"

Rugato put a threat in his polite words, but Irisdina brushed it off.

Certainly, if the matter became public, the dignity of the Francilt family would fall to the ground.

However, what was most important to Irisdina was her sister, who was about to be killed in front of her eyes.

Even the Francilt family is not pure and innocent.

As the next head of the family, Irisdina was also aware of this fact, and that was why Somia's existence was a treasure that could not be replaced by anything else.

In the face of Irisdina's declaration, Rugato's atmosphere changed.

His gentlemanly expression remained unchanged, but a spine-tingling sense of wariness began to radiate from his slender frame.

The previous confrontations had only served as a prelude for Rugato, and he felt as if he were admonishing a child who did not know how to listen.

However, now, here he was finally about to get serious, in the face of the clear opposition shown by the next head of the family with whom he had signed a contract.

Facing the increasingly intimidating Rugato, Nozomu also readied his katana.

"...... Nozomu-kun. How many more times do you think you can use that technique?"

Irisdina, standing next to Nozomu, also readied the rapier in her hand and asked Nozomu in a quiet voice.

She was one of the people who had seen with her own eyes the lethality of Nozomu's [Phantom].

It was surprising that it was so powerful, and now she could rely on its deadly power.

"...... Not too many. A few more shots are my limit."

Under [Ability Suppression], Nozomu's Qi is scarce. No matter how much he reduced the amount of Qi he used, he could not unleash a technique that would work on that opponent so many times.

"It's frustrating, but I'm no match against that old man on my own. You are my only hope. Please destroy the contract he holds."

Both Mars and Tima were already in a bad shape to continue fighting.

The only way to save her sister's life was for Irisdina to rely on Nozomu's help.

"...... Alright. I'll try."

In response to Irisdina's plea, Nozomu gave a small nod.

However, his voice was slightly shaky.

His opponent was a formidable individual equivalent to an S-ranked adventurer like Shino.

(I have to fight now. I have no other choice but to fight!)

Nozomu, while forcibly suppressing his own hesitation by using his current situation as an excuse, wrapped himself in his Qi.

Irisdina also raised her rapier and charged her magic power.

"Are you still going to resist? If so, I have no choice."

An extraordinary amount of magical power overflowed from Rugato's body.

The magic that erupted from the old gentleman's body covered the entire hall, raging so wildly that it threatened to crush Irisdina and the others.

Expensive furnishings and tables were flung into the air, and the wallpaper peeled off as if it had been scraped with a sandpaper file.

"In my country, strength is respected more than anything else. Therefore, even the Emperor of my country cannot annul the outcome of a battle."

For the reasons given at the time of the establishment of the Dizard Empire, the stronger one is, the more respected and honored he becomes.

Dueling is considered more sacred than in any other country, and all kinds of duels have been used to settle disputes of mutual interest.

"If you refuse to accept this contract, then ...... prove to me that you are stronger than me!"

Therefore, Rugato told them, if they wanted to save Somia, they would have to use force to break the contract.

"Here I come."

The next moment, Nozomu activated his [Flash Step]. He rushed forward to close the gap between them at once.

Rugato's fingers ran through the air as if playing a musical instrument, and once again drew magic formations in the air.

There were ten magic circles drawn in the air. The magic bullets produced from each magic circle were shot simultaneously toward Nozomu under Rugato's command.

The ten magic bullets approached to pierce Nozomu's body. However, five black magic bullets flying from behind Nozomu intercepted Rugato's magic bullets.

This was an offensive magic cast by Irisdina's [Immediate Development].

The black magic bullets shattered the first half of the ten magic bullets that were approaching Nozomu.

However, the remaining five magic bullets were looming over Nozomu.

Nozomu, while rushing toward Rugato, synchronized all the muscles in his body and brought the momentum of his attempt to go straight under his control completely by shifting his weight precisely.

[Flash Step・Curved Movement]

Nozomu ran past the five magic bullets and closed in on Rugato. He then raised his katana, which was resting on his hip.

"Sei~!"

Rugato quickly drew a magic circle and formed a single sword of blood. With his right hand, he pulled the sword out of the magic circle and intercepted Nozomu's swinging blade.

*Clang!* A high-pitched metallic sound echoed through the hall.

"Haaaa!"

Even though his first strike was intercepted, Nozomu was not panicked and proceeded to connect with a series of strikes.

A downward slash, an upward slash, a lateral slash to the right, and a lateral slash to the left.

He used every muscle in his body without any waste, connected his movements without any stagnation, and continuously launched a series of slashes.

Rugato, on the other hand, swiftly swung his blood sword in one hand to block all of Nozomu's barrage of blows.

In contrast to Nozomu's curvy and rapid attacks, Rugato's defense was direct and powerful. However, Nozomu felt a strange sense of discomfort in every part of his robust defense.

(This man's movements are inconsistent. Then!)

Nozomu swung his katana diagonally down from above. The moment it was about to be blocked by Rugato's blood sword, Nozomu tightened his armpits, turned his wrists, and lowered his waist.

Then, the trajectory of the slash, which had been swung in a diagonal strike, changed abruptly. The diagonal slash changed to a vertical slash as if slipping through the blood sword, and struck Rugato from a completely different direction.

" ~!"

Rugato quickly pulled the blood sword at high speed back and repelled Nozomu's vertical slash.

His left hand, infused with a large amount of Qi, emitted an intense light that illuminated the battered and desolate hall.

While Rugato's eyes widened in surprise, Nozomu slammed his left hand, which was infused with a large amount of Qi, onto the marble floor.

[Qi-jutsu・Light of Annihilation]

The next moment, the floor beneath Rugato's feet erupted, and a torrent of light engulfed the old gentleman.

"Ugh!"

A sudden consumption of Qi struck Nozomu.

Color faded from his vision, and his vision grew dim.

Nozomu felt his own vitality rapidly declining due to the release of Qi that exceeded his limit.

Undoubtedly he was in a dangerous situation. But aside from this, Nozomu had no other technique to catch Rugato by surprise.

Although the [Qi-jutsu・Light of Annihilation] caused a sudden consumption of Qi, it had the greatest area of effect and annihilation power of any of Nozomu's techniques.

Once Rugato was caught in this technique, he would have no choice but to focus on defense. At the same time, this was also their last strategic move.

Even the previous extremely deadly [Phantom] could not break through Rugato's defenses. At the same time, however, Nozomu realized that the person Rugato was most wary of was himself.

Rugato is an extremely powerful magic warrior who can deploy a wide variety of magic simultaneously and also possesses superior physical abilities.

And his fighting style is very similar to that of the all-round genius Irisdina. If one were to compare the number of simultaneous magic deployments, deployment speed, and power, Rugato would clearly have the upper hand.

Therefore, Rugato was not that wary of Irisdina but was instead wary of Nozomu, who had a single-point penetration type of attack.

That was why Irisdina would be the final decisive factor.

And Irisdina was already preparing her final move.

She deployed her magic in succession while raising her rapier, the [Silver Wings of the Evening Star], in front of her eyes.

Layers of dark magic kept overlapping on the blade of the rapier, and a dark glow of energy began to ripple violently.

By repeatedly applying reinforcement magic, she was able to eventually achieve explosive power.

This is her decisive move, which she had previously shown in combat training at the academy.

At that time, Irisdina managed to slash apart the torrent of flames released by Lisa with a single strike, but in comparison to that time, Irisdina poured in an even greater amount of magic power and piled on layers of strengthening magic.

If one were to do it in the chanting method, this action would definitely take several minutes, and in the case of the magic formation method, it would take hours to prepare the magic formations alone.

However, Irisdina, who possessed the ability of [Immediate Deployment], repeatedly cast the reinforcement magic at a speed ten times faster than that of the chanting method.

Before long, a magic sword was formed in her hands.

[Magic Sword・Lunar Eclipse]

The magical power enveloping the blade emitted waves of darkness reminiscent of a dark abyss. The blade itself, however, glowed white and shone like a comet slicing through the dark night.

"Haaaaaa!"

Irisdina rushed toward Rugato while rising her fighting spirit.

Nozomu released his [Qi-jutsu・Light of Annihilation] in time with her cry.

Then, with a powerful swing, the comet, shrouded in darkness, sliced through the remnants of the torrent of light.

"Wha!"

However, what escaped from Irisdina's mouth was not the conviction of victory, but a voice of bewilderment. Rugato was not in that place she had sliced through.

"W-, where ...... kyaaaa!"

Irisdina looked around in a panic, but a magic bullet closing in from a blind spot landed on her and blew her away.

The [Silver Wing of the Evening Star] in her hand also lost its magical light and rolled on the floor. Furthermore, four magic formations were deployed around her as she fell to the floor, and the chains summoned from the formations restrained her.

"What the hell- ...... ugh!"

Nozomu was confused by the unexpected situation, but the same magic circle that restrained Irisdina was deployed around him, and he was restrained in the same way as she was.

Confused, Nozomu looked around and saw several black shadows flying around him.

Upon closer observation, he saw that they were a group of bats with black skin and red eyes. The flying bats eventually gathered in one place, and Rugato appeared out of the swarm of bats.

Before he was swallowed up by the [Qi-jutsu・Light of Annihilation], he transformed himself into a swarm of bats to get out of the range of Nozomu's Qi-jutsu.

He took advantage of the opening to restrain Nozomu and Irisdina.

The fact that Rugato could turn himself into bats brought to mind the name of a certain race in Nozomu's mind.

"A vampire......"

"Yes, that is correct."

Vampires.

The Arkmel continent is home to a wide variety of races, but even among these races, vampires are said to possess top-class potential.

They possess extraordinary physical abilities, enormous magical power, extremely long life spans, and a wide variety of other abilities.

The ability to turn oneself into bats, which Rugato showed earlier, is also a unique ability of vampires.

Vampires have not been spotted in the world for several hundred years, but legends of their existence remain throughout the continent.

It is said that in one night, they turned all the people in a town into monsters. It is said that they seduced the royalty of a country and destroyed it with their charms ability.

They are said to be one of the most powerful and dangerous races in the vast continent of Arkmel, where many races live.

However, they are feared and persecuted because of their great abilities and physical defects that require them to drink the blood of others in order to survive.

"A mithril sword, huh? If I were to be pierced through in the heart by Irisdina-sama's magic sword earlier, even I would not have survived."

Rugato muttered to himself as he picked up Irisdina's rapier, which was lying on the floor.

Mithril, when fully charged with magic power, exhibits a kind of powerful purifying ability. It was used as a sacred metal in ancient rituals, and it has what could be called a smite against certain races, such as vampires.

Nozomu once again confirmed Rugato's appearance.

His crimson eyes were indeed one of the characteristics of vampires.

However, it was too late to discover Rugato's true identity.

All of them were already either restrained or unable to fight, and there was nothing they could do now.

With Nozomu and the others unable to do anything, Rugato threw Irisdina's rapier out the window and headed toward Somia.

"Kuh, release me, release me now!"

While Rugato was approaching Somia step by step, Irisdina was desperately struggling to break the magic that was restraining her.

However, Rugato's restraining magic held her body firmly in place, and the chains that were wrapped around her did not budge.

Irisdina tried to use magic to break the restraints even by force, but even as she tried to increase her magic power, her magic power dissipated in the blink of an eye.

It seemed that this restraining magic had the effect of suppressing the magic power of the captured opponent.

At that moment, the black ball that was hovering in front of Somia popped, and the familiar of the contract resurrected.

Irisdina's expression was tinged with despair.

"No ...... don't, please don't ......"

What will happen now?

Glimpsing a definite future upon the resurrected Grim Reaper, Irisdina uttered a pleading cry.

"Stop! Please don't do this! If you want a soul, you can have mine! So please, don't take Somia away from me!"

She kept raising her sorrowful cry, but the familiar of the contract showed no sign of stopping at all.

The Grim Reaper pointed its skeletonized palm at Somia.

Somia's restrained body jerked and light vanished from her eyes.

And then, a pale ball of light slowly emerged from Somia's chest.

The ball of light was connected to Somia's body by a thin trail of light.

Perhaps this ball of light was Somia's soul.

In fact, Somia's complexion, from which her soul had been extracted, was already as lifeless as that of a dead person.

"No ...... stop, please stop ......"

With tears streaming down her face, Irisdina tried to reach out to her sister, who had gone pale.

For her, Somia was her most precious treasure.

She was able to become the next head of the Francilte family and not lose sight of herself in a society of aristocrats swirling with greed, all because of her little sister.

Irisdina lost her mother when she was very young.

Her mother, who was frail physically, gave birth to Somia in exchange for her life.

(Irisdina, you are going to be a big sister from now on, so please take care of this little girl for me.)

The day before her mother passed away, while stroking her big belly and Irisdina's head, she asked Irisdina to do something for her. A somewhat sad smile appeared on her skinny face.

The next day, as if in exchange for her mother's life, Somia was born.

She was born as a premature baby, much smaller than a normal one.

Still, her newborn sister cried hard and tried her best to survive with her tiny body.

At that moment, Irisdina made up her mind. In place of her late mother, she would protect her younger sister.

The memories of Somia's life since her birth flashed through Irisdina's mind like a rushing train.

Her cute little sister followed her around with a smile on her face. Talked about the cuteness of dogs and cats, losing track of time, and spending time together, day and night.

An irreplaceable existence that was about to be lost forever.

The Grim Reaper raised its scythe to sever the thin trail of light that connected Somia's soul to her body.

Irisdina could only plead.

I don't care who you are, I'll do whatever you want me to do. I'll give my body, my soul, everything I have!

"Someone ...... please. Help ...... me ......"

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