Chapter 197

「It's useless. This wind curses and rots everything, utterly disintegrating it.」

Thin, feminine hands were stretching from the black storm winds.

「Get crushed, crushed, CRUUUUUUUUUSHED!!!」

The moment those hands, that for some reason strongly reminded me of a skeleton's hands, touched the barrier, it disintegrated, turning into black sand.

But Lilia also had no plans of getting killed so easily.

One after another, she deployed barriers with seemingly slightly different characteristics, somehow blocking those hands.

Perhaps she was relying on her 『Magic Vision』, but with each consecutive barrier, they kept getting more and more resistant to those hands.

「THIS IS NOTHING!!」

「STOP RESISTING!!」

Mai's and Lilia's voices resounded as the battle between barriers and cursed hands continued.

Reaching their highest note when black fingers pierced through the last of the barriers.

And with a magic power scattering everywhere, came a dizzyingly strong burst of black light.

The shockwave caused clouds of dust to rise from the ground, then…

「Haah, haaah, haaah, haah.」

Though her breathing was rough, Lilia was still standing. While everything around her was turned into black sand, Lilia, who also was violated by the curse, was holding her now blackened right hand with her unsullied left hand. Even so, this result could hardly be considered great for Mai, since that attack was clearly supposed to turn all of Lilia's limbs into black sand.

「I couldn't, finish her, off, gough—」

Mai said, vexed, all covered in wounds because she used more magic power than she could handle.

「You did well, but it ends he…」

「Yes, you truly did well.」

「?!」

With a sound of cutting through the air, Lilia's left arm was slashed off.

Thanks to Mai's all-out attack, Lilia finally stopped paying attention to me, despite never losing sight of me for the whole duration of the combat prior to that.

Thanks to Yuuto and Mai creating that moment of negligence, I was able to sneak behind Lilia.

「Resistance is futile. Though I'm exhausted as well, it's not to the point of not being able to deal with you without both hands.」

「Kuh… I can't die at such a place…」

I threaten Lilia, who sank to the ground, glaring at me.

Since the spirit sword cauterized the wound instantly, there was no blood coming from it.

Although we got through this somehow, we now have to make the next move.

This scenario wasn't present among all of the possible complications that I anticipated.

I didn't expect the person who left the town to come back for the second time.

They say what happened twice can happen thrice, but this time, I confirmed everything through the guild…

「—!」

Then, suddenly a magic explosion occurred between me and Lilia.

(With such timing…!!)

In a way, I was already expecting this. With my weapon pointed at Lilia I paid close attention to her, ready to react at any moment. Which means, the one who used this magic was not Lilia, but someone else, and that someone else is…

「Fufufu, now, this is the end!」

Aah, this world is really mean.

With her crimson hair waving in the air.

With her usual imprudent smile.

Clad in the gothic-styled battle robe.

There stood Leticia, exactly the way I remember her.

「…」

「Leticia…!」

Seeing Leticia, who descended from the skies, Lilia raised a relieved voice.

(…Crap, this is the worst. Can I make it out of here in this condition with Leticia as my opponent…?)

And since Leticia was here, it means that there is a chance that Nonorik might show up as well.

「…Guh.」 「My… This is a bind.」

Mai and Yuuto are at their limit.

No time for hesitation. I have to somehow take the two of them and retreat from here.

(Damn it… Calm down, damn it… Calm down.)

But the anger and frustration from having to abandon my revenge after getting this far threw my thoughts into disarray.

「Oh my, what a terrible sight.」

Leticia didn't even look at me and began walking towards Lilia.

I already knew this, but as it felt like an additional demonstration of the differences in our positions, it brought even more chaos to my mind.

「Dear Sister, you did well.」

「You saved me… I will explain the details later. For now, can you please assist me in their capture?」

「…I know, but your recovery comes first.」

「…?」

Something struck me about Leticia's tone.

But before I understood what exactly bothered me, she moved behind Lilia and put a hand on her back.

「『Godly Bless』」

Feathers shining with faint golden light descended from above and fell onto her cauterized left upper arm and her accursed right hand.

The cut off limb began regenerating from the places where the feathers touched as if it were being reconstructed from the particles of light. Meanwhile, the cursed hand gradually regained its normal color, as if the curse was just some dirt, washed away by water.

「Phew. …Thank you, Leticia.」

「Don't mention it, I will spare no effort for the sake of my Dear Sister.」

「…」

Again. There is something in her voice, that I can't put my finger on.

Even though it's not the time to worry about something like that, I can't help but search for the cause of that strange feeling.

「I'm a bit worn out after using so much magic power, but if you are with me…」

「You know, Dear Sister, there is something, that I wanted to tell you for a long while.」

As Lilia rushed to stand up, Leticia embraced her from behind.

「For a long, looong time, I have been so patiently waiting. Feeling how I might lose control any moment, I desperately kept holding back, and…」

「Leticia? What are you…」

「…Waiting for this day, when I will avenge my Dear Brother.」

For some reason, I could hear that sound clearly even at this distance.

「…Eh? *Cough*」

The sound of Leticia's beautiful fingers digging into Lilia's chest.

「I will be taking it back if you don't mind? The magic core that you stole from my dear brother.」

Fresh blood gushed onto the ground.

Seeing how Leticia bloomed with a beautiful smile upon witnessing that sight, I finally realized the reason for that stranginess that I felt.

The name of that feeling was [Dejavu].

Leticia's voice was filled with that barely contained excitement with which I was also very familiar. The excitement about being able to exact revenge.