Black Blade End

(2 month and 13 days after Klada Disaster)

[Lynn's POV]

The heat of the desert scorches down on us, as usual.

Despite her face being hot red, soaked in sweat and breathing heavier by the moment, Kyrielle still continues to walk. This heat could very well make her faint at any moment.

"....You wanna take a rest?"

"No... it's fine. Let's hurry onto the next city."

We are about 8 hours of walk away from the city when we stopped to camp for the night yesterday. Even if we have Lizzie carrying our luggage, it'd still be hard to handle this sun. We started walking during early morning right after the sunrise, it should be 4 hours already, near high noon, the hottest period of the desert.

"Ooogggrr!..." Lizzie made a groan that sounded like it's complaining.

"Even Lizzie is getting tired now after she carried our bags for so long. It'd be fine to take a small rest now."

"...Alright then."

"We'll sit under the shade of that tree alright?"

Grabbing the noose on Lizzie, Kyrie steered her towards a place with multiple palm trees.

Why would there be trees randomly in the desert? Because there is most likely some water underground.

We put our things down at the tree and then sat ourselves down.

"...I'll never get used to this heat..."

"It is the hottest period of the day after all. Just cool down here okay? I'll scout ahead."

"Go on..."

I flew up to the sky and went forward at my cruise speed. I could see the large walled city from this height, without the sandy hills getting in the way.

"Hmm?"

I don't know if it's a merchant group or not, but there are about 3 demons being attacked by 2 Giant Eagles. They are right on the Desert Plains in front of the city.

Following my instinct to help, I flew closer to them so that I can give supporting fire. They are about 200 meters away I think.

Rock Sling.

I summoned two marble sized pebbles. Using gravity magic, I held the two pebbles in place while pushing it forward as well, building up energy within the rock itself. Finally, adding a spin to the rock bullet makes the energy inside sky rockets and it will shoot forward with blinding speed that even distorts the air.

And then I released my gravity control.

'Phiuc!' (2x)

The split second after I shot the two pebbles, the two eagles who was flying got shot and then quickly fell down to the ground.

The pebbles flew so fast that it had already crossed this distance of 200 meters in mere 0.2 of a second. It wasn't enough to directly kill them, but it did disabled their flight.

The three demons quickly killed the two eagles using their weapons. One of the demon saw me, and then pointed to me to signal the other 2.

I tried to fly down to them, but they quickly picked up their bags and ran away towards the city.

"Not even a thank you?... well, not that I expect to be thanked. All in a day's work then."

It seems that they were unharmed at least. After my scouting session I went back to Kyrie.

"How did it go?"

"Nothing weird out there. We can go straight to the city."

"Right. I have taken enough rest now, let's go. "

We picked our bags up and then continued walking towards the city.

[Kyrielle's POV]

As I rode on Lizzie and Lynn walked behind us, I gazed at the landscape. It was almost exactly like the desert that I have seen back on earth in pictures.... Yet, there are noticeable differences primarily in the flora and fauna that lives here. Altough looking similar, these plants and animals are slightly different.

Hills of sand and dried soil formed the ground. Many clouds gathered on the sky. The sun shines it's death rays down on the land, and the golden sand reflects it back wards, creating a golden shine unlike anything I have ever seen before.

Much of the desert is barren, lifeless, and wasteland like. Yet, creatures still roams the plains, burning under the scorching ball of gas that is called the sun. Tree, cactus, grass, bunnies, scorpions, snakes, dire wolves, carnivore boars, death worms that burry under the sands, rock drakes, raptors, carnivorous plants, etc etc. They all thrive on this trecherous land despite all odds against them.

I had never realised it but this world is not an illusion, but a reality. It's not fabricated out of my imagination, it's a world that is just as alive as earth is. You can kill off parts of this world and there'd still be countless other parts of it that would take the spotlight over Earth anytime soon, because the diversity of this world is just that unique.

Say, the northern part of the Centralia Continent is full of snowy mountains. It's so large that one would think that the entire world is just like that. But even if you shave that part away, there'd still be other biomes, creatures, people and culture, just like this continent that humans have all feared and refers to as the 'Demon Continent'.

"...Its beautiful isn't it?"

I subconsciously muttered that out. This contrast between death and life is just like an art.

"I agree.... This sight is a good scenery for these pair of sore eyes."

When I was first teleported here in the accident, I was depressed and grieved a lot. Then, I only cared about one thing... getting home. I never realised how beautiful this land truly is, because I was just too busy going from places to places.

This continent here is just like a place from an alien world, especially after I was so used to the northern cold weather and snowy mountains of the Holy Kingdom of Ataraxia, where even in summer the winds are still chilly.

What I also didn't realise was that my home is not stalemating as well. Life will go on without me, Mom and Marie will grief about the loss of dad and me, but they will move on from the event and live their very own life like they should be. No one would stay in the past forever, because there's no place like the present.

That bastard Aamon.... He attacked us because he thought that he was knee deep in enemy's territory. The fact that he was most likely released by those assassins that mass murdered the civilians there already gave the implication that they weren't the good guys, they wouldn't explain to Aamon how the war has ended because they likely wanted the mass murders to happen.

I will never forgive Aamon after what he did, even if he shows up now I'd still want to kill that fiery trash bin simply because he killed dad. But... if I was in Aamon's shoes, if I one day woke up in the middle of a wolf pack, my natural response would be just like him.

I wouldn't worry about the wolve's family or friends, not when I have no concern for them because we are inherently different, not because we hate each other. Even then, Aamon might be a demon, but he still demonstrated human like traits.

Though I will never forgive him... I understand that he did it for a reason. That itself is a good enough conclusion for me...

That's why, I shouldn't dwell on that event so much. Dad.... He is dead, that will never change. He happened to be the victim of this misunderstanding, and he died saving none other than me. I'm sure that if he knows that I made it out alive, he'd be at peace, he's just that kind of a person....

Besides, he died protecting me. He wanted me to live out my life to its fullest in exchange for his.... He instinctively jumped right into that flaming great sword just to see that wish come true.... That was his last wish.

....Its bitter. It's really regrettable how he didn't die old, with children and grandchildren beside him, I'm sure that in the end, he wanted to end like that.... But even the most bitter food wouldn't stay bitter in your mouth forever after you swallowed it.

If I was given a chance to change our fate, to instead have me be the one who would take that swing, I would do so at moment's notice. But what happened has happened, I can't change it. But what I can change is the future.

That is why. That is why I will now start to 'live' out my life again. This trip home will take me months, years even to complete. There is really no reason to hurry it up, it is much better to enjoy the trip itself on the way back, than to hurry back home and make this entire section of my life pointless.

I won't lie to myself about the dire situation that I'm in and pretend that it didn't hurt me... but I will also see the good in this incident, and come out as a better person.

"...Thank you Lynn."

"For what?"

"For sticking with me for so long.... I mean it."

"Hahaha, you are just feeling a bit emotional, that's all. It's only natural for me to do this! If you want to repay me, then do so by enjoying your life again!"

"Right. That I'll do..."

The only reason that I even got the chance to think optimistically like this is because of none other than Lynn, the Magic God herself. She became the supporting emotional pillar of me during the past month. She gave me assistance, and even cheered me on during this hard time.

She saved my butt countless times when we encountered monsters that could kill me ten times over, and she even helped me seal off the dragon inside.

She taught me new ways to use magic that I would never have came up with on my own. She showed me the pinnacle of attack magic, Black Blade End. She is someone I admire and also a close friend, likely even closer than Gerd or Mike... or even Richard.

Words alone cannot describe how grateful I feel towards her.

"Oh, we can see the city now Kyrie!"

We walked to the top of sand hill. Over the hill, I could see it. An enormous walled off city. It's much bigger than Klada, my home city. It's size might even be as big as Kyoto, back in Japan.

Something in the middle of the city stood out to me. It's a castle, and it's quite tall when compared to the rest of the city, with the tallest tower in the center of the castle standing about at least 3 times as tall as it's surrounding castle, overlooking the entire city itself.

"Let's go down the hill and head to the city. They'll let us in I think."

"Okay. "

"Oogr!" Lizzie replied as well. She is very cute, as always.

We continued down the hill and headed for the city wall's giant gate.

[Lynn's POV]

Kyrie thanked me randomly out of nowhere, she was most likely reflecting on what has happened over the past month. She finally came to a conclusion after her emotions had calmed down.... Sometimes it's better to just take a long rest and worry about the things troubling you later on.

It seems that she has reached a good enough conclusion... She is really mature for her age, which is really odd. But her oddness is exactly what makes her interesting to me.

We continued walking towards the city, the distance here is about one and a half kilometers away from this large desert plain.

After 10 minutes of walking, we are about 200 meters away now. Close enough for the huge walls to block the view of inside the city, leaving only the castle's tower protruding on top.

"Hmm.... Lynn, what's that light?"

I looked over at what Kyrie just pointed to and saw- oh shit.

"Get away Kyrie!"

Mana Blast!

I charged up mana on my hand and blasted Kyrie and Lizzie away using it.

'Boom!' 'zzz...!' A death ray of light hit the spot that Lizzie and Kyrie was in just split seconds ago, and made electricity sounds. That was Ignis, a saint ranked long ranged lightning spell!

If Kyrie took that, she'd be vaporized to ashes immediately...

"Bastard...! Kyrie are you hurt?!"

"Cough cough... I am fine..."

"Ggrroo...."

"Get up! We are retreating back to the hill!"

"Alright...!"

"I'll cover you, just focus on running!"

Kyrie immediately rode back on Lizzie and ran full speed toward the hill that we just came from.

Another light shoned at us from the top most tower of the city.

"Oh, get off of our butt! Black Spear!"

I shot my magic and intercepted the lightning.

'Boom!' 'zzz...!' A loud explosion was heard as the Black Spear crashed together with Ignis, and making some electricity sounds.

After about 7 seconds, another light shine at us again. Once again, I intercepted it with Black Spear.

'Boom!' 'Zzzz...!'

And just like last time, 7 seconds later another light shone at us.

"How aggressive, you leave me no choice then!"

Eight Fold Casting : Wing!

Following the shape of a pair of wings, eight magic crests appeared behind my back. In this formation, my mana flow is the most efficient outside of my body, and allows simultaneously casting eight magic at once.

Black Spears!

All the crests lights up and then started making orbs of darkness. A brief second later, I shot one of the spears towards the tower that shoned another ray of death at us. The rest of the spears, I aimed for the city walls.

'Boom!' 'Zzz...!' An explosion was heard from one of the Black Spears intercepting Ignis. Then a split second later...

'Boom!' (7x) Seven more explosions was heard as the Black Spears all hit the city.

Then, I could see it. A dome shaped transparent barrier covering the entire city. It blocked all of my magic attacks like it was nothing.

Another light shoned from the tower again, they just don't give up do they?! I shot one Black Spear to intercept the Ignis again.

'Boom!' 'Zzz...!'

A barrier huh?...

"Hmpt! Let's see how well your barrier works against brute force alone then."

I disabled my eight fold casting, and then summoned 4 Black Spears. I crushed them, then gathered them in front of my hand. Visualizing them changing their shapes, I imagined a sword in my hand. The condensed magic formed into a sword.... and I grabbed the handle of the black blade made of dark energy.

Black Blade End!

I pulled my arm backwards with the tip of the sword facing forward, I thrusted the sword forward. Following that motion, a huge beam of darkness shot out from it.

The God ranked magic hit the dome shaped barrier, but I aimed it towards the area of the sky where it wouldn't hit anything in it's path other than the barrier alone.

'BOOM!' 'Shatter!' A huge explosion sounded as the beam of condensed darkness hit the dome and punching a hole straight through it. Then following that, a sound of the barrier shattering could be heard as the dome barrier was smashed into pieces.

"Hmpt, still a useless barrier afterall."

There is no need for warning in the form of words because the message in that spell is clearer than the sky itself. They didn't shoot at us anymore after my spell punched straight through their defense.

"At least they seems to be reasonable."

I looked back and I can't see Kyrielle anymore. She is already past the hill. I flew up to the air and cruised towards the hill, I found her and landed next to her afterwards.

"Lynn!"

"Thank goodness you are fine.... If one of those hits you, you are D-O-N-E dead!"

"Yeah... You saved me again. Thank you."

"No problem."

I peeked over the hill, and looked at the city. I could see soldiers panicking on top of the wall after I single handedly smashed their strongest barrier into pieces.

That barrier is most likely a Ballistic Barrier, a Master ranked barrier spell. It could very well take them over a year just to rebuild the barrier to half it's strength because of the sheer scale that barrier has. It's a technology marvel, and the size of it could very well up it's rank from master to saint, that's for sure.

"Be careful Kyrielle, and if someone attacks you... don't hold back and hit them with your Forbidden Sun."

"...Okay. What will you do now?"

"I'll go and talk with them, you should be safe here for now.... DO NOT go over the hill okay? You'll die."

"...Alright. You need to be careful as well, Lynn."

"Thank you, but I'll be fine. Now, I'll be off. I'm very certain that no one can match me, but on the off chance that I am not back here by tonight, you should bring Lizzie and run back to the last city. I can't die, and I will come back."

"Okay... bye for now."

"Then I'm off. "

I flew upwards and then flew towards the city. As I got closer, I saw the guards on the walls panicking.

After about a minute of flying I'm right above the wall of the city, about 10 meters up the air. The soldiers aimed their bows and crossbows at me, but none dare to fire at all.

"(...who the hell are you?!)" The one who appeared to be the leader asked me while trembling.

"(Me? I am just a traveller passing by. Why did you attack us?)"

"(We weren't the ones who shot at you! We were just terrified because you shattered our impenetrable barrier with a spell so powerful that it's unreal! Please spare us!)"

"(I won't kill you all if you don't attack me anymore, understand? Who's in charge of your city?)"

"(T-that would be King Hal...)"

"(Where is he? I will talk to him.)"

"(H-he is at the castle in the middle of the city! Just s-spare us please!)"

"(Again, I won't kill you all. I already told you that I'm not gonna kill you right?)"

"(Eek! We are sorry!)" Why did you apologize?... ah whatever.

This could be troublesome. In the Bostnia continent, no one can claim themselves as a 'King' other than the leader of one of the country in this Nine Countries that band together under a Republican system where a Supreme King was elected every 10 years.

The Republican System applys only to individual countries however, because there, both the government and the monarchy can exists side by side and lead the country together. The Prime Minister is responsible for anything relating to the country's sovereignty, while the King would be responsible for socializing with outside countries.

What the guard said matched the context. No one short of the demon king would be able to use Ignis, a saint ranked spell. The one who shot us is most likely the king.

I could just level this entire city, but I don't want to do that as it's sickening and stupid to kill tens of thousands of lives over a simple misunderstanding, which is what I am assuming this is... just a misunderstanding. Let's just be rational here and talk it out.

I flew towards the castle to the middle of the city. My destination is the big entrance in the front of the castle.

I landed in the front gate of the castle and soldiers stood in my way blocking the gate.

"(Wh-who the hell are you?!)" Almost like they are told to follow scripted lines, these guards also asked the same question as the guards on the city wall. It's annoying to have the same question be asked to you again and again, so I didn't even cared to answer them.

"(Shut up, you guys talk too much. I only want to see your king.)"

"(You monster! I will not allow you to take the life of our ki-)"

"(Listen properly! I'm only here to talk, I won't kill anyone if you don't attack me.)"

"(...is that so?...)"

"(Captain... What should we do?)"

"(...Let her through. She could easily destroy the entire city with that spell again... she has no reason to lie.)"

"(Good, I see you people are at least reasonable. You, the captain, bring me to your king now.)"

"(....Yes.)"

Following the captain of these guards, one who appeared to be a werewolf, I walked into the giant castle.

I don't wish for a fight, and it's not as if the king would be stupid enough to want to fight me when he learns of my identity either.

But if he involves any other innocent lives like Kyrie, then I will kill him. For now, I'll just see what he has to say about shooting us on sight....

(Chapter 43, end)