Seiken Tsukai no Kinju Eishou Vol 5 Chapter 5

Septermber 21st, 7:51 am.

「Russia」, boarded by Haimura and AJ, arrived in Krasnoyarsk 13 minutes late.

Krasnoyarsk was a megacity that represented Central Siberia; they got off together with a great number of pa.s.sengers.

He disappeared into that stream, walking next to AJ.

They advanced from the squared Neo Russian-Architecture Station, through the station premises built with a single purpose, to the outside.

Now, where was the hotel where they had a reservati――

– Did you notice them?

AJ, with eyes sharpened like a blade, said with a voice only Moroha could hear.

– They’re 8, right?

– 7, maybe?

– No, 8.

They circ.u.mvented the roundabout, feigning ignorance as they whispered to each other.

They were being watched.

They felt 8 piercing-like gazes immediately after they left the station.

Moreover, they felt an uncommon pressure from all of them.

– Kukuku, see? I told you so. You brought this situation on yourself because of that declaration of war. Well, this was a problem that could happen sooner or later after all. And that resulted to happen in Krasnoyarsk.

According to AJ’s unkind comment, there was an interception network in this city.

That Lightning Empress planned to kill Moroha here.

– I warned you, didn’t I? You spread this yourself.

– I know that already.

– If you die, it means nothing to me.

– That’s why I said that I intended to fight alone from the beginning.

Moroha, as he scratched his head,

– Is there a place where I can fight showily without bothering anyone?

– Hmm… it’s a little far away alright?

– Of course. Not having anyone mixed up in this is my maximum priority.

Moroha nodded to AJ who looked up the map in her head.

– There’s a vast forest over there. It’s what you’re looking for, and I think there’s no one there.

When AJ pointed to the west side of the station, Moroha showed agreement.

He wore white prana on his body in an instant and,

– I’ll head there for a moment. Stay here, Angelsan.

– W-what!? Are you really going alone!?

– Please take care of my luggage.

Moroha dashed with G.o.dlike Movement.

He became wind and ran through the quiet metropolitan area like cutting off the morning mist.

Because he ran the roads faster than the cars and crossed over the crossings by jumping like a bird, he surprised the pedestrians he encountered occasionally.

Showing the strength of the Saviors to ordinary people was fundamentally forbidden, but now he couldn’t solve a problem without making some sacrifice (proverb).

All the eight gazes followed him without delay.

Moroha was relieved that this didn’t appear to be interesting for AJ.

Eventually, he could see the forest he headed for.

A vast green s.p.a.ce in the middle of the metropolitan area.

Wasn’t the opposite? Incredible different worlds that felt like they couldn’t allow the other to come near.

A white birch labyrinth that anyone could set foot into it from anywhere, but it seemed that those who entered couldn’t return to the city again.

Moroha stepped into there without fear.

The eight gazes ran after him.

Moroha kicked the ground covered with moss and moisture and trespa.s.sed deep into the forest until the town wasn’t visible even if he turned around and stopped his feet as he turned over.

The wind awakened by Moroha ceased.

And then, he said to the direction he came.

– Why don’t you show your faces already?

He scanned the shade of the white birches one by one, looking for presences.

Then all of a sudden――

The sound of an explosion reverberated.

Something like a meteorite came down from above to around 10 meters in front of Moroha.

A shock flowed, the white birches bent.

Moroha evaded it as he stood straight with Natural Stance.

The only thing that swayed were his bangs.

After the shock had completely flowed, there was a person that stood up relaxed at the center of the explosion.

And he also came down from the sky.

A reasonably big man, but not so much as Bernard.

But his body shape looked more keen and nimble instead.

He carried a solid-looking iron spear in his hand that was longer than his height.

He introduced himself with a heavy voice.

– I’m Kirsan Romanovich Pavliuchenko, branch office head of Krasnoyarsk.

– I’m Haimura Moroha.

Moroha confidently gave his name back.

As Kirsan looked to be displeased with that,

– … You noticed, didn’t you? Right now, the branch office heads from various places are surrounding you―― and all of them are Rank Saviors.

– So what?

– I’m not telling you to give up. Why don’t you return to j.a.pan quietly?

Moroha raised an eyebrow in response to the unexpected offer of Kirsan.

– Haimura… you scare me. You know that, right…? That if we fight, most of us will go down with you. There’s no guarantee that one of them won’t be me. I can’t go against the command of Her Majesty Lightning Empress, but I don’t want to fight if possible.

Since it was an offer he couldn’t accept at all, his fighting spirit weakened――he felt miserable.

NO! Turning it down was easy, but it was too sad to turning it down bluntly, so he thought how to deal with it for a bit.

Then,

– Why don’t we put an end to this, Kirsan?

The voice of a man was heard from somewhere.

It was a strangely m.u.f.fled voice, was it covered by a hood, perhaps?

It continued scolding Kirsan without showing their appearance or making their presence perceived.

– If you’re thinking something along the lines of wanting to talk to Haimura first… then throw away your foolish thinking and cowardice. The imperial command of Her Majesty Lightning Empress is to slaughter this monster. There are no exceptions.

– Kuh…

Kirsan seemed to agree as he gritted his teeth.

Those gla.s.sy eyes he had glared at Moroha.

He opened his mouth in a big way, breathing in and,

– HUUURRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

*TN: Like before, the first part corresponds to “Glory to Her Majesty Lightning Empress”.

He came charging, raising a war cry that sounded like a hysteric scream.

His tall figure clad in prana ran with an intensity as if he could hear fake rumbles in the ground.

He rotated his long spear overhead, hoping to inspire himself and to intimidate his enemy.

Moroha meet the enemy and his attack.

(Come, Saratiga――)

He grasped his ID Tag and manifested his partner in his hand.

Sword in hand, right foot slightly forward, chest thrown out with proud: a peculiar and triumphant stance.

Kirsan held the rotating iron spear as he charged.

He wasn’t holding it to the side horizontally, rather, it was an unusual way to hold it, as if swinging the tip of the spear downward from overhead.

(I think I’ve seen it somewhere…)

Kirsan came with a strange behavior faster than Moroha could a.s.sociate it with something.

– Funnuaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Together with the shout, he stabbed the ground with the iron spear.

The long-handled spear with more than three meters in length and covered with prana fell forward, bending with a metallic sound.

Moroha got the answer to what he was a.s.sociating it with.

Pole vault in track-and-field events.

With the iron spear as a power spring, Kirsan’s tall body flew up high in the sky like a rocket.

It was a funny but thrilling scene just like in a manga. Moroha was dumbfounded as expected.

He wanted to look at it forever, but this was an 8 VS 1 battle.

As soon as Kirsan with a spear sprung into the sky, an attack descended on him from three sides.

Diagonally right, diagonally left and behind.*

*TN: The whole sentence is the furigana reading for: southeast, northeast and west.

White shining cold winds blew as they frosted every tree.

Moroha found out at a glance. Those were 3rd Rank Dark Arts of Ice, Frozen Shade.

Moroha, in this “there’s nothing more that can be done” dilemma, surrounded by wide range Dark Arts attacks with a mana that felt as powerful as the ones used by Shizuno, raised his sword overhead calmly,

– This is poor at best.

And cut deep into the southeast.

A gale arose with a single slash.

A white shining wind of destruction fully loaded with prana. It was a high-cla.s.s Light Technique, Jupiter.

The white gale mowed down the trees, collided right in front with the white blowing cold wave from the southeast and crushed it.

Moroha’s prana overwhelmed the mana of the opponent.

A way out was opened.

Moroha sprinted to the southeast direction and escaped from the Frozen Shades that blew from the northeast and west.

He stepped over the countless white birches mowed down with Jupiter, slid into the still safe forest and took the place of the windbreak to face the cold wave coming from behind.

All of a sudden, a thirst for blood came from the left and right!

Two young women slashed at him with short swords as they made sure to weave their way through the s.p.a.ce between the white birches.

Their faces were two peas in a pod.

A clone attack done by Donrou?

No, if they were copies, one should disappear in an instant.

What if this was an arranged technique to maintain Donrou like Bulat?

That wasn’t either――

The sharp power of concentration and power of observation of Moroha discovered that the girl who sprung at him from the right had a mole under the eye.

In other words, they were different persons. Probably they were rare twin Saviors.

– Die, Haimuraaa! The foe of Bernard-samaaa!

– We are the Beletskaya sisters, we’ll destroy you even if we have to sacrifice ourselves!

The figures of the sisters doing a pincer attack were split into two.

This time, they divided themselves using Donrou.

Combined, four blades danced, aiming at the right side of the torso, the right leg, the left side of the neck and the left hand of Moroha.

The characteristic of the sisters was their perfectly coordinated and united breathing and their connected attacks.

Moroha opened his eyes wide suddenly.

A piercing prana burned in his pupils, his power of concentration was drawn to the limits and his sense of time was stretched larger like a candy.

He grasped the trajectory of all four blades by looking at them extensively.

The slash that aimed at his right leg was lowered to the heel, and touched the air. At the same time, he turned to the right, and the slash that aimed at his left hand, touched the air. At the same time, the attack that approached his right side of the neck because he changed places was received with Saratiga. At the same time, the slash that approached from the left side of the torso was――

– Wha, that’s Sun!?

He stopped the blow by condensing prana at the tip of his left hand’s index finger which surprised the girl with a mole.

– This is! Even a defensive technique that is on par with White Knights!?

– Who was the guy who summarized his data as『His offensive ability is worthy of special mention』!?

Moroha stole the opportunity when the sisters opened their eyes wide in surprise and their movement stopped for an instant,

– No matter how you look at it, isn’t Edward making fun of me?

He broke free from the pincer attack stance speedily and without delay.

– Shut up and die! Die die die die die! You’re going to atone for Bernard-sama who was killed!

The girl with no mole came to her senses and came slashing at him as she divided herself into two.

– But I don’t remember that I killed him?

Moroha avoid it in one go with a back step, landing on the trunk of a white birch behind him then kicked it, trying to counterattack with a wall-jump trick. *

*TN: Triangle jump is an alternative for wall-jump.

But,

– Don’t excuse yourself so disgracefully! You’re the man who tortured the loyal Bernard-sama to death!

The girl with a mole came attacking the routed Moroha by dividing herself without a moment’s delay, and because of that, he gave up the counterattack and kicked the trunk of a tree to escape.

– Those are false charges. Who’s saying that?

– Those are the words of Her Majesty Lightning Empress!

The girl without mole divided herself again shortly after she landed, but… this was going on forever.

Donrou was a powerful technique that replaced superhuman explosive power with attack power, but in the end, a 「slow moment」 after a「sudden moment」when speed exploded with all one’s strength was made. As for Moroha, he wanted to hit that gap, but his opponents were aware of that. The sisters covered each other’s gaps, moreover, they started attacking in waves.

It was a rather annoying combination.

From Moroha’s point of view, he was caused to fall into an optical illusion as if he were fighting against four swordswoman with identical faces.

– The imperial headquarters announcement comes to an end here.

Moroha kicked the ground, then kicked the trunk of a white birch, repeating a three-dimensional trajectory like a wire fu and continued avoiding the attack in waves of the sisters x 2.*

*TN: Original term is “wire action” but Google quickly related it to “wire fu” which is an element of action movies.

In cooperation with watchful and vigilant eyes, he guessed the moment a fray would born.

And just right there, there was a second wave of a Dark Arts attack!

Flame orbs flew at a high speed from the northeast and west directions.

Genuine red flames that didn’t exist in nature.

Moroha, who looked at them, shuddered. Those were 6th Rank Dark Arts, Pyroclasm.

Since they would explode the instant they hit him, they would transform the whole surrounding area into a burning h.e.l.l.

(It’s going to kill their allies by burning them to death!)

Because this was for the sake of victory, while they had to use any means for it, this went too far.

– I truly dislike your way of doing things!

Moroha raised the corner of his eyes and roared as if baring his fangs.

His consciousness seemed to turn somewhere else for an instant――

「「You’re the foe of our dear person!」」

The sisters slashed at him, sparing the time to divide themselves at the critical moment as they say the same words in unison.

The girls, who were Shirogane, weren’t aware of the dreadfulness of Pyroclasm.

And so, they didn’t notice that Moroha wasn’t a fool who felt like he was worrying about something in the middle of the battle.

Faster than the slashes of the sisters,

– Oooooo.

Moroha yelled and sent flying the girl with a mole with a heel of his left palm and kicked flying the girl without a mole with his right foot.

He escaped from the two people and from the devastating range of the 6th Rank Dark Arts with Strength.

With that same momentum, he drew ancient magic symbols, as if his left hand cut through the air and as if his right foot cut into the ground.

– Gohou, allow me to come near any kind of heat.

Two Red Wards fell as flowers do, building up a two-layered barrier around Moroha, becoming red lights.

He multiplied his heat-resisting defense with mana and also multiplied his defense with prana and Taimatsuu.

The two fireb.a.l.l.s impacted immediately.

Deep red flames blew violently which made h.e.l.l manifest in this world.

A corner of the forest disappeared, his field of vision ended up being dyed all deep red.

It became dangerous, there was no time to be relieved.

The triple-layer protection wasn’t enough, the heat tasted the surface of Moroha’s body, teasing him.

– Ooooooo.

Moroha mustered his prana and mana together with a shout and went beyond his limit.

He would just disappear unless he went beyond his limit.

The unnatural fire caused by Dark Arts and that completely trampled down everything around him, disappeared suddenly like magic.

Inside the scorched earth where the ground was covered fully with pitch-black ashes――

Moroha showed he could endure it, although he sustained burns all over his body.

But still, he couldn’t be relieved yet.

An intense pressure came from above this time.

Kirsan, with spear in hand, fell upside down with a force and speed of a meteorite.

Moroha avoided it by jumping with all his strength, but when the swung-in-the-air lance attack of Kirsan crashed into the ground, this made a shockwave spread together with a roaring sound.

Moreover, he was close to the hypocenter this time.

Moroha was blown away like a splinter.

– Guh…

Moroha endured it, standing the pain well as he was shaken by the shock wave in the air.

This was an 8-VS-1 battle!

Not only he hadn’t laid his hands on the beginning of a counterattack, they didn’t even give him time to rest!

At least, just before he was thrown violently against the ground, he recovered as if jumping properly and performed an ukemi.

*TN: Ukemi is the art of falling safely.

A fog hung over after he was blown away by Kirsan’s meteor impact.

Was this the morning mist?

How thick it was. Was it because he ended up getting deep into the forest? However, he had no time to think so leisurely.

The suspicious masked man was lying in wait in the white hazy mist.

– You b.a.s.t.a.r.d, they say you defeated “man-eater”, didn’t you? In that case, if I kill you, then I’ll become “man-eater”.

The mysterious person chuckled to himself with a voice m.u.f.fled by cloth.

He thought about defeating him while he had room for it――when Moroha crumbled right there.

His body became rapidly heavy, he was unable to keep standing.

He could barely raise his upper body by supporting himself with the sword planted in the ground.

(Angelsan said he was a gravity user, right?)

The entrance of the protagonist came here?

He used Strength with all his might to try fight against gravity, but he couldn’t even stand on his knees.

(What a terrifying Mars this is…)

He could no longer clasp his dear sword, his hands drifted away from the grip.

――Thanks to that, he noticed.

His dear sword Saratiga, which was thrusting into the ground, making up for a cane.

It was inclined diagonally.

That was odd. If the force that restricted Moroha was because of a gravitational anomaly, it was strange that it didn’t fall as soon as his hand separated from the sword that stood diagonally.

Moroha searched for a presence in his surroundings. This was odd indeed. Despite this opportunity, neither Kirsan nor the Beletskaya sisters came pursuing him.

As if they hesitated to get in this mist.

(I see…)

His head cooled down in this dilemma, and Moroha, who forgot about Natural Stance, discovered with his powers of observation.

(This isn’t gravity… the Mars of this guy is fog. A poisonous fog!)

Moroha held his breath, interrupted Strength and made Naikatsutsuu flow in his body instead.

– Iiidiot! That’s too late!

The masked mysterious person pulled out a knife and tried to finish him off as he scorned.

He glared at that foul smiling face that peeked through the gaps at his eyes,

– Kaaaaaa.

Moroha rebuked.

At the same time he exhaled, which had been stopped, he made Jupiter spread in the surroundings and blew all the fog away.

It was the same move Bernard used to clear away the fine particles of asphalt.

Although Moroha’s Jupiter’s spread some of its power, his negligent nose was flooded with it and the masked man tottered.

– You’re the idiot!

Moroha, who recovered a 70% of his body’s freedom and extracted the toxin with the flowing Naikatsutsuu, stood up, took the sword, brandished it and made the masked mysterious person faint by reaping his consciousness with the Light Technique Saturn.

Certainly, it was a dangerous poison, but the person in question was in a predicament by his opponent Moroha at his 70%.

In addition, he trusted too much in Mars that not even his companions could enter, this produced isolation and gave Moroha the start to crush everyone. Who would be able to say that this wasn’t stupid?

(Leshya never felt like she was proud of the power of the cursed sword if I remember correctly)

With this, he now was 100 years earlier to try carrying the sign of “man-eater” on his back.

Moroha, who gave a glance to the mask in a coma that wouldn’t wake up even if he attempted to hit him or stab him, turned around to the remaining a.s.sa.s.sins.

– What was that just now, Haimura!? You intended to save us!?

– Are you trying to atone for your sins? How naïve!

The Beletskaya sisters chased him once the fog cleared away,

– Funnuaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Kirsan tried to jump high in the sky in the form of a pole vault again. The third wave of Dark Arts was surely in preparation.

What should be his next move in this situation? Moroha found an answer to that question immediately.

– The wings of the great bird shall flutter and flutter   Like sparks that feel lightly nimble   They immediately release me from the constraints of gravity.

He brought his weight down near zero using Dark Arts and jumped with a Light Technique.

He flew far into the sky at the same time as Kirsan.

He didn’t ascend vertically, but diagonally.

A trajectory that intersected and merged with Kirsan.

He closed in on the enemy in the skies and cut at him with the sword.

Kirsan desperately stopped the severe slash of Moroha who was completely free from the effect of the poison with the grip of the spear.

– Im-impossible.

– Is this your first time fighting in the air? It’s the same for me.

They opened hostilities once, twice as they kept ascending due to inertia.

Moroha was still in Natural Stance. Kirsan was evidently panicking.

– Dammit! Dammit! If only Yuri was here at least… dammit! That d.a.m.n traitor!

The spear was turned completely to defense, as if forgetting how to counterattack.

Moroha kept swinging his sword with his right hand without consideration and knitted a new Dark Arts with his left hand.

– That unshaped blade   That invisible inscribed sword    Come and tear this person off!

The 1st Rank of wind, Fracturing Gust.

When it struck Kirsan, he couldn’t stand in the air and fell.

– Hiiiiiiih.

Because he burned with prana, he saw that he was trying to withstand the impact of the fall with High Durability.

However――there were Kuroma in a battle formation to the northeast in front of where Kirsan was falling.

Moroha, who took the opportunity to jump to a high alt.i.tude, confirmed the location of three Kuroma with an overhead view.

The very moment Kirsan fell there, the Kuroma from the northeast cancelled the great magic that was being prepared as the third wave and spelled a short defensive Dark Arts in panic.

The protective Ancestral Arts of each other met and collided as if they were fellow boxers who received a double-counter and fainted, lying on top of one another.

He killed two birds with one stone? No, three birds.

Moroha, who made sure of Kirsan and company’s end, was also falling to the surface.

He propelled himself with Fracturing Gust that he had thrown violently in a straight line, soaring the skies, then descended soundlessly next to the Kuroma in a battle formation on the southeast side.

She was a girl with a charming black hair and determined-looking spirit.

However, she had turned pale now, and panicked.

– Only your first Frozen Shade was properly done, but why the second wave wasn’t good enough?

He asked in a calm voice to not make her be afraid of him more than she was, and,

『B-because you saved the twins. But why?』

Hmm? A reply in j.a.panese came back.

That sound he heard for the first time in a while was a dose of refreshment he encountered in this brutal battlefield.

『I dislike the idea of anyone dying, you know?』

Moroha softened his cheeks a bit and answered in j.a.panese.

Then――the girl suddenly changed her facial expression.

As if she was able to meet the person she waited for and the one she yearned for.

Or as if she had discovered a spider’s thread hanging from the heavens in h.e.l.l.

She stared at him with craving-looking eyes, showing delight on her whole face.

It wasn’t a face that faced an「enemy」 in the battlefield. Moroha felt that strong impression.

But, there was no time to talk leisurely than this.

The bloodl.u.s.t of the twins was approaching from behind. The black-haired girl suddenly came to her senses and,

『I, I also don’t want to die yet』

『Got it』

Moroha agreed right away and lightly poked the glabella of the girl with his index finger.

He made her faint with a light Saturn without giving her pain.

– Four more…

When he turned around, he could see the figures of the Beletskaya sisters running after him.

It looked like the Dark Arts from the position of the Kuroma camping on the west side wouldn’t get here.

He could focus to defeat the sisters.

「「Don’t run away, foe of Bernard-sama!」」

The sisters, who made their words synchronize perfectly, swung four short blades as each of them divided.

– I told you already, I didn’t kill him.

The figure of Moroha, who engaged the approaching enemies, was divided into four.

This was a master’s Donrou.

4 VS 4, a total of 8 swords danced.

Since their numbers were the same――then it was logic that the side with a greater swordsmanship would win.

The divided-into-four Moroha slipped through the swords of the sisters and successfully carried out a nukidou.

The twins, who were struck with Saturn, fell on the spot.

Kirsan started the war as he yelled hurrah, but so far――

They had a bit of time, but not enough.

The Russian branch office heads had prepared a perfect interception formation, but they were defeated by Moroha alone one by one.

There was no glance or sign of the Kuroma in a battle formation to the west.

Maybe they realized they were no match for Moroha and admitted defeat.

Seven people were out of combat.

In that case, then this battle was,

– Dammit, it was true that 8 people were here! So you were hiding here, huh!?

If he defeated the remaining one――this voice was!?

Moroha turned his face to the direction of the voice he heard with a bad presentiment.

– Like I thought, it’s none other than Angelsan!

AJ, who followed him stealthily once again, was rushing with a pair of swords at the ready in front of the forest.

A strange person was even more ahead.

An enemy completely and entirely covered with a cloth like a teru teru bouzu.

AJ had found the one concealing himself and was heading to defeat him.

– Even though I wanted to fight alone…

How far did her meddling nature go?

Moroha was about to scratch his head and――stopped that hand.

The teru teru bouzu, ahead of where AJ was heading to, took off his cloth completely.

Moroha sharpened his eyes.

What came in sight from below was a short young man and,

A large mirror enough to be held with both hands.

The young man turned it towards AJ, but the appearance of AJ wasn’t reflected in the surface of the mirror.

Instead, a sumptuous beautiful woman with her voluptuous body dressed in a bewitching dress was reflected in it.

*Struck*

A spark sparked in the back of Moroha’s head, like raising the alarm.

This was an awful foul.  A surprise attack.

The number of the enemies wasn’t eight, but nine.

The enchantress smiled as if raising the corners of her mouth in the mirror.

It was his first time watching that beautiful face.

But Moroha didn’t mistake her for someone else.

That one was the Russian “Lightning Empress” Vasilisa Yurievna Mostovaya!

The sparks that kept bursting open like alarm bells sounding in the back of his head, were telling him.

This pain ever since he met Edward. His body occasionally felt pain when he moved.

Hurry up.

Straight, with all your heart, straight, faster, faster, faster, to where AJ was――

Faster, as if a cloud of dust rose up later than a step, as if the sound of a footstep was left behind by a step.

He caught up with AJ with Bukyoku with an absolute straight way of running and thrust her away.

That was the best Moroha could do.

In the mirror, Vasilisa completed a complicated and mysterious spelling that spanned 9 lines.

A blue lightning dragon manifested and jumped out from the mirror like in a fairy tale.

That was the embodiment of Lightning Empress’s mana, said to be the strongest on the world.

Sparks instead of fangs clung, attacking Moroha who replaced AJ.

Moroha, who reached a momentum with Bukyoku¸ couldn’t stop or avoid it horizontally.

He had no choice but to reduce damage even if it was a little with Taimatsuu.

He prepared himself for the worst and burned with prana.

As was expected――

Vasilisa’s Lightning Dragon opened its jaw and planted its lightning fangs in the ground.

Moroha, whose resistance was in vain, was knocked down with a single blow. His consciousness rapidly faded away.

Until the last piece of it was swallowed deeply by darkness, in the duration of an instant.

Moroha searched for AJ with his eyes.

She swung the sword with an angry look, and the eighth person was cut down together with the magic mirror.

She was safe.

Since at least Moroha could confirm that much, his consciousness could no longer think of anything else….