Episode 031.
"Noooo!!!"
The moment she saw her master being devoured, Prisia's world flickered into black and white.
As she screamed and drew her sword, a blue barrier activated simultaneously.
"Thunder Spear!"
"Fireball!"
The adventurers poured every ounce of their strength into attacks against the demon!
Kwa-aaaaaaaang!!
Along with a deafening roar, light, lightning, and a storm of flames surged, but…
"Wh-what?!"
"What is this?"
Unlike before, the demon didn't even twitch.
Gareth muttered, seemingly at a loss.
"This is bad. I didn't expect the complete form to be this strong… Could it have gained more skills as it grew?"
"……."
"If we delay any longer, there's no doubt that…"
She could tell what he was going to say without hearing the rest.
'That can't happen.'
Prisia swung her sword even harder in her impatience.
Kwaaaaang—!!
After several attacks proved futile,
"Damn it! We're done for."
"L-let's run!"
The survivors of Team 3 backed away and eventually disappeared into the darkness.
"You cowardly bastards, come back!"
Gran shouted, but he couldn't stop attacking.
Little by little, the demon was gradually transforming into a more elaborate human form, so….
But not a single sound reached Prisia's ears.
Because in her pupils, nothing could be seen except the demon that had swallowed her master.
Tears gradually welled up in her anxiety.
'Am I losing someone again, like back then?'
Parting with her only friend,
Her mother whom she had helplessly sent away,
And this time, even her precious master who understood her the most….
'No, that can't happen… never…!'
Prisia's life, in a way, had been a series of failures.
They had been days of struggling in loneliness and loss.
To her, Tanus was the first person who made her look forward to tomorrow.
Though he pretended to be indifferent, he walked matching her pace,
and coaxed her clumsy flames to bloom into flowers.
The time she spent now with her master, Tanus, was more enjoyable than any other moment in her life.
That was why she never wanted to go back to that time.
Never….
Because even imagining that she might never see him again was a terrible thing.
"Master…!"
Something hot surged up from the very bottom of her heart.
It was an unfamiliar yet intense pain she had never felt before.
She swung her sword faster and faster.
The sword technique that had been permitted only to Prisia, to her alone,
the Twenty-Four Stances Plum Blossom Sword Technique.
First Stance.
Second Stance.
Third Stance….
Flames surged and countless fires bloomed into flowers.
'Focus and infuse your mana with intent.'
'Prisia, don't hesitate. If you can't believe in yourself, believe in me. You can do it.'
'With every breath, put everything you have into each slash. Remember that sensation.'
His voice echoing in her ears became flames that flowed along the blade. She desperately squeezed out her mana.
Oooooong—
Prisia sharpened her mana even further,
swinging her sword faster and harder.
If she did that,
it felt as if the anxiety nestled in her heart would disappear,
and he would lean his head forward as if nothing had happened,
so she didn't care that her palms burned red with heat or that her clothes were soiled with ash.
Without resting even once, she continued, continued swinging her sword.
When she thought of him, a corner of her heart ached.
Admiration? Respect? It was an emotion that couldn't be explained by such shallow words.
"Leaving like this?"
"There's still so much I have to learn…."
"There are so many places I want to go with you…."
"There are so many things we haven't done together…."
Deep regret trickled out little by little from the bottom of her heart.
This sensation, exactly the same as when she had lost her mother—why had she forgotten it?
Tears blurred her vision.
"Hng…!"
Though she sobbed like a child who had lost her parents,
she swung her sword even more sharply, more powerfully.
Kwaaaaaang—!
"Damn it! Tanus, you stupid bastard… there's no reason for you to sacrifice yourself for us…."
Gran shouted and plunged his sword deep into the ground.
"Zieg! What are you doing! Come here quickly!"
"Are you saying we should abandon Tanus…?"
"It's already over! We'll all die if we stay here!!"
"W-we'll go to Artem and call for reinforcements!"
"Kuk! S-sorry… I'm really sorry…!"
Zieg's party members, terrified, read the room and quickly left this place.
The Inbium demon that had swelled to a gigantic size
was gradually shrinking and taking on a more refined human form.
"Lady Saint, please leave now…."
Despite the words of Gran and the priestess, she didn't even pretend to listen and swung her sword of flames.
"If you turn back here… Sir Tanus too… won't be able to close his eyes in peace…."
"Close his eyes?"
"What do you mean?"
"Then it's as if Master is…."
"Shut up!!"
Prisia screamed back rebelliously.
At her behavior, which could never have come out under normal circumstances, the priestess stumbled back in surprise.
"Lady Saint…."
"Shut up! I said shut up! If you won't help, then disappear right now!! Even alone… even alone, I'll save my master!"
"……."
***
Gareth approached, carrying the now-sleeping Ellen.
Then he turned to the two of them, Gran and the priestess, and spoke.
"You two take the Lady Saint and get out of here quickly."
Her clothes heavily soiled with ash, her hands festering from burns, the flames dying down around her—
yet Prisia didn't rest and kept swinging her sword.
She had already reached her limit.
Anyone could see that.
Yet she didn't stop for even a single breath.
"If that girl dies, the young'un will surely grieve."
"What do you intend to do, Sir Gareth?"
"I suppose I must take responsibility for this matter."
"This isn't your fault, it's because of that stupid Bizans bastard…."
The old man wore an expression that was somehow hollow yet joyful,
a truly indescribable, strange expression.
"You may not know, but I have been waiting for this moment for a long time."
"Yes? What do you mean?"
"Ever since my son and daughter-in-law were devoured by this mongrel."
He calmly took out a black hourglass.
"That's at the cost of your life…"
"I won't miss this time."
Kukukung!
With a thunderous sound, the Inbium demon's body trembled.
He had hoped his prediction would be wrong,
but it seemed the demon was on the verge of evolution.
The small fortune was that
thanks to this, there was time to escape.
"It's about time to go. It seems the time has come."
"……Sir Gareth."
The old man nonchalantly loaded his crossbow.
Click—
It wasn't the usual bolt, but a small needle.
"Of course, this will hurt a lot too, but it's better than dying."
'I'm sorry, young'un… I couldn't save you, but I'll take responsibility and at least save this girl.'
Having inwardly apologized to the cheeky young'un, he fired an anesthetic needle at Prisia's vital point.
Shuung—
Clang!
"……!"
"……!"
Everyone present was startled into silence.
And for good reason—Prisia had deflected all of Gareth's attacks without even looking back.
He fired several more needles, but
the result was—
"What the hell…"
the same.
***
Prisia had no interest in what was happening around her.
She only looked at the demon before her and swung her sword, that is all.
'Master—no, Tanus…'
Come to think of it, Master always spoke of difficult things.
Things like Mount Hua and great causes,
or the lofty will of the sect founder.
To me, they were merely stories of some distant land
whose name I only knew, a mountain I had never visited.
But he always added.
"Don't think of it as difficult."
"The progenitor of Mount Hua, too, first picked up the sword simply to protect someone."
"……."
"Then I don't know any complicated meanings."
"If the reason I wield a sword must be for someone,"
"then to me, the will of Mount Hua is not the sect, but you."
"My dream is nothing grandiose; it is only you before me."
"To protect you, I will gladly make flowers bloom again and again."
Prisia felt she finally understood the true meaning of those words.
Eight plum blossoms bloomed at the tip of her sword.
They were still frail flames, but they were enough to burn the demon's tough hide.
"Master!"
The swung sword aura split the air and divided into sixteen flowers.
Intense heat filled the alley, and the demon's tentacles screamed as they burned.
"I want to see you!"
Twenty-four plum blossoms bloomed at the tip of her sword.
[Plum Blossom: Fragrance of Ten Thousand Li]
Space screamed and shook.
Along the trajectory her sword passed, beautiful flowers she had never seen in her life slowly bloomed.
"Wh-what is that…!!"
"Impossible!"
Red falling flowers flared up, and the ground rotting from the demon's blood paradoxically became covered with the most fragrant scent of plum blossoms.
Strong plum blossoms that erased even the foul stench of decay and bloomed with pure flowers,
thousands of red plum blossoms surged like a wave behind Prisia.
++
[Disciple 'Prisia' reaches the pinnacle through the bond with her master.]
[Caution! This is a temporarily attained realm. If the master disappears, the enlightenment will disappear as well.]
++
The demon's house-sized body fell, cut in a straight line.
The exploding flame-plum blossoms inside burned the demon's entrails
and through that gap, a familiar—
no, a white-haired man she truly wanted to see revealed himself.
"…Prisia?"
The moment she heard that voice,
the sword fell from Prisia's hand with a clatter.
Tung—
Her breath quickened.
Her legs wobbled.
He's alive.
She had thought she would never see him again,
but he was truly alive.
"Master… no…."
She opened her mouth,
but the next words wouldn't come out.
Though there were clearly mountains of things she wanted to say,
no sound came out, as if her throat was blocked.
Instead of answering, she strode up and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Tanus!"
"Prisia."
She raised her head.
Through tear-filled vision, his face was faintly visible.
The moment she called that name,
she could no longer deny what this emotion was.
Ah, I love this person.
The moment she realized that fact,
Prisia wiped her tears and smiled brightly.
"I like you."
"What?"
No, these words aren't enough.
Strength entered her hands.
As if to keep him from escaping, she grabbed his collar tighter.
"I love you."
She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him right then and there.
The cheers around them, even Gareth's shocked gaze—she could no longer see any of it.
To Prisia, the only reality was the body heat of her master touching her lips.
Her first kiss smelled of sweet plum blossoms.
A slightly burnt scent of plum blossoms.
##