In an instant, spikes began to rise out of the ground around Carla. The thorns growing out of the ground rushed towards her.
Carla avoided a direct hit, but because the ground around her had as many spikes growing out of it as a hedgehog, her wings were caught and she was unable to move. In a strange coincidence, Carla found herself captured by the same tactic Liscia had used to catch Castor.
“Dammit!” she shouted, trying hastily to get free.
“Now you will pay for blocking my path,” said Gaius. He thrust his sword out towards her.
Carla shut her eyes tight despite herself. Thud… She heard the sound of something being stabbed.
…However, there was no pain. When Carla hesitantly opened her eyes, there was a roly-poly something or other right in front of her. It was round, big, and white. When she looked closer, it was a doll big enough for a person to get inside. That roly-poly doll had gotten between Carla and Gaius, blocking Gaius’s sword with its body.
““Wha…?!””
Both Carla and Gaius’s eyes went wide at the doll’s sudden appearance.
Then…
“Get away, Carla!”
Carla snapped back to her senses when she heard the voice that called out to her. She cut herself free from the ground that was binding her and escaped. When she regained her balance and looked to the source of the voice, Carla’s eyes went wide once again.
“You… are you Souma Kazuya?!” Gaius shouted.
It seemed Gaius had figured it out, too.
By the time they noticed him, Souma Kazuya was standing around twenty meters away from them. There were four dolls of the same design as the one that had protected Carla floating around him in midair. It was a large-sized Little Musashibo doll that had protected Carla, while the ones deployed around Souma were medium-sized.
“You idiot! What are you doing out here?!” Carla landed next to Souma and scolded him.
Souma shrugged and said, “This guy’s the only one left. Our allies will gather here soon enough. So I decided, rather than wait back in camp, I’d kill time out here fighting alongside you.”
“If you die, Liscia will be sad, and you know that!” she screamed.
“Yeah. That’s why I came here,” he said. “To live. It’s better if we concentrate our power. Rather than both of us fighting him alone, the odds of us surviving are better if we cooperate from the beginning.”
With that said, Souma swung his arm out in front of him. When he did, two of the medium-sized Little Musashibo dolls that were carrying crossbows fired at Gaius.
The bolts shot straight at Gaius, but Gaius kicked the large Little Musashibo doll that had been in his way to the ground and cut the two bolts out of the air.
This time, it was Souma’s turn to be dumbstruck. “You can defend against that?”
“Be careful,” Carla cautioned. “That man is very powerful.”
With that word of caution, Souma braced himself for what was to come.
“Souma Kazuya!” Gaius howled, a sharp glint in his eye. “I will defeat you and destroy the kingdom.”
“…I hate to break this to you, but I’m pretty sure the kingdom won’t be destroyed even if you do kill me.” Despite the fact that Gaius scared him, Souma had a big grin on his face. “I’ve gathered talented people. I’ve laid out a transportation network, I’ve reworked the city infrastructure, and I’ve laid all the groundwork for prosperity. Even if I were to die, I’m sure someone could take over and run things just fine.”
“Then I will erase all of that!” Gaius stretched out his arm. In that instant, a stone shot at them from the ground.
““I won’t let you!”” Souma and Carla shouted in unison.
First, two medium-sized Little Musashibo dolls carrying shields moved up to block that attack. At the same time, Carla circled around to the side of Gaius and took a swing at him.
Gaius blocked that attack with his sword, then kicked Carla to get her away from him and covered his body with his cloak to protect himself from two more arrows that Souma fired. In this world where magic could be attached to things, even a cloak was a viable piece of armor.
“Damn. I know he’s a king, but he’s way too strong…” Souma grumbled.
“He’s trained himself very differently from the way you do, I’m sure… Hahh!” Carla spat fire in Gaius’s direction.
“Urkh.” Gaius blocked the flames with another swish of his cloak. Then he launched another stone.
Souma blocked the attack with one of his doll’s shields, but he could tell it was slowly breaking it. At this rate, they weren’t even going to buy him time.
…Then, something occurred to Souma.
“Move!” he shouted.
Souma had the fallen large-size Little Musashibo doll stand up and attack Gaius. Gaius shouted “You pest!” and cut it down, but he’d only cut the top half, so the large-sized Little Musashibo doll wrapped its arms around Gaius.
“What?!” Gaius shouted.
“Now, Carla! Burn the doll!”
“Huh?! Why…”
“Just do it! Hurry!”
“F-Fine!”
With no clue why she was doing it, Carla spat flames towards the large-sized Little Musashibo doll. There was a bright flash when the flames touched the doll, followed by…
Boom!
Gaius was caught in billowing flames and a cloud of black smoke.
It had exploded. Having taken the blast at close range, Gaius was hurled around ten meters through the air.
When Gaius landed on his back, he was burnt all over.
“What was that?” Carla came closer and asked.
Souma answered her question, relieved that it had worked out. “I keep all sorts of tools in that doll’s wicker basket. I remembered I’d put something like a ceramic ball packed with gunpowder in there, too. You ignited it and it exploded. After taking an explosion like that at close range, even Gaius has got to be…”
“…He’s moving,” said Carla.
Even as he heard Carla, Souma could see for himself, and doubted his own eyes.
Even though he had been engulfed in that explosion, Gaius was getting up. He had the serious wounds to his entire body that you would expect, but he stumbled towards the two of them like a zombie.
“I… will destroy… the kingdom… and show them… the spirit of Amidonia…” Gaius murmured, his eyes unfocused.
Truly, he was like a solid lump of tenacity.
“What a guy…” Carla let the words slip without thinking, and Souma agreed with her.
Gaius continued to tread forward, fueled by the sole purpose of destroying the kingdom. Souma felt both fear and reverence towards his tenacity. Then…
Twang, twang, twang, twang!
Gaius’s body was riddled with countless arrows. After reorganizing their unit, the archers had caught up at last and fired a volley towards Gaius.
Gaius stopped in his tracks, his body beginning to shake.
He’s going to fall… The moment Souma thought that, Gaius switched the sword he was carrying to a backhand grip, and, mustering all his remaining strength, he threw it like a spear.
The sword traced an arc as it flew, stabbing into the ground near Souma’s feet.
“…Is this how far your tenacity can reach?” Souma let out those words along with a sigh of admiration. Then he said to Gaius, even though it wasn’t clear he could hear him anymore, “I have seen the spirit of Amidonia! Long will they tell tales of your valor! Prince Gaius VIII of Amidonia. I… King Souma of Elfrieden, will not forget the terror you inspired in me for my entire life!”
When Souma said that, it looked like Gaius smiled a little.
Then Gaius gently tumbled forward, never to rise again.
Souma burned that final vision of him into his memory. Then, he looked down to the sword at his feet.