“What!?”
Had she overestimated those two paladins, or underestimated the strength of those two demihumans? Or was it both?
“You’re insulting me by taking your eyes off me!”
Vijar swung furiously at Remedios.
“Guwaaargh!”
While she had barely managed to stop that strike, she had still been forced a short distance away. The tide of battle had turned in an instant.
“Remedios, was it… You do know that I am the great Vijar, a being of great power whose name will resound throughout the world? If you don’t put all of your body and soul into it, you’ll die in seconds, you know?”
Remedios bit her lip as she heard the sounds of the others fighting.
“Heeheehee. I wonder if this paladin is strong enough?”
“…He’s no different from the previous one… well, I can’t really tell since I’m not a warrior.”
“I am Paladin Franco.”
“And I am Paladin Galban. I will be your opponent.”
Several seconds after they had spoken, she once again heard the sound of armored men collapsing.
Paladin Franco was a good man. While he was not a very strong paladin, he placed a lot of emphasis on getting along with others and he was well-liked as a result. In truth, he had been assigned here because Gustav trusted him. Remedios knew his character, and so she had given him the task of organizing the militiamen here.
She had heard that Paladin Galban was a newlywed. However, his wife was currently locked up somewhere. He had extinguished his desire to save her and had come to assist Remedios instead, in order to help more people.
These two people ― who were too young to die ― had been killed.
“Distracted again!”
Vijar roared, and dealt her a blow that was even more ferocious than the previous one. Remedios flung herself towards Vijar, taking the blow on her sword arm, and then she slid her blade ― but Vijar nimbly evaded it.
“Hm. What’s this, some kind of bluff? Or did your body remember that movement because of all your training?”
Vijar growled. He was not wary of a worthy foe, but delighted.
“Hey, fledgling. We’re done here, but you’ve been at it a long time. How about it, need help?”
“You must be kidding. My legend will be tainted if I need your help to kill her. Many people will speak of this if I beat her in a one-on-one.”
“Vijar-dono’s words are correct. How about this, Nasrene-dono. We’ll destroy the humans’ shields, and then―”
“―As if I’d let you!”
While she was still confronting Vijar, Remedios took her eyes off him and turned to look at the defenseless pair. However―
“You bitch! I told you already, I’m your opponent!”
Vijar did not allow her to do so. Her defense was full of holes, but he did not swing at her with his battleaxe, instead launching a kick. Remedios took the blow and was sent flying into the shield wall with tremendous force
The shock of the impact threw her breathing into chaos for a moment.
“Aiiieeee!”
The militiamen cried out in fear.
“Keep your attention on me, human! Fight seriously!”
Vijar’s shout was followed closely by the sound of his footsteps. If he swung his long-handled battleaxe, he would send the shield-wielding civilians flying, creating a gap in the formation big enough that recovery would be impossible.
Even though Remedios had lost her balance, she still took a step forward, lunging at Vijar who stood in front of her.
If possible, she would have liked to finish off Vijar with her own abilities. That was because of the power that Remedios was holding in reserve to deal with the other two.
It was a powerful move that the holy sword Safalrisia possessed, which could only be used once a day.
It was a strengthened version of a paladin’s holy strike.
It was the most powerful attack that a paladin wielding this sword could unleash.
Her instincts told her that it would be best not to do so. However, if she did not immediately defeat Vijar, the other two demihumans would kill more people.
I― want to protect Calca-sama’s wish―!
“!!”
She cried out without words, ignored her instincts as they screamed at her, and mentally sent a command to the holy sword. At the same time, she infused her holy strike into the blade and made her move.
The holy sword glowed with divine radiance, and light extended out to twice the length of the actual blade.
This light was apparently more dazzling the more evil a being was. In this state, avoiding or blocking this blow would be more difficult. The word “apparently” came to mind because it did not seem that bright to Remedios’s eyes.
Remedios raised her holy sword to the sky, and swung it down with all her might.
Since Remedios had lost her bearings, predicting the course of the attack was child’s play. Vijar casually prepared to check the blow with his axe and then shove her back. However―
“!!”
Following another wordless cry, Remedios pressed down on her holy sword while it was still locked with the battleaxe, and continued forcing it down.
She did not intend to have her sword strike its target through brute force.
The reason for this was because the radiance on the sword followed the path of the blade as it travelled down, passing through the battleaxe and entering Vijar’s body.
This was the ultimate technique of the holy sword Safalrisia.
It was a holy wave that ignored defences and armor.
The sturdiest armor, scales, and hides meant nothing to it. Since it could even pass through magic weapons, it could not be stopped by weapons or shields, which made it an unavoidable trump card.
Of course, if one did not choose to clash with the blow and was nimble enough to avoid it, they would not be hit by the wave of light. However, there was no way to avoid Remedios’s flashing strike while one’s eyes were dazzled by the light.
As the wave of light blew past like the wind, the holy radiance on the blade vanished as well.
However ― Remedios’s eyes went wide.
She had clearly hit her target, but Vijar did not look like he was in pain.
“…What? That was a flashy move, but… it hardly hurts at all. Is it just for show? Though I have to say, it did startle me…”
Remedios was shocked.
This guy ― he’s not evil-aligned!
This technique was more effective the more evil one’s foe was. In contrast, it did little damage to non-evil targets. It did practically nothing to good-aligned people. In other words, the fact that it had hurt Vijar meant that while he was not good, he was certainly not evil either.
He made the people suffer! He invaded our country! How can someone like that not be evil!?
“Heeheehee. Well, that was quite a spectacular light show, Vijar-dono. Are you really unhurt?”
Halisha narrowed his eyes as he questioned Vijar.
“It was so bright… it’s still burning my eyes.”
Nasrene grumbled from the side.
She had made a mistake ― she should not have used that move on Vijar after all.
Vijar tested his limbs and made sure his body was fine before shrugging. While he seemed defenseless, Remedios could not find any weaknesses in his defense no matter how hard she looked.
“…A light show? Well, I’m not too sure what that was all about, but it’s nothing much, right?”
“…Vijar, I’m kind of surprised. To think you were unharmed by that attack… I might have underestimated you.”
“Fuha! You get it at last! Hahaha! All right, human. You did well in making me look good. If you surrender, I’ll kill you painlessly. How about that?”
“Don’t make those unfunny jokes! We haven’t settled this yet!”