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High School Hack and Slash Chapter 159 Part 1

Shards of Avarice

―― ＊＊＊＊『unknown』, ＊＊＊『unknown』――

―― Style 『unknown』, ※Space-time Pressure Difference 『unknown』――

 

「Tch!」

The rays of light that poured down became three, four, and five stripes.

The number of arrows being shot was increasing.

Multiple arrows that were shot out at the same time formed a fan shape with Touma at the center.

Even as they got knocked down, there was neither escape route to his left nor right.

It was a suppression fire to nail him on the spot.

There was no end to the ammunition supply that was brought forth inexhaustibly.

That, too, was one of the authorities (skills) that she, Diana, possessed.

Touma, unable to even close the maai between them, continued to be driven away.

And then, Touma continued to repel the rain arrows that were shot at him like a machine gun, but he didn’t manage to get all of them.

The sound of the arrows hitting his armor was echoing as well.

「Looks like he is having a hard time. Muko-dono, I cullionly…」

「Iyou.」

「Hmm. Nay, thee mustn’t, Nue-dono. Thee mustn’t interfere. Yond is what Muko-dono wanteth.」

The voluptuous beauty chided the stirring huge, fluffy body.

Baby Nue, lowering the hips it had raised with a thud, wagged its tail.

However, its gaze was fixed on the battle between Touma and Diana.

「Well, nay needeth to worry. From the beginning, the difference in『Rank』 is apparent. Under ingraft circumstances, Muko-dono would has’t nev’r been defeat’d.」

Hippolyte, standing next to the seated baby Nue, snapped her fingers.

A stool was placed on the ground, and a tray and a sake wine were brought over.

The queen, folding her elegantly decorated war fan as she took a seat on the stool, accepted the wine cup.

「But even but now, as his authorities art sealed, he is being pinn’d down without any means to deal with t. Kukuku…. Very much, Muko-dono is such a stubborn knave. I cullionly, if ‘t be true he just sayeth the word『obey me』, the lady shall giveth in without any means to square back.」

「Iyou?」

「Wherefore doest he not doth yond, thee asketh? Yond, thee see, is because Muko-dono knoweth what pride is. T is because he knoweth and respects the pride yond he and we has’t. Though, t is not something tangible.  So f’r those who is’t doth not understandeth t, t hast nay value. Ultimately, they art nothing but a brute.」

「… Iyo~u.」

「I guess t is still too early f’r thee, Nue-dono. T is fine, t is fine, thee shouldst just learneth t from anon on.」

Hippolyte, smiling, gulped down her cup of wine.

It was not only baby Nue who were watching the battle intently.

The amazonesses surrounding the plaza were cheering.

It was not limited to only Touma.

For these women, battle was a sacred ritual that was tantamount to faith.

Everyone was enthused and intoxicated by the raging battle.

「O moon (Luna), shine forth (Radius)!」

Diana, her arms raised to the sky, drew her silver bow to the very limit.

Behind Diana, arrows that were produced endlessly continued to be shot out.

Touma, paying close attention to Diana, repelled the group of arrows with both hands and dodged them with a defensive body movement.

The arrows, letting out a clear sound as they got released, ran up into the sky, drawing a band of light.

The light that poured into the sky turned into a ball and shone like moonlight.

The light that poured down like a spotlight became tenfold and twentyfold, and pierced through Touma.

◇ ◇ ◇

「Guh…!」

A band of materialized light pierces my body.

It’s a sharp shard, beautiful like a clear crystal.

Penetrating through the armor, it pierces my body mercilessly.

In order to evade it, you have to exceed the speed of light.

Such a thing is an inescapable ultimate move.

It must consume an equally immense amount of power.

As the storm of arrow bedding ceases, Diana is breathing heavily but still sporting a fearless smile on her face.

This side is a target that’s single-mindedly charging forward while putting up a defense like a turtle.

I bet it’s not worth watching for the audience, but there’s no other means available to me.

Ignoring the damage, I take another step forward.

Even if I kick the ground and run at her, the distance between me and Diana would remain the same.

Even though Diana, whose legs remain still, is unmoving.

This, too, must be the effect of some kind of authority (skill).

I don’t know the logic behind it, but it’s not a passive skill that is activated automatically.

It’s an active skill that Diana intentionally activates.

Just to confirm this, I’ve ended up taking a considerable beating.

The armor I was given repels the machine gun arrows that Diana fires without using her bow.

It helps me keep away damage that could be fatal, but the light arrows are a different story.

「O moon (Luna), split up (Trivia)!」

A ray of light is released from the bow set up horizontally.

The light, which splits into three stripes, draws an inescapable arc and pierces me.

Talk about unsightly.

I know the cause.

I have grown depraved.

I have become arrogant and crude.

I have turned into a blockhead who merely swings around the powerful『authority (might)』 that has been given to him.

――― The arrow of light pierces me.

Is that the state that I wish for?

No, there’s no way that is the case.

――― The arrow of light pierces me.

The arrow that penetrates the armor and pierces me is hot.

――― The arrow of light pierces me.

Perhaps the shards of light burn the wound, but no blood gets spilled out.

――― The arrow of light pierces me.

I’m just like a hedgehog

――― The arrow of light pierces me.

Good graciousness, how unsightly.

Yeah… With such a state, I won’t be able to reach it, never.

――― The arrow of light pierces me.

Repeating it over and over and over again, smashing and smashing and smashing it up to refine it, crushing and crushing and crushing it—even if there are no shards remaining at the end of it.

Even so, if there is still something remaining at the end.

That is exactly the shard of『Avarice (Avaritia)』 that I wish for.

There is no way it would exist, no way it would remain, no way it would come true.

I know that all too well.

Like chasing a rainbow, like grasping a cloud, to the other side of a dream that will never come true.

In that case.

I will pick up the shattered scrapes, smash them up again, and refine them until I obtain it, no matter how many times I have to repeat the process.

――― The arrow of light pierced me.

So hot.

It feels as if I had been thrown into a furnace.

「… I, thank, you.」

――― I repel the arrow of light.

◇ ◇ ◇

「Ooooh! What in the ordinary, is yond?」

「Iyou!」

Baby Nue, leaning forward, and Hippolyte, clinging to its neck, exclaimed.

Due to her being overly excited, the furs were plucked off, but baby Nue, which was equally excited, did not notice it.

The battle, which had started out equal, quickly had the scales tipped when Diana began to use her skills.

Once the piled up damage forced the opponent to stop at his tracks, all that followed was a scene akin to a crucified sinner.

Even though the battle had developed into one where she one-sidedly shot her arrow at her opponent, Diana never stopped her hands.

I guess that’s a given, Hippolyte sympathized with her.

Refusing to go down, facing her head-on, the single-minded charge never ceased.

It must be terrifying, she thought.

Even if she could not kill him, it was unthinkable for his will to not break.

To begin with, this was just how a battle between fellow transcendent beings who had reached a high rank and had deviated from the fetters known as flesh was like.

They exhibited a figure that they would never go down.