NOVEL NEXT Chapter 111
The massive tail came crashing down toward Clementine's head, the needle-like tip of its stinger was aimed right at the little girl's chest.
My mind went blank as I leapt towards Clementine and slammed my body into hers, sending us tumbling to the floor. The searing pain of glass shards cutting my arms and back made me cry out, but I grit my teeth and held on as tightly to Clementine as I could, even as she screamed and cried in terror.
We were fucked. So fucked.
A Marquis-class chaos beast was an army killer - and we were just a pair of kids. There was no way we'd survive this.
I looked up at the beast, and it glowered back, its mandibles snapping together with an ominous crack. It was staring at us hungrily. I couldn't think. I didn't know what to do.
The Mikado lashed out with its tail again, and I rolled Clementine and I out of the way. The tail came crashing down, shattering a few raised beds. Dirt, glass, and plant matter exploded out in every direction.
All I could do was stall for time. The shattered remains of the greenhouse around me wouldn't give us much time, but it was time nonetheless. Maybe a rescue team would come?
Hana of the Dawn maybe. Something! Anything!
"Stay down," I gasped at Clementine, gently pushing her to the floor. "Crawl and hide. I'll try to draw its attention!"
She didn't respond, but she didn't need to. The chaos beast screeched and hissed, and its eyes were filled with a hungry malice. It reared up and its tail came crashing down. I jumped back, barely dodging it. The tail crashed down and I felt the ground shudder. I rolled to the side and the tail lashed out again.
Rai-chan adjusted my time perception, slowing the tail's motion down. It wasn't nearly enough. I was barely dodging the attacks. I couldn't keep this up for long. Clementine had managed to crawl behind a planter, and she was sobbing.
I didn't blame her. We were dead. So, so dead. Even with my time perception drastically accelerated, I couldn't keep dodging these attacks. It was a game of millimeters. I ducked again, using the rows of plants to obscure the monster's view, and its tail slammed down into the soil, smashing through a planter. Dirt, rocks, and glass exploded outward once more.
And then I heard something unexpected.
A screech, and then the sound of metal clanging. I glanced to the side, seeing a figure leap behind a planter, carrying something long and thin.
A katana, in a reverse grip, and a person wearing tattered clothing.
The person jumped forward again in a blur, swinging the blade, and it clanged loudly. Sparks flew.
I had no idea what was going on — the smoke filling the night sky had made the rooftop dark and hard to make out details.
And then the chaos beast lashed out with its tail again, a rapid flurry of blows aimed at the figure's neck and torso.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Blows faster than I could perceive, even with Rai-chan's time acceleration. But the figure kept up, with subtle movements tight, fluid, and graceful. She was a blur, moving with a series of shifting parries that made me gasp, using both hands to grip the sword.
The smoke cleared a bit more, and I could make out a clearer silhouette. It was a woman, wearing the same clothes Midori had been wearing earlier, but the shirt and pants were shredded and torn to pieces.
I looked at the woman, and I felt my heart skip a beat.
No, she didn't just look like Midori.
It was Midori, and her eyes were blazing with a purple light. Her body was covered in scratches and bruises, and there was dried blood on her face.
She parried and riposted, using the katana in her hand to deflect the tail and send it back in the direction of the monster. The tail came down again, and this time Midori's body moved like liquid. Her parry sent the tail careening into the side of the greenhouse. It tore through the wall, and the glass shattered and flew in all directions.
Midori took the chance to charge in, taking a deep breath, and then, with an exhale, I felt the air around her shift, as though something was bending the world.
Time seemed to stop.
She disappeared, then reappeared on the monster's head with a trail of purple light following from where she last stood and a sharp whistle.
No...
She blurred again. And again and again, a series of rapid movements I couldn't even follow what was happening. Each teleport was accompanied by a flash of purple, and it looked like she was everywhere at once.
But the monster stood frozen - as did the dancing shadows cast by the flames outside.
Was... was time literally stopped?!??!
Then, Midori appeared back in front of the monster, and I heard her voice.
"Bloom. Midori no Hana," she said, in a soft, hushed voice.
A large green glowing flower appeared in the air above her, its petals falling gently.
Then she disappeared once again, before reappearing in front of the beast with the blade extended in a crouched stance. I felt the air vibrate as she turned around and smoothly sheathed the katana in a scabbard on her left hip.
And then everything happened at once.
The monster's tail lashed out in the spot where she used to be, and Midori's body blurred, the flower blooming with a brilliant flash of light that illuminated the rooftop. Purple lights danced all over the chaos beast's body.
Midori landed in a crouching stance and sheathed the katana.
And then it exploded into chunks of clay-like flesh and ichor the sound of it echoing throughout the roof.
The only sound was that of distant sirens and the wind. The beast was dead. I could hardly breathe.
I could hardly believe my eyes.
"What. W-What... what was that?" I said.
I just gaped, unable to believe what I had seen. I didn't even have the presence of mind to ask what the hell was going on.
Midori turned and looked at me. Her purple eyes glowed and were full of melancholy. She sighed, her face pale, and her eye color returned to the blue-green it normally was.
Then she spotted me. Her eyes were filled with worry and concern, and then horror as her jaw dropped. The way her expression twisted made me think something was wrong.
I followed her eyes. I looked at it in shock.
It didn't hurt.
They were focused on a long, nasty slash along the right side of my torso. It wasn't the only one.
My adrenaline had been running high, so I hadn't noticed the wounds before. I had been cut. Multiple times.
"Ikki... I'm..."
There was a slashing wound on my chest, and blue lines of Chaos Corruption were pulsating out of it.
"Oh..." I murmured, staring at my wound in a daze.
...
"That doesn't look good, huh?"