The Rising of the Scythe Hero

"A fight, huh?" I made a show of thinking it over, but even before any of this started, I'd already guessed it would come to this. "And if I say I'm not okay with that?"

"Then I'll have to attack without warning," Fitoria replied simply, without a shred of emotion.

"Gotcha."

Honestly, the thought of refusing did flash through my head right then. Just picturing the process and the aftermath of our battle was enough to make something inside me start to boil… Because if I wanted to beat Fitoria — assuming it was even possible — I'd have to give absolutely everything I had. Maybe even go beyond that, yelling "Plus Ultra!" at the sky. But I managed to get a grip on myself…

"What do you think?" I turned to Night, who was still standing silently.

"If my master wishes it — I will fight."

"No, Night." I crouched down in front of the girl, looking straight into her pure amethyst eyes. "I'm asking what you want. I may have talked about impressions, but if you don't want to do this, I won't make you. So tell me — what do you want?"

Night looked into my eyes for a long moment. Then, without changing her expression, she shifted her gaze over my shoulder to where Fitoria still stood, waiting. And then… something in her gaze changed.

"Without my approval, you will never become the full-fledged Queen of the Filolials. And you will never reach the peak of your potential."

That was the final nail in the coffin of my bird's doubts. Slightly furrowing her brow, Night turned her gaze back to my face.

"I… want to fight."

"Well then—" a small smile appeared on my face on its own "—if that's your decision, I have no right to argue. Go ahead."

Night followed my retreating face with her eyes, then stepped forward to stand directly opposite Fitoria.

"We will fight in this form. No other restrictions."

"…Alright."

"Then attack."

The little bird didn't waste any time. The moment the last word left Fitoria's lips, a spell flew from her own.

"By the source of power, I command: decipher the laws of the world and cut my enemy. Wind Blades."

"By the source of power, Fitoria commands: decipher the laws of the world and neutralize these created blades. Anti Wind Blades."

The moment streams of wind began swirling around Night, they instantly scattered, dispersed by a light breeze. I wasn't even all that surprised — it would've been strange if a creature as ancient as Fitoria didn't have the ability to read and neutralize enemy magic. The ability to cancel another's spell required significant knowledge, concentration, and skill — but all of that could be outweighed by simple experience and practice. And the Queen of the Filolials, who had lived for centuries, certainly had more than enough of both.

"This won't help you."

Recovering quickly from her brief surprise, Night shifted into a different stance and then…

"Speed Reducing."

"Hm?" Fitoria's eyes widened slightly when Night, instead of reciting a full incantation, used the shortened form.

And it wasn't just her — I was surprised too. I had never once seen Night use abbreviated spells in my presence.

A long incantation was much easier to counter since it gave more time to analyze and respond. But with a move like that, Fitoria was not only caught off guard — she was left with almost no time at all to neutralize the magic aimed at her.

Once her opponent's speed was reduced, Night crouched low to the ground, her hands starting to glow faintly with magic. In less than a second, claws of pure blue mana formed over her delicate fingers. And as if that weren't enough, she somehow manipulated her Qi in an odd way, boosting her own physical stats.

"What the hell?"

That was all I could say. Thinking about it… when had I ever actually fought alongside Night? The last Wave, maybe? And… I'd more or less stopped teaching her anything at all…

Which meant she'd learned all of this herself…

With her preparations complete, the little bird lunged forward in a burst of speed.

"Not bad, but still far too slow." Simply raising her palm, Fitoria conjured a semi-transparent barrier in front of herself, which took Night's attack head-on.

When the barrier fully absorbed the strike, Fitoria swept her hand, sending Night flying backward with a massive gust of wind that knocked her off balance and sent her tumbling across the ground.

"If that's all you can do, then you'll never take my place."

"This… isn't all…" Night whispered, so quietly it was almost inaudible.

Her clothes, tattered from the tumble across the ground, began to repair themselves right before my eyes. More than that — they were becoming sturdier than before! I knew that clothing made of mana obviously contained mana and could store it, but I hadn't expected that much capacity. Still, that wasn't the truly surprising part.

"Magic… of the Ley Lines?" Even Fitoria couldn't hide her surprise. "You're… fortifying your clothing not with your own mana, but by drawing it directly from the world's arteries…"

The very thing I'd been struggling with for so long, stuck in place without progress. And here Night had been showing promising results in that direction from the start. Now, she had outright surpassed me, gaining access to what was, for all practical purposes, an infinite mana source — limited only by her own capabilities.

How the hell had that happened? How could progress like this have slipped past me? Had I really been paying so little attention? I'd… long since gotten used to Night always being somewhere nearby, and I rarely got involved in her own, infrequent business — thinking it only fair to give her a little personal time.

The little bird staggered slightly, her hands twitching with strain — that must've been her current limit. Still, it was impressive. By my rough estimate, the durability of her clothing was now just barely below that of my own armor. That meant it was on the level of enchanted medium-weight plate.

"This… is impressive. But still not enough. Now it's my turn to attack."

With those words, Fitoria vanished from where she stood.

The next instant, she was right beside Night, spinning into a kick — one the little bird managed to block, though it sent her flying for a short distance.

"Good. I see you've managed to master a great deal. In that case…" Exhaling, Fitoria began to audibly draw in… the surrounding mana? "…can you withstand this?"

After that, her movements became even faster. Night barely had time to register what was happening before she lost sight of her opponent entirely — Fitoria had simply disappeared. At least, that's how it would seem from Night's perspective. I, however, could see the Queen of the Filolials' movements just fine — and I was fairly sure I could even react to them. Night, though? Not a chance.

Fitoria's tiny fist, packed with an absurd amount of magic, slammed into Night's hastily raised guard with enough force to send her flying again. Just before she was launched, I could've sworn I heard something crack…

"That's eno—"

A good impression was nice and all, but Night herself mattered far more to me. Thinking about it now, I realized I hadn't been giving her nearly the attention she deserved, simply taking her constant presence for granted. And right now, there was no way I was going to just stand here and watch her get hurt for the sake of fulfilling my whim.

Or rather, I wasn't planning to just watch. I'd already moved to intercept her when—

"No," Night said slowly, rising from the ground. She was still looking only at Fitoria, but her words were meant for me. "I… have to manage. I have to… win. I have to… be useful."

One of the ribbons tying her hair into a ponytail seemed beyond repair now — or maybe she simply didn't have the focus to fix it. Then the second ribbon dissolved as well, letting her night-colored hair fall like a silky waterfall, partly covering her left eye. On her usually pale, unblemished skin, scrapes, scratches, and the first blooms of bruises were beginning to show, and one arm hung suspiciously still…

I wanted to tell her she didn't owe anyone anything. I wanted to crack a dumb joke or toss out one of my meaningless little lines. But I couldn't.

My attention was drawn to the way Night was looking at Fitoria. The single visible right eye expressed far more than her words ever could. Then again… hadn't it always been like this?

Night never said everything she was thinking. More often than not, her deepest thoughts and desires stayed locked away in her mind. Whether it was because she didn't want to voice them or simply didn't know how — I couldn't say. But I did know she understood and felt far more than she let on.

I couldn't help but wonder… what did the world look like through her eyes?

The sentence I'd started never reached its end. Smiling faintly, I turned away and stepped aside, not wanting to get in the way of Night, who was no longer paying me any attention. Even while I was still beside her, she exhaled in imitation of the Queen of the Filolials, then began audibly drawing in air — along with the surrounding mana.

At the same time, I felt mana from the Ley Lines flowing toward her feet. My sensory abilities told me that right now Night was gathering everything she could access: her own mana, the ambient mana, Qi, mana from the Ley Lines… the only thing missing was Spirit, available only to Heroes.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught the faint smile that flickered across Fitoria's otherwise indifferent face. She quickly smothered it, raising a hand as a barrier began to form in front of her…

"Defense Reducing." Instead of attacking, Night first cast another debuff spell, once again catching Fitoria off guard.

And only then — without giving her opponent a chance to react — she unleashed a spell I'd never seen before.

"Wind…" Streams of air suddenly swirled violently around Night, spiraling tighter and tighter toward her as the center. "…Arrow." Then, in an instant, they compressed and wrapped her in thin wind blades — before exploding behind her.

There was a flash.

In the split second that followed, I saw Fitoria's eyes widen more than they had at any point before. Night's speed had surpassed both of our expectations — even exceeding the speed Fitoria herself had displayed earlier.

Companions of Heroes, benefiting from the shared bonuses, inherited part of their master's stats. A Hero's main specialization also affected their companions. This was why Naofumi's allies, bound by the slave crest, could withstand blows that would have instantly killed anyone else in their place.

My main stats were Agility and Strength. Naturally, those were the ones Night had inherited from me the most…

whump

Fitoria's barrier shattered under the force of the wind, scattering both their hair and even tugging at the hems of my own clothes.

The Queen of the Filolials had to jerk sharply to the side, letting Night, flying forward like a loosed arrow, shoot past her. Night's feet tore a deep groove into the ground before she skidded to a stop, kicking up a towering cloud of dust that hid her from my sight for a moment. When it finally began to settle, I saw her frozen in a crouched stance.

For several seconds, neither of them moved. Fitoria, still stuck in an awkward pose from her emergency dodge, stared ahead with wide, unfocused eyes. Only after a moment did she blink, glance back over her shoulder, and look at Night… who was already starting to slump forward in exhaustion.

"Oh no you don't. No more falling for you." Scooping the little bird into my arms, I glanced at Fitoria — who seemed about to do the same.

But what caught my attention most was her face and clothing.

Both were marked with fine, shallow cuts — some of which were still bleeding slightly. Not badly. Probably not even enough to count as real damage, but still… with their difference in level, for someone like Night to actually wound Fitoria at all…

"She's… incredible." The Queen of the Filolials, still looking slightly dazed, regarded us both with mixed emotions.

"Yeah. Incredible." Brushing a lock of hair away from Night's eye, I took a moment to admire the serene expression on her face.

Pushing herself far past her limits, Night had overloaded her body and lost consciousness. Still, I felt the victory in this absurd duel could be awarded to her.

From the very start, this fight had been meaningless. Fitoria's stats were simply astronomical compared to Night's. If the Queen of the Filolials had fought seriously, the little bird would've died the instant the words to begin were spoken.

This was just a test. And Night had passed it with flying colors — at least in my eyes.

"She will become stronger than me." Lifting my gaze from Night's face, I met the eyes of the Queen of the Filolials. "Her talent surpasses mine, and the blood of the Filolial Progenitors runs stronger in her than in me. This girl… is far more a Queen of the Filolials than I am. By right of blood."

I didn't entirely understand what she was talking about. Some ancient Filolial Progenitors, a right of blood… My confusion must have been written plainly on my face.

"I'll explain it all later," Fitoria said, closing her eyes as the wounds on her body vanished in seconds. "For now, it's best that we all rest."

Briefly, I thought about Naofumi back at Rabier's mansion — and just as quickly dismissed the thought. The Shield Hero wasn't a child; he could handle himself. I had more important matters to deal with.

Shifting Night into a more comfortable position in my arms, I followed after Fitoria as she turned away. Looked like story time was approaching…