The Rising of the Scythe Hero

The situation was turning rotten. Right here, directly in front of me, was the target that had to be eliminated. Otherwise Lucas would reach his destination and, who knows, perhaps conduct successful negotiations that would make the situation even worse.

But on the other hand – he might have been telling the truth, and right now not only the queen, but also Night and Sadeena could be in danger. Before her level reset, the orca-girl might have been able to hold out against one of the Star Heroes — at least without dying — but now… Unlikely. Very unlikely.

So the decision was made quickly.

"Portal…"

"You won't succeed." Magic rippled in the air, as though jamming the surrounding magical field, and the teleportation was simply canceled.

"What?"

I had to admit, somewhere at the back of my mind, the thought had lingered that teleportation could be disrupted — but still… I hadn't expected to run into it like this. The situation was growing even worse.

The figure before me — a girl in a clown costume, not a short boy as I'd first thought, something I could tell from her life energy — pulled out several… knitted dolls?

Without a word, she tossed them to the ground, remaining still with a ball of thread in her hands. And then, like puppets on the strings of a puppeteer, they began to grow, rising up into fighting stances, each one brandishing its own weapon — a greatsword and an axe, respectively.

"A puppeteer, huh? Amusing."

There was no choice. I had to deal with the puppeteer as quickly as possible — with Lucas coming as a bonus — and only then return to Melromarc by teleport to check if everything was alright.

Sounds like a plan.

Spinning the Scythe, I crouched low, settling into one of my stances.

"Shall we begin our fun?" The moment I let go of my control, the smile on my face twisted into a grin. "Reaper Stance: Full Moon."

Too bad the Staff's enhancement method was limited only to magic. Logic suggested that there had to be a similar method for Skills — which was what the stances were — but I didn't know which Weapon held that method, and mere speculation wasn't enough to unlock it.

Even so, the dash was as fast as ever, so quick I could barely follow my own movement. But near its end, I realized I wouldn't be able to finish off the puppets with a final strike. I had to force the technique early, making a circular slash prematurely.

"Threads?" Turning my head, I saw faint, nearly invisible strings falling to the ground, sliced apart — strings I hadn't even sensed until now.

They contained fragments of all the enemy's energies, though I only understood that now. Had I continued my dash at full speed, I'd already be diced into neat little cubes of minced meat.

"Staff, Carriage, Axe, Hammer, Gauntlets, Claws, Whip, Throwing Weapon… You're a Hero, but not a Star, and certainly not a Sacred one. Then what are you?" Tilting my head in curiosity, I could clearly sense that the small girl before me truly was a Hero. Yet the abilities she wielded couldn't be classified under any of the known Legendary Weapons of this world.

"Beat me and you'll f——— out" Even her voice seemed muffled, overlaid with a rustling sound, like grains of sand sliding through an hourglass.

"Stranger and stranger… But fine. Ice Chains (X)." Beneath me, an icy crust spread out, then shot forward like a frenzied mole, rushing straight for the opponent…

…And just as the attack was about to reach the girl, ready to counter it… the icy crust suddenly veered to the side, splitting into five more icy streaks, which struck the stitched puppets, freezing them solid.

Was it my imagination, or did the little face beneath her mask look… hurt for a moment?

With the unknown threat dealt with, I swung the Scythe behind my back, ready to launch into another dash, but—

"For how long?!"

The Scythe got "snagged" in the threads. The threads were everywhere. From the trees, even from the icy spikes created by my own spell, they wrapped around everything, as if I'd stepped into… a damn spider's nest.

"…You're making me remember some very unpleasant parts of my life… I hate spiders. Serenity Stance: Eclipse."

Struggling against the bindings that restrained the Weapon, I managed to drive the Scythe into the ground — the key moment of the technique. Immediately, the area around me darkened, and the threads all but vanished in an instant, leaving my opponent visibly surprised.

Still, she recovered far too quickly, and before I was fully free, she flung several long needles at me, shooting at impressive speed as part of her ongoing combo.

Except — whether she hadn't realized or had simply ignored it — she failed to account for the fact that my Skill erased absolutely everything around me, including the needles that entered its zone of effect.

Though I had to admit, it was close. One of the three needles disintegrated dangerously close to… my shoulder. And the direction of the others as well…

At that moment, a suspicion struck me. One I wanted to test after I won this fight.

Threads came flying from the trees again, this time aiming to bind my throat, but the very last moments of my technique dissolved them just in time. And now I could clearly sense even the threads invisible to the eye, so they no longer posed any problem.

"So y—— are strong. That means i can get ———————" Unlike with Lucas, I wasn't about to waste time listening to her, so I cut her off at the very start of her speech with another skill.

"Phantom Hands." From behind me, a torrent of phantom arms burst forth, swallowing my figure and rushing ahead. "Reaper Stance…" For a fleeting instant, the surrounding space was painted crimson. "…Crimson Dawn."

A wave of dark-violet hands surged forward to engulf my opponent, while I, hidden inside, unleashed a stance technique designed primarily for wide-area attacks and the destruction of immaterial forces — be it magic, qi, or spirit.

But the Heroine herself… didn't move an inch. I had banked on the element of surprise, since Crimson Dawn dispelled not only foreign energy but my own as well. The idea was to suddenly burst out of the "curtain" of hands, catching her off guard, then strike with my follow-up blow. And I did strike — but…

crack

Her figure gave off the sound of splintering wood, shattering into nothing but chips.

"That was not bad." Her quiet voice came from somewhere behind me — and, it seemed, above…

Raising my head, I saw a cocoon, from within which a massive blade tore outward, slicing through the shell… only to "spit out" my opponent, whole and unharmed, gently descending on her guiding threads. And in her hands, incidentally, were enormous scissors — so large they dwarfed their wielder.

"…but still not enough." For a brief instant, as she landed, knees slightly bent, the ground beneath her exploded, spewing forth hundreds — if not thousands — of threads.

It was like hell had suddenly cracked open. A tailor's hell made real. The threads writhed and squirmed in the air like worms.

"You're actually making me exert myself… Damn you."

In truth… this girl wasn't nearly as strong as I had first thought. She had a rather unpleasant set of abilities, but her attacks themselves didn't carry overwhelming power. I'd say she belonged not to the Attack class, but to the Control class. Whereas I…

"Reaper Stance…" Once more crouching low to the ground, I recalled the sensations I'd felt in the final moments of my battle with the Tyrannodragon. "…Crimson Dawn."

"Foolish."

Hearing me repeat the same words as before, she clearly assumed I was about to use the same attack again. Unfortunately for her — I had only recently learned how to modify my skills.

"What? That's —————…"

The sand-like noise garbled whatever she was trying to say, but the way she instinctively stumbled back was eloquent enough. Only it was already too late.

This time, what I modified was the offensive nature of the technique. In truth, the very concept of "modification" could be described as tinkering with sliders in some character editor. To a certain extent, while maintaining the essence of the technique, I could amplify one aspect, while another, to preserve balance, would automatically weaken.

And right now, I had nearly zeroed out the damage of the technique, while maximizing its radius and its energy-dispelling properties. Which meant…

BOOM!

"Gh!"

The epicenter of the bursting shockwave was the girl in the clown costume. After all the threads she had created were swept away and scattered by that very wave, she was slammed hard against the thick trunk of a tree — then slid down it, weakened, to the ground.

"Well… that's that." Squatting down in front of the girl, I masked a small pause in my words with a fake "grunt," caused by the lingering backlash of forcing mana, qi, and spirit on the fly to alter an existing technique. "You've lost on every front."

Lifting her head slightly, the girl looked at me in confusion. I, however, simply turned my gaze, pointedly staring at the body lying in a pool of its own blood.

"Sorry, but you make a downright lousy bodyguard. He died the moment you, I assume, shifted your body into that cocoon." I nodded upward, indicating the ruptured bundle of threads.

At that moment, along with Phantom Hands and the Stance, I had also used silent magic, mentally chanting the spell Ice Spike and firing it at Lucas, who was hiding behind the carriage. For good measure, I had boosted it to level 10, leaving the aristocrat no chance — the projectile flew so fast that even I saw only a fleeting blur.

"Well then, I suppose it's time for me to…" I started to rise.

"You… won't kill me?" She was staring at the bloodied body with clear fear, which clashed completely with the image of a mercenary she had been projecting.

"You weren't planning to kill me either, were you?"

"How did you ————?"

"It's pretty obvious when all your attacks are aimed either wide, or at a shoulder, or at a leg. No matter how much of an amateur you are, not even a child would ignore vital points so blatantly."

"I see…"

"Yeah. Well then, farewell. Oh, wait — one more thing. About the second Hero — was that true?"

"Yes. I saw him." The girl nodded calmly. "It was the Hero of Claws."

"I see. Damn. Is he stronger than you?"

"…No. He's… an idiot." After a short pause for thought, she finally shook her head.

It seemed my suspicions about Heroes being idiots had just grown a little stronger. But no matter.

"Got it. Well then, I really must go."

She said nothing more, silently watching as I stood up.

"Portal Scythe."

This time nothing interfered with the teleportation, though now I really needed to think about how to resist restrictions on its use. After all, I hated being so easily limited in my options…

"Nott-sama? You…"

I had teleported into the throne room, where I found the queen… and all of my companions, except for Wyndia, who had been sent to Zeltoble. That meant Night, Sadeena, Atla, and Fohl.

"Yeah. It's done." At my words, the queen let out a noticeable sigh of relief. "By the way, did some strange guy with Claws happen to attack you here?"

"Oh?"

"You mean… the Hero of Claws?" Mirelia asked with a strange expression.

"Yeah… He's already been here?"

"He was, but…"

"Instead of launching a covert attack, that idiot showed up and loudly proclaimed all the 'sins' of the queen of Melromarc, then declared that he intended to 'punish' her," Fohl explained on everyone's behalf.

"Uh… Well, maybe he just didn't have a Camouflage skill." I shrugged.

"No, you don't get it." Fohl shook his head irritably. And somehow I could tell that irritation wasn't aimed at me. "He simply didn't bother," he emphasized. "He infiltrated the castle completely unnoticed. He even got right up to the queen. But instead of attacking, he decided to give a speech. So we just tied him up with every resource we had in the castle."

"…"

Honestly… I had no words. Even though I didn't show it, I had been a little nervous, since I genuinely worried about Night and the others. If one of the Star Heroes had agreed to get involved in all this, it was impossible to say for sure what he might be planning.

But in the end… that's how it turned out.

"And… what will you do with him?" Still unsure how exactly to react to this new information, I turned to the queen.

"It's unlikely there's an idiot out there who would openly ask me to hand over the Hero who tried to take my life… For now, he'll remain our prisoner. But in a world overshadowed by the threat of the Waves, we won't be able to hold him for long. Rest assured, Nott-sama, I'll do everything in my power to make the most of this… incident."

"I see."

I had no doubts about Mirelia's abilities, and the glint in her eyes… Let's just say it inspired a certain degree of confidence.

"As for you, Nott-sama, I can only express my gratitude and advise you to rest well before the Revitalization. In just a few days, the ship will be waiting for you at the city harbor."

"I'm afraid that won't work." I smiled, meeting the queen's gaze. "Before the Revitalization, there are still a few things I need to finish. Besides, I suppose I should finally take a look at the residence you provided."

"In that case, I'll arrange for all the necessary papers to be given to you. Is there anything else you desire, Hero-sama?"

"No. I don't think so."

After parting with the queen, I gathered my companions and, once the teleportation skill had recharged, I sent us all to Zeltoble. I needed to retrieve my recent "acquisitions," and then we could all move into my new residence together.

Well, I suppose… the upcoming events could be called a kind of rest. And besides, I could hardly wait to see what Atla would look like after her growth.