I never thought I’d end up bringing this out.
The sword in Ceres’s hand was the blade she had once used as Grace. It was a weapon she never passed down, not even to her disciple.
Not that I refused to. I just couldn’t.
The thing was absurdly picky about its owner. If someone the sword didn’t recognize tried to wield it, it would dull itself on purpose until it was worse than a kitchen knife. Its temperament was so foul that she could never hand it over to anyone else.
In the end, the only option was to seal it away inside subspace storage.
Hummm—
“Are you satisfied?”
A faint vibration ran through the sword, as if it was pleased to taste blood again after so long.
Ceres stared indifferently at the giant’s corpse. Not a single drop of blood had touched the ground despite the creature having been split in two. That was the defining trait of corpses cut down by this sword.
Because it devours all of it.
The blood, that is. Blood was the thing this ink-black sword loved most. People used to fear it and call it the Demon Sword for that reason alone.
BOOM! BOOM!
The ground shook again. Ceres turned with a quiet sigh and saw the remaining giants charging toward her, enraged by the death of their companion.
She needed to find Julia and Antonian as quickly as possible...
Her gaze turned cold. She would cut them down fast and move on.
[Buoo! Bu!]
“.....?”
Sooty, who had been perched on top of her head, suddenly flew up into the air.
“What are you doing...?!”
[Buuuuuuuu—]
Fwoosh!
Ceres’s eyes widened slightly. A strange cry she had never heard before rang from Sooty’s mouth.
Then something even stranger happened.
[Grr?]
SMASH!
[KRAAAAGH!]
BAM! BAM!
“...What is that?”
Ceres blinked several times at the bizarre sight unfolding before her. The ones violently beating the giants, crushing their heads and bodies without mercy, were the giants’ own shadows.
[Grr! Kraaah...!]
SMASH!
[Urk!]
The giants themselves looked utterly bewildered by the situation. They quickly recognized the shadows as enemies and tried to strike back, but something more horrifying happened.
[KRAAAAGH!]
As soon as one giant punched its shadow in the face, it clutched its own face and screamed. Another kicked at its shadow’s leg, only for its own leg to snap with a sickening crack. The giant collapsed, shrieking in agony as it grabbed at the broken limb.
SMASH!
[Kr...!]
THUD!
At last, the giant toppled over with its skull crushed open.
“......”
Ceres stared at the bizarre sight for a while, unable to say a word.
What just happened? Her eyes slowly shifted toward Sooty, who was fluttering innocently in front of her.
“...Was that your doing?”
[Bbuuuo~]
Sooty bobbed its head proudly as if the answer was obvious. Ceres felt a headache coming on.
What on earth is this little thing?
[KRAAAAGH!]
[Grrr....]
Still, the important thing was that the situation was resolving itself quickly.
After watching the giants get torn apart by their own shadows, Ceres finally turned away. She needed to find Julia and Antonian first.
[Bbuo!]
“Hm?”
However, just as she started walking, she came to another stop when Sooty suddenly grabbed onto her hair and tugged.
[Bbuo! Buo!]
Sooty kept pulling at her hair while repeatedly pointing in a certain direction, clearly trying to tell her to go there. Ceres immediately realized what it meant.
“...You want me to go after the boss?”
[Buo! Buo!]
Sooty nodded vigorously.
“I have to get to Julia.”
Shake shake!
Sooty shook its head with all it might. Then it flew toward the building where Julia was and flapped its wings insistently.
“...Are you saying you’ll go instead?”
[Bbuo!]
Why do I understand everything this thing is saying?
Ceres sighed and fell briefly into thought. But she didn’t dwell on it for long. Her gaze soon shifted toward the place where she could feel the boss’s presence.
“Fifteen minutes. No, ten should be enough. Keep the kids safe until then. And make sure you stay with Antonian too.”
[Bou!]
Sooty gave a confident nod as though telling her to leave them to it, then suddenly lunged toward her. Or rather, toward her shadow.
Whoosh!
“...Seriously?”
Ceres could only stare in a daze as Sooty slipped into her shadow and disappeared without a trace. She finally understood why she hadn’t sensed its presence at all when it first appeared in the classroom.
It moves through shadows?
It looked like Sooty could travel through the shadows of people it had marked somehow. The more she learned about that creature, the more curious she became about its true identity.
“Phew...”
Ceres let out a small breath and shook her head. She could think about all that later.
Fwoosh!
A moment later, she vanished from the spot as well.
“......”
Matthew, the captain of the guard who had witnessed everything up close, still looked completely stunned.
Thud.
Only after Ceres disappeared did his legs finally give out beneath him. It was only then that he realized he had survived.
“Captain!”
One of his subordinates rushed over and quickly caught him.
“What... was that?”
Matthew stared blankly at the place where Ceres had vanished. Who exactly was that student? And how was he supposed to explain any of this to his superiors?
“...Ha.”
A hollow laugh slipped from his lips.
***
“Christine, are you feeling a bit better now?”
“...Yeah.”
Christine was still trembling, but she no longer looked as panicked as before. Seeing that, Julia sighed in relief.
“Then let’s head to the auditorium now. Everyone else already went there.”
The emergency announcements had been repeating over and over. It was much safer for the students to stay gathered in one place rather than scattered throughout the academy. Everyone had been told to evacuate to the auditorium.
Of course, Ceres had been too far from the building to hear any of it, which was why she had gone looking for Julia instead.
“T-The auditorium?”
“Yeah. Let’s go.”
Nod.
Christine slowly crawled out from under the desk where she had been curled up.
BOOM! BOOM!
“—!”
A thunderous noise suddenly shook the entire building. Something was coming.
The girls instinctively turned toward the window.
[Grrrr....]
“Uwaaahhh!”
A massive giant came into view outside the classroom window. It was so enormous that its head rose far above the second-floor windows.
“AAAH! AAAAAH!”
“Christine, be quiet!”
Julia hurriedly tried to stop Christine from screaming. If the giant noticed them, it would all be over.
“Mmph!”
“Shh! Quiet!”
[Grrrr!]
“—!”
Julia clamped her hand over Christine’s mouth, but it was already too late. The giant’s glowing red eyes slowly turned toward the classroom.
“C-Christine! We have to run!”
“U-Uh...”
Christine tried to force her trembling legs to move, but fear had rooted her in place. The moment she saw the giant approaching the window, she collapsed onto the floor.
“AAAAAH!”
Another scream burst from her lips.
Julia’s face turned pale as she watched the giant draw closer. Her legs shook so badly she couldn’t put any strength into them. In the end, she also sank helplessly to the floor.
Ceres...
Julia wrapped her arms around Christine and squeezed her eyes shut. At that moment, the only person she could think of was Ceres.
[Bbuo? Bbou!]
“—!”
Then suddenly, a voice she recognized reached her ears. Her eyes flew open.
“Sooty!”
[Bbuo.]
Relief flooded her face for only a second before panic returned.
“Run away!”
[Buo?]
“I said run! There’s a giant right outside!”
Sooty tilted its head at Julia’s frantic warning before glancing toward the window. Just then, the giant stretched its large hand toward the classroom.
[Bbuuuuuuu~]
A strange cry rang out from Sooty’s mouth.
Whoosh!
[Grr...? KRAAAAGH!]
Just as the giant reached forward, its enormous body jerked violently backward. A black shadow had seized it.
BOOM!
The shadow coiled tightly around the fallen giant’s body and began strangling it. It was the giant’s own shadow.
[KRAAAAGH! Gghhk!]
The giant thrashed wildly as though it were suffocating, striking at the shadow in desperation. But every blow landed back on itself instead.
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