「Ti..na……」
Tina protected me from Felix’s magic, and held a sorrowful expression as she moves to my side after noticing my injuries.
「Eric! Are you alright?!」
「Hah, hah, I’m fine. Thanks, Tina」
I thought I would be swallowed by the flames, so I felt somewhat relieved, as the tension just now was calmed by Tina’s protection. Although this might also be the relief from seeing Tina being alright.
「Tina, how’s the old man?」
「He’s healed. But his life is still in danger, so I left him behind」
「Really? That’s great. As expected of big sister Tina」
Sure enough, leaving father to her is the right choice. Tina also smiled slightly, but when she saw the person standing in front of us, she showed a nervous expression again.
「You’re… the girl just now? The magic, is it yours?」
「……」
Tina did not answer. She knows awfully well that the opponent in front was the one who gravely injured my father, as she stood beside me with fear.
However, even if she did not answer, Felix would still know.
Tina’s magic is very strong. The magic that was released instantly to protect me countered the magic that Felix had spent time accumulating mana to cast.
Although the chance of me winning this demon is close to a miracle, but with Tina, this chance would increase several folds, or even dozens of times. If we can use that magic, we’re practically guaranteed to win!
「Tina… Can you still use magic?」
「Yes, of course!」
Tina didn’t look tired, and answered energetically. She just used magic to heal my father who was gravely injured by this demon, and again to save me from the flames, yet she still looks so relaxed.
「You… Such a dangerous woman…!」
After hearing our conversation, he must have realized how Tina can continously use her magic.
「Tina, the wind magic we practiced before, can you use it?」
「Eh, the ones we failed last time?」
「Yes, that’s right」
It’s a magic the two of us tried some time ago. It’s very hard to use, it failed and I got injured. After that, Tina refused to do it anymore, and so we stopped trying.
However, it will be difficult to beat Felix without that magic.
「I know it’s hard, and that you don’t want to hurt me. But we can’t beat that guy without it」
「Eric……」
「It’s okay, I know you’ve grown more than ever before. I trust you, so please trust me as well」
「……Hmm, alright!」
Tina nodded with her determined eyes.
To protect Tina, I stared at Felix, closely observing his every move.
「How long does it take to cast the magic?」
「I’ll need time to accumulate energy, so.. around 10 seconds!」
Hey now, that can’t be it right, Tina…
「…That’s nothing! Let’s start now!」
「Ok!」
As she replied, Tina shut her eyes and began to accumulate magic. In just a second, Tina has surpassed the magic power of the 『Brave Heat』I casted earlier. At two seconds, the power has surpassed Felix’s『Flame Wave』.
「Uhh, you there, stop right now!」
Felix starts to feel anxious with Tina’s increasing magic power, and jumped towards her.
「I won’t stand by and watch!」
I broke into his path and pulled away his blade swung with brute force to prevent Tina from getting hurt.
「Eh……!」
If Tina is alone, she will never defeat Felix. He can reach her in less than a second, and it’ll be over with just a swing of his blade.
However, not on my watch.
「It’s only a few seconds, just play with me for a bit」
「You.. little shit!」
Felix looked at me as if looking at an undead. How rude, I’m just a human after all.
──A human that has returned from the past in order to protect everything.
He continuously swing his powerful blade recklessly, but these kind of attacks will never reach me. As I was guarding and evading all his attacks, I heard from Tina.
「Eric! It’s ready!」
「Good, just use it on me!」
As those words are spoken, I immediately kept a distance between Felix and myself. He has no idea what Tina was going to do, so he also did not brashly attack me.
「Go on, Eric!」
Tina shouted behind me, flattening her hands and chanting the magic spell.
「──『Brave Storm』!」
From behind me, a gust of wind blew slightly and quietly…
──At the same time, my body was surrounded by a whirlwind.
My hair stood up, and my body becomes unnaturally light with a momentary feeling of float.
This is a wind attribute intermediate magic. It’s the wind attribute version of 『Brave Heat』that I used earlier.
However, simply with a different caster, the power and effects are completely different.
Even with all my strength, my flame can only barely surround my sword. On the contrary, Tina’s magic can make the whirlwind surround my entire person.
Aish, she hasn’t the bit of confidence before. But now, she has become the most reliable existence!
「Thanks, Tina」
Maybe Tina was also tired from using her magic, as she’s panting heavily.
「Huff…… Good luck! Eric」
With Tina’s support, I faced Felix head on.
「Well then, I’m all ready now, Felix」
He looked at the whirlwind surrounding me, as a cold sweat trickle down.
「Guhh! Don’t underestimate me, you asshole!」
Felix kicked and rushed towards me… but
「──Too slow」
「What?!」
In a blink, I’m within Felix’s reach.
I immediately swung my sword, Felix was barely able to avoid my attacks compared to before.
My sword did not simply pierce the ground, instead, it split the ground into two. The distance of the split is around 10 meters.
Tina’s wind magic was able to extend the range of my sword to this extent, even the sharpness of the blade is strengthened to the point that cutting apart the ground is like cutting butter.
「Can’t believe you managed to evade this, Felix. Or is it my error?」
Wind magic has made my speed much too fast, to the point that I can’t control my speed well. To think that my sword skills deteriorated to this level, seems like I still have ways to go.
「You piece of shit! Don’t you dare look down on me!」
While yelling, Felix approached me swinging his long blade. If it was before, I’d take advantage of the situation to block the attack, but this time I chose to confront it directly.
As our blades clashed, he noticed that I handled it differently from before. Before, I would be severely knocked back due to having weaker power, however, this time it’s different.
「Well!」
「I think it’s wrong to fight like this. Do you really think you can win with pure strength?」
This wind magic does not really increase one’s strength much. However, no matter how much of a strength one’s have, it’ll be completely negated by the whirlwind.
The whirlwind spins at high speed and wraps around my sword. The power is condensed and attached to my sword, even him can’t take the attack directly.
After I put my strength into the blade, Felix was unable to resist it at all and lost his balance.
「Shit──!」
──I’m not that weak to miss this chance
I successfully utilized wind magic to speed up several folds and cut him down.
After the cut, Felix’s upper and lower body separated into half and fell to the ground.
「Hah, hah……」
Trying not to be careless, I went to check up on him.
「Cough……Ah-hah，I lost huh……」
Even with his body cut into half, Felix was still very much alive. He coughed out some blood and said pitifully with regrets.
「Still alive?」
「After all, we demon race.. are very ..tenacious」
「Like cockroaches」
「Arghh…… No matter what, I am a gone case」
Felix seemed to be in extreme pain, even his speech was intermittent.
「It was..just a.. little bit more.. with this kingdom destroyed, I’ll.. become king.. and she’ll ..be mine」
Felix could not speak fluently, but for some reason, he’s smiling innocently.
「As a dying gift, I’ll just tell you this, even if you become a king, she will never ever be yours」
「How would you kno.. If you’re not the king.. you won’t.. know for sure」
Felix answered with a smile.
「Forget it, being defeated by someone stronger is just what I desired. For the first time since I was born, I enjoyed the fight」
「Is that so, good then」
「However, if that woman never showed up, I will definitely win… It’s not that I’m a sore loser, but it’s a fact」
I can’t deny what he said. Indeed, if Tina did not show up as she did, I would’ve definitely lost back then.
「In the end, having a woman… No.. having a partner makes all the difference huh… I have never… been blessed with any peers」
As the man spoke, he showed a nostalgic smile and an unwilling expression.
「Ahー……Finally it, comes……」
A ton of blood spilled from his body as Felix was talking, and he was dying.
「Good bye, Eric……I’m very happy, with this final battle──」
Felix smiled at me… and then closed his eyes. He smiled wickedly until the very end.
「Eric……?」
Tina said to me as she watched me witnessing Felix’s death.
「Is it.. over? Eric, are you okay?」
Tina approached cautiously, as I turned around and looked at her face.
Were you worried about me, making such a concerning face.
I am a little scared. Even though the opponent wanted to slaughter us all, I still committed murder in front of Tina. I might even be rejected by her. But this can’t be helped, no matter what excuses, I still killed someone.
But… I don’t see any of those feelings from the Tina in front of me, she was simply worried about me.
As I was feeling relieved from this, the tension and fatigue of the battle swept all over me, and I just fell on my face.
「Eric!」
Tina hugged and supported me back up.
I think that the Tina that is always calling my name and worried about me, is very cute, and want to entrust myself to her warm embrace.
「Tina──Thank you」
As I was whispering in Tina’s ears, I lost my consciousness──
Translator’s Note
Whew! This is a long one, I can see why they stopped right before this chapter… Let me know in the comments if there’s any error!
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