My Beloved Princess ~The Boy Called Incompetent Rises with Only a Sword and the Princess's Devotion~ - Chapter 026: The Serial Killer Reveals Her True Form

“I don’t think words will get through. So show through actions.”

That day at the fountain plaza, Ōka, who’d told her everything, had advised her.

Kuroyō was inarticulate from the start. Rather than persuading with words, demonstrating through putting herself on the line how capable she was and what an asset she could be to the pack—that suited her nature better. Though it was an interpretation slightly misaligned with Ōka’s intent, Kuroyō simply executed it earnestly.

She’d wanted to appeal that she could support Kishō with diverse magic.

She’d wanted him to know she was a woman who put the pack first and could devote herself to her master.

She’d wanted to convey even a little of this emotion called “love” she’d felt for the first time in her life.

Requesting body contact herself—such an embarrassing act was a very courageous decision for her as a Princess, but apparently even that wasn’t being conveyed well.

The survival in the Beast King Forest—her impression after finishing the third day was “spinning my wheels.”

Kuroyō had the practical sense that she wasn’t appealing well, but didn’t know how to improve. She was anxious inwardly.

At such a time—

A serial killer holding her breath, still smiling, approached seeking a handshake.

Kuroyō acted to protect the pack.

She’d constantly kept watch on Alice’s actions and always paid attention so no one was left alone with Alice. Ōka seemed to have misunderstood she was jealous, but Kuroyō, who’d been taught since childhood that “jealousy is evil that disrupts the pack’s unity,” wouldn’t get jealous over something of that degree. And the reason she couldn’t use Thousand-Mile Eye was because the threat called Alice was nearby. If she separated her consciousness before a serial killer, there was no telling what might happen in the meantime. It was too dangerous.

Everything was in action to protect Kishō and Ōka’s safety.

“I disliked you from the start. Those eyes too. Even if you smile cheerfully, you can’t completely hide the murderous intent burning in the depths of your eyes—that light characteristic of serial killers!”

Navy blue [Sword Aura] roared.

Stepping in deeply, she swung down the practice sword’s flash.

There was not a trace of hesitation. She was educated to eliminate threats to the pack.

But that certain-kill strike—

“Oh my. How frightening.”

Lightly.

Alice’s body flowed backward with jumping power unthinkable for a human.

The practice sword’s point vainly cut through empty air.

“Even your speech pattern’s changed. You fraud.”

At the follow-up strike with the returning blade, silver flashed gleaming in the night darkness again.

The struck practice sword was strongly deflected, and numbness ran through her hand.

“Ahahaha. Only dragonkin can use [Sword Aura]—that’s your common sense, isn’t it?”

Before she knew it, Alice’s right hand gripped not a silver knife but a silver rapier. And on that silver-glowing blade dwelled faint green [Sword Aura]. Kuroyō distorted that beautiful face.

“Alchemy. Troublesome.”

Alchemy—the secret art of converting certain specific substances into completely different substances.

For example, it was possible to gather and convert microscopic substances from the atmosphere to create a silver rapier. Furthermore, if [Sword Aura] was added, combat power would skyrocket.

From what she could see, the [Sword Aura] refinement itself was far inferior to Kuroyō’s. But the total energy amount of the immature [Sword Aura] unified with silver exceeded that of the practice sword Kuroyō wielded. Because strike power was determined by [Ki refinement × weapon quality].

Alice leaped lightly.

Drawing green residue through the night sky, consecutive sharp thrusts were driven in.

“Guh…”

Completely on the defensive. It reminded her of the duel with Kishō.

If there was a difference, it was that Kuroyō’s weapon was a practice sword, and that Alice’s swordsmanship was unexpectedly built on properly accumulated training.

Being thrust-focused made attacks easy to read, but conversely, sword strikes evolved specialized in thrusting weren’t easy to defend against either.

“Ahahahaha. Is this all you have? Dragonkin Princess-sama!”

One silver flash driven in flexibly had its blade leap upward midway, skillfully avoiding the practice sword raised to intercept, and closed in on Kuroyō’s nose.

The instant Kuroyō thought she was done for, a figure interposed—visible at the edge of her vision.

—CLANG!

A strike like a practice sword erupting from below was driven in, and the rapier was knocked straight up. Immediately sensing disadvantage, Alice leaped lightly backward to take distance. The interposing shadow—recognizing that profile, Kuroyō’s heart jumped.

“Kishō!”

“Hey, just confirming, but that one’s an enemy, right?”

“Yes. Our enemy.”

“Got it. I’m going for the kill.”

Tremendous [Sword Aura] waves surged up from within Kishō. Even bearing the handicap of a practice sword, that refinement was several levels above Alice’s. Entranced by that reliable back, Kuroyō seriously almost forgot she was in combat for a moment.

Kishō kicked off the ground and charged at Alice.

“W-wait. What are you? This [Sword Aura] is abnormal.”

Dodging the [Sword Aura] strikes attacking like a tsunami with backsteps, Alice raised a voice close to a scream. No wonder she was surprised. Packed in there was power enough to make Kuroyō, who hadn’t known love, fall in love at first sight.

If they crossed swords, the slender rapier would likely be severed in one stroke. Perhaps understanding that, Alice didn’t cross swords, focusing on evasion and running around. Reading that trajectory and circling to sandwich her, Kuroyō also poured on supporting strikes.

“!? Two against one—have you no shame!?”

“Don’t know about that. Not a duel anyway—no need for restraint against a serial killer.”

Eliminate enemies swiftly. No sympathy or pity needed. It would be too late after human casualties occurred.

That was the responsibility of one who led a pack.

Dodge Kishō’s attacks, receive Kuroyō’s attacks with the rapier—that was Alice’s adopted response, and as such was the correct choice. But there was no way defense could keep up indefinitely against wave attacks unleashed by the first and second places in swordsmanship across all grades including Upper School. Cornered, Alice leaped about three meters into the air.

“Foolish. To escape into the air where you can’t move freely.”

She adjusted positions with Kishō via eye contact to sandwich the landing point front and rear.

But at the timing when free fall should begin, Alice’s body leaped another level in midair.

Running through the air as if kicking an invisible floor.

“I won’t let you escape! Restrain—[Dark Chain Binding]!”

A black hole-like shadow connecting to another dimension floated in midair. Countless black chains were shot from the two-dimensional shadow. Closing straight on Alice.

“Agh, geez! How annoying. Distance that one—[Gravity Control]!”

Alice deployed an invisible gravity field. The vigorously shot chains were blocked by an invisible wall and lost speed. Losing effectiveness, the chains vanished in midair. But—

“Don’t just look down. Your overhead’s wide open.”

“——————!?”

Dragonkin jumping power easily exceeded ten meters in vertical leaps.

Kishō, who’d leaped filling the night sky, swung his practice sword as if slamming down from above.

“Become shields protecting me—[Magic Barrier]!”

Five-layered magic barriers were deployed in succession.

He smashed through all of them like breaking tiles. Alice barely managed to interpose rapier defense against that strike with reduced power.

A tremendous impact shaking the atmosphere.

Alice’s small body was violently slammed to the ground.

She didn’t wait for her to stand. Kuroyō fiercely pursued.

But having such strength from somewhere, Alice used both hands on the ground as springs to raise her upper body, then took a rapier-wielding interception stance.

Kuroyō smiled—a smirk.

Activating chantless magic—by complicating the magic formula constructed in the brain, verbal chanting could be omitted. A shadow about two meters in diameter appeared at Alice’s feet. From the black like a gaping hole, many jet-black chains were shot. Writhing like snakes and drawing irregular trajectories, they wrapped around Alice’s limbs, completely restraining her.

“It’s over. Regret your sins and die.”

A strike swung horizontally bisected Alice’s torso. Furthermore, landing from midair, Kishō swung down his practice sword on her head. Alice’s body was severed in a cross.

“Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

Leaving an ugly death cry, Alice’s body became black mist and exploded on the spot.

“Did we get her?”

Feeling discomfort in the response, Kuroyō muttered quietly.

Ōka, who hadn’t participated in combat, was gazing at where Alice had vanished with a complex expression.

Cracking his neck bones, Kishō responded.

“No, that’d obviously kill anyone. Though that thing wasn’t human.”

“But—”

That first strike bothered her—the strike that had definitely captured Alice had ended as a dud. There’d been no response then either. If she hadn’t misperceived, black something had accompanied the cut surface. Just like the black mist when Alice had exploded just now.

When Kuroyō tried to voice that question, Kishō made a “Shh” gesture raising his index finger. She hadn’t noticed until now because she’d been thinking.

“This is—”

Detecting minute vibrations in the ground. The shaking gradually grew larger, and one beat late, a rumbling “gogogo” reached her ears. Not a large enough shake to call an earthquake. But the rumbling’s magnitude didn’t match that vibration.

“—What is it?”

The vibration and rumbling grew larger and larger. Kuroyō had a bad feeling. Lowering her hips, she took battle stance. Something was approaching.

“Hey, something’s bad. Be careful.”

At the same time Kishō issued the warning, something flew in from the sky.

—THUD!

What stabbed in vertically at a position slightly away from camp was a tree broken from the belly part near the roots. Ōka showed agitation before it stuck like a grave marker. Looking left and right, she looked around restlessly.

“Huh? Huh? What what what what!?”

No wonder she was confused. Kuroyō didn’t understand the situation either.

Was Alice actually alive and attacking from somewhere?

Or perhaps an attack by magical beasts?

But even so, the aim was quite off. The impression of being thrown carelessly was stronger.

Using Thousand-Mile Eye was possible, but using it in this situation carried great danger. That was a formula that separated viewpoint and consciousness to create a god’s eye view looking down from above, so she’d be completely defenseless during activation.

And then—

—Crack crack crack crack. Crunch, scrape scrape scrape.

The sound quality changed. As if mowing down trees and rocks that were obstacles and forcibly pushing through. And with massive mass too.

“Kishō! I’ll leave Ōka to you. I’ll respond.”

“Got it.”

“Huh? Wait, whoa!?”

Kishō charged straight at Ōka without hesitation and lifted her small body. Simultaneously, the forest ahead exploded. Literally—trees blew away explosively. Fragments of trees large and small attacked.

Kuroyō had leaped high. Even for women, dragonkin jumping power easily exceeded ten meters. The violence of giant trees passed beneath her feet.

In midair.

Kuroyō aimed with her palm at the still-fresh cloud of dirt and released breath.

“Begone—[Curse Erosion]!”

Dark waves shot from her palm charged straight into the dirt cloud. But—

“——!?”

At an angle different from the firing angle of Kuroyō’s breath, the dark wave was deflected and vanished as if sucked into the sea of stars in the night sky.

“Impossible. It deflected? Then this—[Guillotine of Cruelty]!”

A giant guillotine blade appeared in midair. The massive iron blade began free fall. The blade’s fall into the dirt cloud and Kuroyō’s landing were almost simultaneous. Several moments late, Kishō holding Ōka also landed. Immediately after—

—Screech screech screech, CLANG!

An unpleasant sound of scraping metal echoed through the night forest. It was definitely a direct hit. But Kuroyō didn’t let down her guard. She hadn’t felt impact, and had felt the sensation of magic being broken.

The dirt cloud cleared. Its sharp-angled form shining seven ways in moonlight—that entire form gradually became clear. Hexagonal mirror surfaces connected at angles, creating a horizontally wide elliptical hemisphere. From the hemisphere extended flat, dull limbs, and from the hemisphere’s center protruded a scale-covered head. Witnessing that shape, someone voiced a most reasonable question.

“Why is a turtle in the forest?”