Chapter 81: Nightmare Vestige
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The Elemental Beast Spirits that everyone had been fighting suddenly exploded out of existence as if they had never been there at all, leaving the entire group completely flabbergasted.
“I-It’s over…!” Reinhardt almost passed out from exhaustion, collapsing onto the floor with a heavy groan. “Ugh…”
“T-That was amazing…!” Hikari said in awe, staring at Elizabeth as she stood over the monster’s corpse. The bright light from her sword still lingered even after it had disappeared, making her truly resemble the rising sun. “She’s the one…! She’s the Sword Sister I’ve been looking for!”
“So she’s both a sorceress that wields Light and Darkness, and a fine swordswoman as well?!” asked Borfus with wide eyes. “Bwahahaha! That’s some noble family pedigree for you! Where did she even come from?”
“She’s too young as well. Just imagine how great she will become once she grows up!” Hikari smiled brightly, her excitement clear.
“Hah, right. I forgot you people from Zipangu are obsessed with swords,” laughed Borfus. “What do you think of him? He was surprisingly leading the whole team! Nicely done, brat!”
“E-Eh? ME?!” Reinhardt gasped, looking at them in pure disbelief. “I-I was doing that?” He had not even realized he had slain many of the spirits himself. His sword glowed mysteriously afterward, retaining some of their blood and elemental power that now resonated with his elven lineage. “I feel stronger somehow…”
Thanks to the star shining above him, he was growing and evolving rapidly, awakening more of his full potential with each battle. Right now, Reinhardt, a rebellious half-elf punk, was slowly beginning to find his true calling.
“You were great,” Archivald said with a nod. “You didn’t make me think you would be such a strong leader, though, judging by the first impressions.”
“A-Ah… what?!” Reinhardt screamed, his face turning red. “I am NOT a leader! Okay?! I am just… it’s that brat’s fault. She put a weird spell on me!”
“Hahaha! What kind of spell would give you talent?” laughed the dwarf. “Well, it’s hard for me to admit it anyway, but you’re fine with the blade. Though you could try using another technique…”
“It’s all I could keep in my head,” sighed Reinhardt. “The First Swordsmanship Technique my mother taught me… I actually have no talent for my family’s knight swordsmanship. My body just couldn’t harness enough Aura for that, let alone Spirit Energy. I don’t even have a Spirit Familiar yet, and that’s like a normal thing every elf has. Some are even born with them…”
“Oh well, aren’t you a little pathetic? Maybe I shouldn’t have even looked in your direction,” sighed Hikari with a teasing tone.
“Hah?! Who the hell do you think you are, damn Oni brat?!” Reinhardt roared back, quickly reverting to his usual punkish attitude. It was going to be hard for him to leave that behind.
“U-um, shouldn’t we be worried about Elizabeth?!” the ghostly girl asked with concern. “Is she alright? How is she doing?!”
“She’s fine, just standing there,” said Archivald calmly.
“I’ll go see her,” Hikari decided, walking toward Elizabeth.
Hearing everyone talking and conversing about what had just happened, Elizabeth smiled lightly and sighed in relief.
It had been a rougher fight than she imagined. Holding back her dragon powers had definitely been an interesting handicap.
“Master Elizabeth, this is too much. I should’ve helped you…!” Vlad spoke from within her shadows, his voice filled with guilt.
“There’s nothing to worry about. I can still take care of myself even when hiding my dra—”
“Elizabeth!”
Elizabeth gasped and covered her mouth as she heard Hikari approaching.
“H-Hikari! Heyy…” Elizabeth muttered awkwardly. “What’s up.”
“You look strange. Are you tired?” asked Hikari with a worried look. “A lot has happened, huh? But we triumphed in the end, and that’s what matters!”
“I-Indeed! Yeah!” Elizabeth nodded quickly. “Totally. You didn’t hear anything, right?”
“…? What?” asked Hikari, tilting her head in confusion.
Elizabeth sighed in relief internally and wiped the sweat from her forehead.
“N-Nothing! So anyway— ah!” Elizabeth’s eyes widened in sudden realization. “Fuck! Right, that Chimera was summoned by that damn Elf. Just what’s wrong with that guy anyway— Huh?!”
As she looked up to where the Elf stood, she noticed he was confronting the guild master herself. Their auras clashed violently as Camilla looked surprised by something emerging from within him.
BA-DUM!
BA-DUM!
BA-DUM!
Her eyes widened further as she felt something dark within the elf beginning to “blossom.” Hikari stood by her side and felt the same strange, unsettling sensation.
“Elizabeth, what’s going on? That elf’s…!” she muttered in alarm.
“This is bad!” Elizabeth said urgently, kicking the ground and running as fast as she could.
“Elizabeth?!” Hikari panicked and quickly began chasing after her from behind.
As she ran toward the large windows in the distance and leaped to shatter them, Elizabeth’s Nightmare Spirits, which had been mostly dormant while sleeping, woke up instantly.
“Elizabeth! I can feel it! There’s a Nightmare Vestige nearby!” said Mongrel, appearing by her side with his tentacles wiggling restlessly.
His sudden appearance surprised Hikari, but she remained silent for the moment.
“Are you kidding me?!” Elizabeth was shocked. “After over a year since then… they’re back, and in here?” Worry filled her voice, showing Hikari that something serious was happening that she was not fully aware of.
Then a second creature emerged. This one resembled a small black sapling rising from a giant coconut-sized seed.
“I can feel it. It’s inside of that blue-skinned man,” said Dryad, her eyes narrowing sharply. “If we can butcher that power and consume it, it could be good enough for us to evolve…!”
As she spoke, she released a strange psychic energy from her body, leaving Hikari even more perplexed.
“Incredible… does Elizabeth have two powerful Dark Spirits with her? Or are they Chaos Spirits?” she wondered silently. “I remember my big brother was an Onmyōji and had contracted a Chaos Spirit claiming to be one of the heads of Yamata-no-Orochi… is this the same? Maybe that would explain her power!” She assumed wrongly, but the misunderstanding worked in Elizabeth’s favor, even though the girl did not know it yet.
Hearing Dryad’s words, Elizabeth grew a little annoyed. “Wait, you’re thinking about that when we’re all in danger?” Elizabeth sighed and facepalmed. “Well, you’re a Nightmare. What else should I have expected?”
[Master Elizabeth! I can detect it. There’s more than one Nightmare signature!]
Astraea’s voice quickly alerted her as she leaped toward the glass window and shattered it with her fist.
CRAAASH!
She saw the elf radiating nightmare energy, his eyes growing redder by the second. Camilla coughed blood and fell to her knees. Despite her strength, she had never been prepared for something like this.
“What?! There’s a second?!” Elizabeth asked in shock, running toward Alfrion as fast as she could and leaping over the seats.
Then her eyes widened as she looked down at the corpse of the Spirit Beast Chimera. From its two halves, black tentacles and glowing red eyes emerged everywhere, wiggling and drooling hungrily.
“That thing had a Nightmare Fragment inside. Once it died, it triggered an evolution…!” Dryad detected and analyzed it almost instantly. “It seems that it has mutated into a Nightmare Beast!”
Elizabeth clenched her teeth and screamed.
“Damn it! Come out, Paragon!”
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