FLAMES OF DESTRUCTION (IX)

Xia held tightly onto her greatsword as she felt a ma.s.sive pushback force slam into her chest, propelling her backward a great deal. She gritted her teeth and burned through Qi to halt the momentum, rapidly throwing herself back. Unlike most others, she was engaged in a one-versus-one duel, yet was still falling short. This was despite Lord Empyrean's best efforts to aid her in the past year to become as strong as possible. In her heart she felt she was failing his expectations of her, dragging the rest down as she even required occasional a.s.sistance as to not completely crumble over.

Her opponent was a similarly-armed man seemingly in his forties, slightly on the handsome side, wearing rather ordinary-looking plate armor. In his hands, he held a greatsword that was even larger than hers, yet he wielded it with such prowess and nimbleness that he managed to attack twice as frequently as she could. Part of her had already realized that the man wasn't even trying to kill her; for one reason or another, he simply kept pus.h.i.+ng her away and observing the rest of the battlefield.

"… is it fun?!" she asked, though quickly remembering it was pointless as he wasn't from Noterra. There was no way he would understand her.

"Is what fun?" the man, surprisingly, replied, and no less in Noterra's Common Tongue. Briefly shocked, she recovered and stared carefully at him; is he a traitor?!

"…" noticing her gaze, Alan smiled bitterly and sighed. Why did I get stuck babysitting this kid?! Though he complained inwardly, it was actually a perfect position for him; he had no desire to throw himself into an impossible battle like Jonttar or even Lira, both of whom were fighting at their full capacity, yet still failing to gain any ground on their opponents. This reality had shocked Alan greatly; the numerical advantage they possessed was beyond being ridiculous, yet they were still being held back greatly.

Granted, a large portion of it was due to the single person floating in the far distance; Alan wagered that even if half of them attacked in concert, they'd still fail to defeat her. Right now, all they were doing was occupying her and feigning deaths in order to buy some time and try and exhaust her.

"Oi, stop looking at me like that," Alan finally couldn't endure the strange woman's even stranger gaze, feeling jittery all over his skin. "I can cleave a planet in two with my sword, so why the h.e.l.l shouldn't I be able to pick up on a language within a few minutes?!"

"… oh!" she exclaimed in understanding as tears began streaming down Alan's cheeks. It seemed that no matter the corner of the universe, humans still remained ever the same. "Why are you toying with me, then?" she asked a moment later.

"Shouldn't you be grateful?" Alan shrugged. "You can claim to have partic.i.p.ated in the battle without ever being in danger of dying."

"Huh? What bulls.h.i.+t is that?" the woman spewed back, anger visible on her face. "You are invading my home! I don't want to slide along the edge and 'survive'!"

"…" Alan sighed once again, slightly reminded of countless others that had the same fire in their eyes. He envied them, slightly, that ability to latch onto something with such fervent pa.s.sion it blinds them. "I don't want to diminish your intentions," he said, smiling faintly. "But, if I'm being honest, you'd be able to fight only the weakest of those from my end. And, even then, chances of you winning are slim. Part of the reason why I'm not fighting you seriously is indeed that I simply don't want, but another part is that I'd most likely be blown up into pieces if I do."

"… hm?" the woman looked at him quizzically. Ah, Alan realized, she's one of those types that sees nothing outside the immediate battle…

"Well, it doesn't seem as though this battle will end any time soon," he shrugged, turning his attention back to her and lifting up his greatsword – with a single arm – pointing it at her. "For the next ten minutes, become a sponge."

"…huh?!"

"Rather than digging into your mind, trying to find ways to kill me, focus on how I battle; learn from me. However much you can absorb within ten minutes, well, that's up to you, isn't it?"

"…" Xia stood entirely confounded, staring at the strange man in front of her. All of a sudden, he declared he was going to teach her how to fight. Part of her felt shame, another part confusion, and yet another a faint sense of excitement. She was hardly proud enough to ignore the good grace; at the very least, if she's not fighting out there, she's tying him up… kind of. "Fine!" she exclaimed, entering a battle stance. "I'll learn all your techniques and then use them to kill you!"

"…" Alan felt an incoming headache, quickly shoving it back. Ah, I'm really no good with people…

**

Alison spun in a full circle, slas.h.i.+ng upward with her blade held in a reverse grip, parrying an overhead strike aimed at her neck. Using the s.h.i.+fting momentum, she spun back around and used the blade as she would a dagger to swiftly stab it toward the man's abdomen; the latter quickly responded, thrusting the sword down and blocking it. A momentary lockdown ensued as their eyes met – the man's playful expression had long since vanished, instead replaced by a serious one. However, the gleam in his eyes was rather strange, Alison realized.

"… Tier 2?" the man mumbled strange words, causing her to furrow her brows.

"What?" Alison asked, taking the moment's respite to catch a breath.

"How would you rank yourself amongst your friends?"

"… that's a rather sloppy way to buy time, isn't it?" she asked back instead of replying.

"You're clearly not the strongest," the man ignored her, continuing as though he was talking to himself. "Both that nutty woman over there setting the entire cosmos on fire, as well as that nuttier thing moving in shadows and killing like it's n.o.body's business, are clearly stronger than you. f.u.c.kin' h.e.l.l… aren't you people supposed to be a newly-born world? What the h.e.l.l is this s.h.i.+t?"

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"…" Alison grew slightly confused but still kept her attention sharp. For all she knew, this was a ploy set up by the man to make her lower her guard. "Should you really be saying that? I was confident I'd be able to run amok, yet here I am, being tied up by a single, ugly creature."

"… oi, isn't that a bit uncalled for?" the man finally looked at her, sporting a pained expression. "I know I'm not the handsomest lad ever, but I n.o.body ever said I was ugly…"

"Bah, I'd avoid even vomiting on you…" Alison said, crying inside; this was a 'tactic' that Lucky taught her for when she was facing a strong opponent. She still clearly remembered Lucky's words as she was 'teaching' her – 'if you can't smack 'em with a sword, use your tongue! Lash out like a frog and let 'em have it!'

"… that was genuinely the most hurtful thing I've ever heard in my life…" the man seemed to be on the verge of tears, causing Alison's faint façade to immediately crack.

"I'm sorry! I really didn't mean it!" Alison quickly cried out, for some reason comforting her enemy. "You—you really are handsome! I love your eyes! And you're clearly not a bad man! You could have not fought me, but instead, you chose to jump in to save your friends! How can someone like that be ugly?!"

"…" Jonttar pulled back slightly, his mind a trickle of confusion. He was simply playing along, yet the strange woman in front of him took him seriously and was now ascribing him attributes he certainly did not have. Jumped in to save them? He questioned. I just… I just wanted to test your strength, though…

"Ah, you're still in shock!" the woman cried out once again. "I am truly sorry! I listened to stupid advice and I inadvertently hurt you…" Shouldn't that be your main goal, though?! "I am thoroughly ashamed of myself. I should have never listened to that vile wife of mine…" Wife?

"Wife?!" Jonttar exclaimed, his eyes suddenly turning star-eyed, startling Alison who pulled back from their lockdown.

"W-what?" Alison asked warily.

"Alright, I've decided."

"… huh?"

"I'll join you guys." Jonttar said, puffing his chest out in pride. Unknowingly, in front of this strange woman, he had reverted back to his childish personality that he had spent countless eons trying to cull.

"… what now?" Alison questioned, certain she had heard him wrong.

"I said I'll join you," Jonttar replied. "You're super-powerful, so are your friends, and that dude fighting up there… f.u.c.k, I nearly p.i.s.sed my pants when that blade thingy got spat out. Sheesh, can you imagine the absolute h.e.l.l they're causing over there? Anyway, you said you have a wife? Are marriages between women common on your world?"

"… h-huh? Ah? What?" Alison was barraged by a continuous extension of confusion, unable to wrap her mind around what was happening.

"Ah, no, don't tell me!" Jonttar shook his head. "I like surprises! Hoho, I can already imagine it… ha ha ha ha…" Why… why is he suddenly laughing like a madman?! "No wonder you jumped in like that into the heart of your enemy's force! Your wife was in danger! Aah, tell me, is there anything more beautiful than the purest of loves between two women? No, there certainly isn't! Plus, both of you are insanely strong! Honestly, it gives me s.h.i.+vers… aah, I'm so thankful I can finally stop fighting you. My poor life would have been in danger if we continued… ah, no, it's still gonna be in danger 'cause now I have to fight hundreds of people instead of one. Ah, no matter, no matter. You can count on me—uh, what's your name?"

"… Alison."

"You can count on me, Ally!" he quickly a.s.signed her a nickname as though the two had been friends for years instead of having just fought with their lives on the line. "I'll protect the purity of women's love—I mean, I'll protect your homeworld! Of course, in concert with your friends. Ho ho, if I was strong to kill all of them, ho ho, would I be here? Ho ho…" … I knew it, Alison thought, on the verge of crying. I've picked up Lino's halo! I'm attracting weirdos now as well! Why me?!! Little did she know, it was not Lino's halo…