Chapter 5 : Vengeance Upon this Thief!

Part 1

As expected, we were a hungover mess the next day. The hangover lasted until we had a late lunch. The maids wisely brought in lots of hearty foods with carbs and fats.

After eating a whole chicken pot pie, I felt rejuvenated.

"So, what are we going to do for the rest of the day?"

Revi asked, as he munched on a fried toad sandwich.

"...I want to try and look for Sonia."

"Ah, right. You said she'll most likely still be in the city since it's hard to leave without being detected, right? Aren't your people already looking for her? Just leave it to that white-suit lady and let's, you know, erm… Enjoy some free time…?"

It wasn't hard to tell what he was hinting at. He was shifting his eyes around while not-so-subtly asking me out on a date. It's kinda cute.

"I appreciate the offer, but I can't just play while knowing that I can help in capturing her. Don't you all want to settle the score with that thief?"

"The Devil also wants revenge! No one can make a fool of the Devil and get away with it!"

As expected, Komekko-chan was all fired up about the possibility of a revenge match. She was trying to look like she was mad about her defeat, but she seemed pretty excited about the whole 'revenge' premise. Her Crimson Demon side was showing itself.

"I realize that I have a whole aspect dedicated to vengeance, but that's precisely why I advise against getting obsessed with it, child."

Regina-sama sipped some tea while glancing at me. It was hard to disagree with someone who had a lot of life experience like Regina-sama, but I firmly responded,

"...Someone once told me that being young is all about making mistakes, even if you know what the right thing to do is. Otherwise, I'll never be able to properly grow up."

"Whoever that someone is, they're pretty wise, fufu…"

Regina-sama giggled and didn't say anything else about the matter. I guess I could take that as her blessing for me to go through with this.

"I don't want to get into a situation where everyone might get hurt, but if it comes to that, I will do my best to protect everyone."

Rori-sama was reliable as always. She really was the heart and soul of our party.

After finishing up our meal, we dressed up in our adventuring gear and headed out.

Rain and Claire were out looking for Sonia as well. There were only a few staff who tried to stop me after they figured out what I was trying to do, but they didn't have the authority to stop me like Rain and Claire did.

I felt bad since they were only looking out for my safety, but I was dead set in getting my sword back.

We walked into the busy streets of the capital, keeping an eye out on suspicious activity. The streets were filled with people going about their day. All the stores and stalls were open and doing their best to attract customers.

There was a sense of uneasiness, however, since there were more guards out on patrol than usual, although the people didn't know why. The fact that Calibur had been stolen was kept a secret, although there were bound to be rumors eventually.

"If I was a sexy female thief, where would I be hiding… Wait, Sonia worked undercover in the bathhouse. Maybe we should go again?! This time, with all of us…!"

Revi said, already losing sight of the goal as he lost himself in his erotic fantasies.

"Why would she go back there when we know that's where she'll be? Besides, Claire already told me that they investigated the bath house just in case."

After shutting Revi down, Komekko-chan was the next to speak up.

"The Devil thinks Revi has the right idea, though. If we're a thief on the run, and we can't leave the city through the gates, where would we go?"

"There's lots of ways she can leave the city undetected. The capital isn't perfect, there's all kinds of hidden crime syndicates and black markets that offer their services to shady folk. Smuggling is one of their main operations. I'm sure she can bypass the security in the gates if she pays a good sum to have one of those syndicates smuggle her out."

A lot of those syndicates had close relations with influential nobles and wealthy merchants, although you'd be hard pressed to find evidence of such dealings. Nobles and merchants had an easier time going through security, since the gate guards wouldn't want to offend any influential people with intrusive cargo searches.

"Since a legendary relic has been stolen, I think we can safely assume that security will tighten up even more than before. I don't think that even corrupt guards could be bribed if there's officials looking over their shoulder."

Regina-sama said, as we made our way through the busy crowd. She kept trying to walk on her tippy-toes, since she couldn't see over the bodies surrounding us. I offered to hold her hand, so she wouldn't get lost, but she rejected the offer. That was when Revi picked her up like a lost child and set her on his shoulders. Surprised and blushing, but definitely enjoying it.

Fufufu-

"So are you saying that she'll look for another way to leave the city?"

"It's a possibility, but if one can't leave through the gates, then there's only a few possibilities, isn't there?"

Regina-sama looked like she had an idea. She smirked and pointed down. We directed our gaze to the ground, where she was pointing.

"I had a look at some secret maps in the castle. Apparently, there are hidden tunnels underneath the city that were built during ancient times. They were built for a defensive purpose, to keep inhabitants safe back when Belzerg was divided, and there were constant conflicts. Of course, Iris's family ended up winning the war, fufu."

She tried to distract me from the fact that she was sneaking around the castle and looking at classified files by complimenting my family line.

However, since she got some useful information, I didn't complain about the whole uncovering state secrets thing.

Part 2

We followed Regina-sama to one of the entrances to the tunnel. Apparently, there was a secret trap door behind a statue of King Belzerg, my father, in the National park.

There were many park-goers, kids running around with their parents chasing them, adults relaxing or going on dates. We had to make sure we weren't seen before descending into the tunnels.

We climbed down a ladder consisting of metal handle bars affixed to a wall. I made sure that Revi went last, so he wouldn't be able to peek up our skirts.

For this expedition, we brought some magic items that emitted light. We also brought some magic lighters made by onii-sama, just in case we needed fire.

"Serena should be here."

Regina-sama said, after we all safely climbed down the ladder. She told Serena, her follower, to meet us in the tunnel.

After waiting for a few minutes, we heard footsteps approaching us. Serena appeared, carrying a magic lamp.

"Hello, Regina-sama and everyone."

She smiled, giving each of us a charming smile. Revi looked like he was trying not to check her out like he had before, probably an attempt not to make me jealous.

I admit, I found it kind of sweet. I'd find it even sweeter if he wasn't struggling so hard to pry his eyes away from Serena's figure, though.

"I've already scouted the area ahead. There doesn't seem to be anything dangerous, but…"

"What is it, child?"

"Regina-sama, it seems that we're not alone here."

Serena had us follow her, leading us down the tunnel. It was dusty and dark in the tunnel, and there were abandoned equipment and materials scattered around, rusted and ruined from the passage of time.

After following the route that connected to the entrance, the tunnel split off into three passages. Serena walked up to the second passage, in the middle. She pointed her lamp down and revealed footprints on the dusty ground, multiple ones.

"These tunnels are supposed to be secret, but I thought that a master thief like Sonia would know about them. If she is down here, it seems she's not alone…"

"There's more of them?! M-Maybe there's a Thieves Guild or something underneath the capital?!"

Revi said, raising his voice in shock. His voice echoed into the tunnels.

"Quiet down! This doesn't change anything. As long as there's a good chance that Sonia is here, we should keep going…"

"The Devil doesn't care how many there are. The Devil can take them on!"

Komekko-chan showed her usual confidence as she flexed her arm, patting her bicep.

"One of my abilities as a succubus is night vision. I should be the one leading the front. I can also fly, so I should go a bit ahead in case there's some dangerous traps."

Rori-san volunteered herself to go in front and scout out the area. She manifested her wings and flew on ahead, hovering a few feet above the ground.

"I also have night vision from [Farsight]. I'll follow a few steps behind Rori-san and provide support."

Revi drew his crossbow, loaded a bolt, and followed behind Rori-san.

The rest of us followed behind. Serena and Regina-sama were infiltration specialists, so they constantly looked around for anything suspicious, not leaving any details like cracks on the wall go unnoticed. Regina-sama summoned a couple dolls to walk alongside the walls, testing for traps or vulnerabilities in the structure. We wouldn't want these ancient tunnels to collapse on us.

"You know, doesn't this feel like dungeon crawling? The Devil is kind of excited!"

"Make sure not to use too many flashy spells here, Kome-chan. It could be dangerous for us."

"Sure thing, Rori-san!"

The tunnel stretched on for a while until we came upon a fork. We found footprints again, on the right opening. We headed inside, still being cautious even though we haven't encountered any traps so far.

"Wait a minute, my dolls found something."

Regina-sama told us, pointing to the doll walking along the left wall.

"Is it a trap?"

I asked, after stopping in my tracks.

"Not a trap, but my doll found a used wine bottle. There's still wine inside. It seems like it hasn't been long since this bottle was deposited here."

"I guess someone's been partying."

I picked up the wine bottle, inspecting it. It was a bottle you could find anywhere in the country, nothing that could expose the identities of the mysterious group in the tunnels with us.

As we kept going, along the way, we found another item along the path.

"Is that… soap?"

Revi said, picking up the item. The bar of soap was inside a ribbon wrapped cloth. Revi unravelled the cloth and smelled the soap.

"...That's odd. It doesn't have a perfume smell. It smells kind of buttery? It's more like traditional animal fat soap than those perfumy kinds we use, but even those traditional kinds don't have this kind of savory smell."

"That doesn't really give us too many clues. Let's keep going."

Everyone nodded as I asked them to continue into the tunnels. We kept the soap just in case it turned out to be an important clue.

After a few more minutes of walking, Rori-san and Revi detected light ahead. They signalled for us to stop.

The source of light came from a closed door ahead of the route, spilling out from the cracks. Once we stopped our footsteps, we heard the faint sound of people talking. The footsteps led to that door.

Taking care not to create any sound or disturbance, we crept along the path towards the door. The path turned to the right of the door. Once making sure there wasn't anyone that could spot us in the corridor to the right, Rori-san, who was the most adept at stealth, snuck as close as she could to the closed door.

Then, she used her [Illusion] skill to project an auditory illusion to us, relaying the content of the conversation she was eavesdropping on. I was surprised to see that she could use illusion magic like that, to use it in a benign way on party members. I always saw it as a debuff skill that could be used to confuse enemies. As expected of Rori-san, the ever reliable party member.

"...The ritual will now begin."

"With this stolen relic, it is now possible to enact our plan."

"Indeed… Without further ado… Let us start the ritual!"

There was a mix of male and female voices. I didn't recognize Sonia's among them, but these were most likely her criminal associates.

I didn't know what kind of 'ritual' they were performing, but it couldn't be any good!

We all nodded to each other, agreeing to interrupt this ritual.

Without worrying about stealth, we barged the door open and infiltrated the room, our weapons drawn.

"Alright, everybody get down if you don't wanna get hurt!"

I yelled, pointing my sword at the criminals.

"Eeep..?! The police found us?!"

"Nooo! I swear I didn't know she was XX years old!"

"I only look, I don't touch…!"

Instead of the Thieves Guild we were expecting to find, we found three people wearing blue, priestly robes, hood over their faces.

They were forming a circle around a stand that had a piece of white fabric on top of it.

When I looked closer…

It was a pair of bear-print panties.

Part 3

"Who are you people? What are you doing down here?"

"We should be asking you that question! These are secret tunnels unknown to the public! Coming here means you're trespassing, you know?!"

"Same goes for you!"

Besides, I was royalty. If anything, they were trespassing on my property.

Pointing our weapons at them, the three robed figures held their hands up in surrender.

"First, you should reveal yourselves…"

The three of them looked at each other and, seeing as they didn't have much of a choice, they lowered their hoods.

"...Eh? Aren't you Zesta and Cecily-nee?"

I recognized them immediately. They were members of the Axis-cult who worshipped the goddess of water, Aqua. I played with Cecily-nee many times before, since she often hung out with the thieving group.

I knew about Zesta because he would sometimes creep around us while we were playing, as he tagged along with Cecily. He was a creepy guy.

I didn't know who the third person was. She was a girl around Komekko-chan's age and had fluffy, dusty brown hair.

"How do you know us? Wait… Looking at you closely…"

Cecily-nee looked at my face. I guess it wouldn't take her long to recognize me.

"That blue hair. I see, you're one of us, a fellow Axis-cult member!"

I gritted my teeth and shot Regina-sama an accusing look. She turned away, whistling innocently.

Seriously, why did she have to give me blue hair?!

"No, no, no! It's me, it's me, Iris! Don't you recognize me?!"

"The 'it's me, it's me' scam, huh? That just proves that you truly are a member of our cult. And besides, don't try to trick me. The Princess Iris I know is a lovely blonde loli. There's no way that a grown up letdown like you is my lovely princess…"

It had been a handful of years since we met. Did she really think that I'd stay as a loli all those years?

I mean, look at what happened to Komekko-chan.

And I guess I shouldn't be surprised that Cecily-nee was still a lolicon after all these years.

"So those footprints… I suppose it belonged to these three?"

Regina-sama said, stepping out from behind Serena. Once Cecily-nee and Zesta saw Regina, their eyes widened.

"W-What a wonderful loli! That confident, regal look she has on her eyes is such a turn on!"

"Indeed, Zesta-sama! She has this precocious, mature look about her, but she's still a loli with a small, fragile body! I'd like to eat her up!"

"Hah?!"

Regina-sama retreated back to Serena's protection. Serena glared at the two lolicons, as she held her hand out protectively over Regina-sama.

"You two, I won't allow you to touch Regina-sama…"

"Heh. A sexy lady like you who looks down at me like I'm dirt is just my type. It makes it even more enjoyable once I break you down and have my way with you…"

"Eeek?!"

Serena's composure broke from the sheer look of lust in Zesta's eyes. Both Serena and Regina-sama hid behind Revi.

"...Heh. You think that hiding behind this sexy little redhead is gonna stop me?"

Zesta approached Revi and looked at him hungrily.

"I-I'm a guy you know…?"

"I don't care."

"Kyaa~!"

Soon, there was nowhere to hide. No one was safe from Zesta.

While all this commotion was going on, I felt a tug on my sleeve. I looked around and saw the girl around Komekko-chan's age.

"Excuse me, did you say that you're Princess Iris? I'm a really big fan! I was hoping I could ask for an autograph?"

She asked, with a polite smile on her face. Finally, someone normal.

She gave me a piece of paper and a pen to sign with.

As I was about to sign my name, I noticed that there was something odd about the paper.

Axis-cult Recruitment Form

"...Eh? What's wrong, onee-chan? Go ahead and sign it."

I felt a shiver down my spine as I looked back at the girl. There was an odd, blue gleam in her eyes.

She's not normal at all!

"If you sign up now, you can have a free bar of edible soap. Down in these tunnels, they're super useful since you can use them for hygienic purposes and you can eat them once you're done. It tastes savory and there's no perfume added, so it tastes exactly like meaty lard. And once you're done with your bath, you can leave the soap there and drink the bathwater afterwards, since it will taste like delicious broth. The umami is splendid! Please try it!"

Was that what those soap bars were that we found lying around in the tunnels?

"Gah! The three of you, quiet down and just explain to us what you're doing down here!"

I almost lost track of our goal due to the chaotic nature of these three.

"This is classified information only available to high-ranking Axis-cult members. But since you're such a big fan of Aqua-sama that you'd even dye your hair like hers, I suppose we can let you in on our plan…"

"I told you I'm not… Ugh, fine, just go ahead and tell me."

I tried to ignore the others who were chuckling at me, as I was forced to pretend like I was an Axis-cultist.

"We were planning on establishing a base in these tunnels, underneath the capital. You see, it's becoming harder to conduct our operations out in the open. The police unfairly treat us like criminals and terrorists whenever we conduct our righteous crusade against the Eris order. They say that we're not allowed to steal food from Eris order operated soup kitchens, or steal toys from Eris order owned orphanages, whenever they ask for donations."

"They also say that it is illegal to plant incriminating evidence in the homes of Eris order priests in an attempt to ruin their reputation…"

Of course all of those things are illegal. This was beyond the petty crimes they were doing in Axel, like stealing the bread the Eris order churches gave to the poor.

"And so, we thought that we would set up an underground operation that will make it harder for the police to hinder our holy war against the Eris order. Since these tunnels aren't known to the public, our agents can go out and do their missions and then quickly escape using the many hidden tunnel entrances across the city."

"...How did you guys know about these tunnels anyway?"

"Heh. I was on the run from the police after peeking at the women's baths, when I accidentally stumbled upon one of the secret entrances. Who knew that there was something like that near the statue of King Belzerg, in the park…"

It seemed that Zesta used the same entrance as us, which explained the wine bottles and bars of soap we found along the way.

"Well… That explains that, then. Does that mean that we wasted our time here? Those footprints at the entrance clearly belonged to these three. Maybe Sonia didn't even know about these tunnels."

Serena shook her head. She pointed to the Axis-cultists.

"Can you three show us the soles of your shoes?"

"Got a foot fetish, lady? I'll show my feet if you show your panties."

"...Hah? Why would I…"

"Ahem, Serena, why don't you comply with them for now?"

Serena shared a look with Regina-sama and then, surprisingly, lowered her head.

"Very well, Regina-sama."

"Wait, seriously?!" x 2

Oi, Revi, why are you getting excited, too?

Serena, while blushing a little, proceeded to lift up her skirt.

...Those are some pretty daring, adult panties she had on.

I wondered why she was wearing battle undies like that.

While Zesta soaked in the sight of Serena's panties, Regina-sama yanked Revi down and put her hands over his eyes.

I was wondering why Regina-sama was depriving Revi of this fanservice event, since she was normally the first one to tease him, but then I noticed that Zesta began to have a glazed over look in his eyes.

"W-What manner of dark sorcery did you do on Zesta-sama?!"

Cecily-nee said, panicking as she seemed to notice that something was wrong with Zesta.

"...Zesta, show me the soles of your shoes."

"...Yes, Serena-sama."

Zesta lifted his foot and allowed Serena to inspect him.

"Fufu. This is one of the abilities of my top Priest, the follower of the dark goddess of Vengeance and Manipulation. If one feels as if they owe Serena a favor, they will become her puppet until they no longer feel gratitude…"

"Hey, that's pretty damn useful. How come I don't have that."

"You have the Battle Priest class, dear Iris. And besides, you have more potential to grow than Serena here, so I wouldn't complain if I were you."

I didn't know what she was talking about 'potential to grow', especially as I looked at Serena's chest.

"Y-You can't make a puppet out of the Arch-Priest of the Axis-cult?! If you don't let him go now, this means war!"

"Relax. Just go ahead and show your soles to us and we'll let him go."

The two eventually complied, showing Serena the soles of their shoes.

"Like I thought. There was one other footprint I didn't recognize, among these three. It's also fairly recent. There's at least one other person in these tunnels. I'm betting it belongs to Sonia."

As expected of someone who specialized in infiltration as a Demon King general…

"That means she still might be here in the tunnel. Cecily-nee, have you seen anybody else here in the tunnels?"

"Not since all of you came here. We sweep the tunnels everytime we come here, and we did one early this morning. If anybody else came here, that must mean that they got here just a bit before you guys did."

That meant that there was a chance Sonia was still in these tunnels.

"Let's hurry and look for Sonia. She's still here! Cecily-nee, if you had to leave the capital quickly, without getting caught, which of these tunnel routes would you go through?"

"There's only really one exit, and it will take a while to find it if you don't know where you're going. This place is meant to be a maze for intruders, while those who know how to navigate the tunnels can quickly find the exit and entrances. Here, we drew a map."

Cecily-nee took out a map and outlined the path Sonia would have to take if she wanted to leave the city.

"Thank you, Cecily-nee! You really helped out a lot!"

Out of sheer joy, I leaned close and gave her a peck on the cheek.

"...! This cuteness… You really are Princess Iris! And you even dyed your hair blue for me!"

"I did no such thing! Listen, I'll catch up with you later, OK? I have a thief to catch!"

After thanking Cecily-nee once more, we borrowed their map and headed out to capture Sonia

Part 4

"According to those people, it would take someone who doesn't have a map of the tunnel half a day to find the exit. The Devil thinks that we should catch up to Sonia for sure!"

Komekko-chan's enthusiasm lifted my spirits.

There was no way to know if Sonia knew her way around the tunnels or not. I could only hope that she was still lost in the tunnels.

Rori-san flew ahead, since we couldn't match her flight speed.

Serena was piggy backing Regina-sama, who would fall behind otherwise as we went on a run.

It was risky running like this, as we could potentially alert Sonia with our footsteps, but we couldn't afford to lose any more time.

After running along the route Cecily-nee showed us for a couple minutes, a visual illusion appeared before us, sent from Rori-san.

In that illusion, we saw an image of Sonia, stuck at a fork in the tunnels. Rori-san was probably watching from some distance.

We stopped running and slowed our pace. With the way Sonia appeared to struggle in choosing a path to go down on, it seemed that she didn't have any idea how to leave the tunnels, which was a lucky break for us.

I looked to Revi, who took point, drawing his crossbow. He used his [Farsight] to navigate the dark surroundings.

Keeping as quiet as possible, we caught up with Rori-san. She wordlessly pointed to the path Sonia had chosen to go through.

Unfortunately, she chose the right one.

Being as stealthy as possible, we stalked Sonia, drawing closer until we could see the faint light of her lamp and hear her footsteps.

"Ugh… I wish I had the time to scout these tunnels out. I feel like I'm on the right path, though."

We heard her grumbling to herself.

The others looked at me, waiting for my decision on what to do.

There was no sense trying to ambush her since she had [Enemy Detection]. The best thing to do was try to block her path to escape. I placed a hand on Komekko-chan's shoulder and whispered to her,

"...Do you have any spells that can block the path for Sonia?"

"Leave it to the Devil…"

Thankfully, Komekko-chan knew better to save the Crimson Demon theatrics for this one. She knew how much this mission meant to me.

"[Earth Wall]!"

She used the Intermediate magic, [Earth Wall], to block Sonia's path.

"...!"

Sonia's [Enemy Detection] activated, allowing her to avoid the formation of the wall, but it was already too late. The wall of hardened earth formed ahead of her, blocking her path.

Perhaps if she had the foresight to dive forward instead of dashing back, the plan would have backfired on us catastrophically, but it was human nature to take evasive actions during dangerous situations.

She looked behind her and saw us. She seemed surprised for a moment, but proceeded to smile.

"Hah… I knew it was going way too easily. So, back for another round?"

She looked warily at Serena and Regina. She had a good idea of what the rest of us could do, but the new members were unknowns to her.

"You have something that you stole from me. I guess I can't ask you to give it back without a fight, huh?"

"If you already knew that much, then why bother asking?"

She reached behind her and took out what appeared to be a scroll. She unfurled it and revealed several ink illustrations of swords. She pressed her palm over one of them and drew out a familiar looking sword, Calibur.

"...What do you expect to do with that? Only royalty can use artifacts like Calibur."

"What you don't know is that I have this unfair cheat ability called [Overrule]. It allows me to use any kind of item, artifact, whatever, despite any restrictions. It's the perfect ability for a master thief like me, no? I can use weapons despite any racial or even hereditary requirements. So that means…"

She pointed Calibur at me, the edges of it glowing blue.

"...That means that I can use this sword just as well as you can, Princess!"

"...!"

She dashed forward and thrusted Calibur at me, aiming for my neck.

"[Ensnaring Shot]!"

Thankfully, Revi was prepared and shot a bolt that transformed into a net of thorny vines, wrapping around Sonia and hindering her attack.

I was able to parry Sonia's attack as her movements were slowed by Revi's skill, although the heavy blade and cutting power of Calibur still made me stumble, falling to my knees.

Thankfully, instead of trying to finish me off, Sonia drew back and took out her scroll again. She stuck Calibur on the ground and took out another sword. The sword had a green hilt and blade, and wisps of air seemed to emanate from the blade.

"[Kusanagi]!"

Sonia exclaimed the name of the sword, summoning tiny wind blades that surrounded her body, precisely cutting the vines that had wrapped around her body. She then swung the sword at us, summoning a larger wind blade.

Before the attack could hit us, Serena stood and held her arms out to us.

"Serena…?!

I called out as the attack hit her. However, as a large gash appeared on Serena, Sonia also bent over in pain, the same kind of wound appearing on her.

I figured out that Serena must have had an ability similar to [Akashic Discharge], which I had.

"I'm alright…"

Serena smiled as she cast heal on herself. Her healing abilities seemed stronger than mine, as she was soon able to stand up.

"...What kind of ability is that? Ugh…"

Sonia looked shaken up, but she confidently stood up. She opened her scroll once more. She pulled out an unusual sword that seemed entirely made out of stone.

"[Skofnung]!"

The sword broke apart into several pieces, and then layered themselves over Sonia's wounds. They glowed brightly and when they returned to its original sword form, the wounds on Sonia's body had healed.

How many legendary swords does she have?!

Chris-senpai said that she went around stealing magic swords, but this is too much!

Sonia wrapped the scroll around her right arm and palm, wearing it like an arm sleeve. Calibur and Kusanagi appeared in her hands, seemingly teleporting, but Skofnung returned to the scroll. It seemed she could manifest and return the swords to the scroll at will. How troublesome.

"The Devil wants to blast this sword woman away with [Fireball], but the tunnel will probably

collapse and crush us, huh?"

Komekko-chan assessed the situation correctly. I doubted that she could use teleport on all of us at once. Plus, we wanted to retrieve Calibur, not have it lost underneath a pile of rubble.

"For now, focus on using single-target attacks. Try and get up close and restrict her movements, too."

"Gotcha! Then the perfect attack for this is… [Vanir-style Death Beam]!"

Komekko-chan made a 'V' sign with her fingers and held it over her right eye. She closed her left eye and released a crimson energy beam that dispersed the darkness.

"...! [Evasion]!"

Sonia was able to move out of the way just in time to avoid the attack.

"Heh. Let's see if you can dodge this, too! [Snipe]!"

Revi fired a bolt, timing it with Komekko's beam. However, before the bolt could hit Sonia, she held out Kusanagi in front of her. A wall of wind deflected the bolt.

"Oh, man! Come on, that's not fair…! I won't be able to fire normal, peasant bolts if you have wind powers like that…! Well, too bad I'm no peasant! Take my rich kid powers!"

"Huh?!"

The bolt that was seemingly knocked away retraced its trajectory and hit Sonia on the back of her thigh.

Revi had fired one of his expensive Homing Bolts. It costs several months of pay for a normal adventurer to buy, but Revi bought them without any hesitation.

"Urk… You guys are hard to fight!"

Sonia pulled the bolt out from her thigh and switched out Kusanagi with Skofnung to heal her wounds, but while she was doing so, Komekko-chan and I took the chance to go into melee range.

I took the first strike, aiming for a cut across her chest. She took the cut, but as she had been in the middle of healing herself with Skofnung from Revi's attack, the wound I inflicted was also healed along with it. I cursed myself for being too eager to attack.

However, this gave Komekko-chan an opening to attack.

"[Devil Boost]!"

She manifested a demon arm made of energy over hers to empower her right hook, which connected against Sonia's liver. Sonia let out a cry of pain as she got the wind knocked out of her.

"Argh! Damnit! [Bind]!"

She made Calibur disappear for a moment and took out a rope, throwing it at Komekko-chan.

"How dare you tie up the Devil?!"

Komekko-chan couldn't help it as the rope wound itself around her and made her fall down.

I pressed the attack, swinging once again. Sonia attempted to tumble away, but I held my hand out to her.

"[Shadow Thread]!"

I created a dark thread that extended out and attached itself to Sonia's body. The thread pulled her towards me. However, as I struck my sword out, Sonia held the stone sword Skofnung to block the attack.

Just like when she used it to heal herself, the stone sword scattered into many pieces. Instead of attaching itself to her body, however, it reformed around my sword, trapping it.

"...!"

I didn't think it could do that. I let go of my sword, but it was already too late.

Sonia made Calibur reappear on her free hand.

Then, taking advantage of my disarmed state…

She stabbed me in the stomach with it.

Part 5

I coughed up blood and I stumbled backwards.

Sonia drew out Kusanagi once more and attempted to finish me off with it.

She only attacked an illusion. Rori-san had already flown in and gotten me out as soon as I got stabbed.

As I was getting pulled out, I glared at Sonia.

"[Akashic Transfusion]!"

"Gahhh!"

I directed the damage I suffered to Sonia. She could heal it back with Skofnung, but I wouldn't go down without giving her a taste of her own medicine.

"Iris-san! Hold on!"

I'd never seen Rori-san panic like this. She grabbed the handle of Calibur and attempted to pull it out.

"Don't pull it out! You might make it worse! I'll try to stabilize her."

Serena stopped Rori-san from pulling the sword out. She then laid her hands on me and used [Heal] to help me stabilize.

"...I think we might have picked the wrong enemy to fight. Maybe we should retreat?"

Regina-sama watched over me. She set up some puppets to provide cover for me, in case Sonia wanted to finish the job. I looked over and saw Komekko-chan going on a rampage. She manifested the full body of her contracted demon in the form of an energy cloak over her body and was going berserk, losing her composure as she wailed clumsy attacks at Sonia. Revi was providing ranged support. So far, they were the only ones fighting as the rest helped me stay alive.

"We have the sword now… Well, it's stuck on you. I doubt she'd let us go, but we could try to escape."

Sonia could summon the swords and retrieve them back into her scroll. I didn't know why she didn't take Calibur back, now. Perhaps she needed to be in possession of a sword to have control over it, or maybe there was a range limitation. Either way, it wouldn't be a bad idea to try and retreat now that we had Calibur.

However...

"I don't think we'll be able to run away… If my condition is like this…"

The more I thought about it, I could only imagine Sonia hunting us down one by one with our backs turned. Even if we had Komekko teleport me out, a couple of us would have to be left behind. I doubted Sonia would let us escape like that. Plus she also had [Skill-Lock], which could interfere with Komekko-chan's teleport.

"I guess we'll have to fight this monster, then. And we haven't even seen her full arsenal."

We turned to watch Komekko-chan and Revi get blown back by a powerful blast of wind as Sonia swung Kusanagi at them.

Sonia flicked her wrists and summoned two wind blades to attack the fallen Komekko-chan and Revi, but Rori-san conjured up another illusion, making Sonia miss.

We couldn't go on like this. The difference in power was too much.

One legendary sword was enough to shift the result of a war, but having a collection of them was too much for a mere adventuring party to handle.

I couldn't help but think that if I had my real body, we could stand a chance.

At that thought, I felt a tug in my chest.

At first I thought it was the blood loss, but it felt too pleasant to be the result of a wound. It felt comforting, warm.

I felt it coming from the blade of Calibur, and when I looked closely at the blade, I saw shining motes of light floating around it.

This feels wild to even say, but I felt the sword almost communicating with me.

It wasn't talking to me like it was a person, or anything, but I saw these images flashing in my head.

For brief moments, I felt like I was in another time, in another place, and I momentarily lost myself in those images.

I saw battlefields, foreign and familiar. I heard cries of triumph and defeat. The surroundings changed but there was always one constant… Calibur, my sword.

"...Iris? What are you doing, child?"

"Hey, Regina-sama. Do you think I'm a stupid girl?"

"...Not at all? I think you're quite clever?"

"Well, right now, I think I'm gonna do something really stupid."

I stood up, pushing Serena's hands away.

"Forget about clever, what are you doing, stupid girl?!"

Regina-sama shrieked in panic as I stood up.

"I told you… I'm doing something really stupid!"

I drew Calibur out from my belly. Drawing the sword out in one clean motion, with no hesitation.

I felt the sword drawing out my blood as Belzergian royalty. I felt it awakening my heritage.

This was a huge gamble, but I felt like it could work.

As soon as I drew Calibur out, I felt a surge of power draw out from my body.

The others stumbled backwards, blown away by the force.

"Iris-san… Your hair!"

Rori-san was staring at my hair. I reached out and grabbed a lock and saw blonde curls.

It's good to be back.

But I somehow knew this wouldn't last very long.

I clutched at my wound. It had closed somewhat, but it could reopen at any time. I used my other arm and pointed it at Sonia.

"Stabbing me with this sword will be the worst mistake you ever made!"

I dashed out, hand still pressed on the wound. Sonia wasn't prepared for my speed. In a panic, she lashed out with Kusanagi and let out a blast of wind to push me off.

I cut through the wind, dispersing it along the walls of the tunnel, with a powerful one-handed slash from Calibur.

She cursed and replaced Kusanagi with another sword, perhaps opting for more firepower. She pulled out a sword that looked ceremonial, decorated with precious stones and a hilt of gold. Oddly enough, the tip of the sword was missing, as if the blade was blunted.

"[Cortana]!"

She swung the sword and I felt as if the air shifted. The walls seemed to be sucked into one point and the ground felt like it was moving. Then, a visible tear in space was formed and the tear formed into a visible sword cut that proceeded to head towards me at deadly speed.

The attack seemed to be absorbing material as it passed through. It formed a gash on the ground as it travelled towards me. If the attack was absorbing material and even the light from the lamp Regina-sama was holding to illuminate the area, I had a crazy thought.

"...Everyone, I'm gonna do something really stupid again! Get down!"

"Enough stupid things! I didn't peg you for such a reckless kid!"

Regina-sama said, as they all ducked down.

I raised my sword.

I hadn't done this in a while, but…

"...[Sacred Explode]!"

I let out a radiant, devastating energy attack of blinding light.

The attack clashed with the unusual tear in space Sonia had created. The attacks and their unique properties twisted and intermingled with each other, until the absorbing property of Cortana seemed to collapse as its threshold was reached.

The light of Calibur filled the tunnel as it dispersed, creating lacerations along the walls.

...That was another huge gamble, and I still didn't really get what just happened, but at least it worked!

Sonia looked at me in awe, not expecting her attack to get cancelled out. I held Calibur out to her again.

"Hey, word of advice. There's nothing on that scroll that can beat my sword in firepower. Why don't you just give up already."

"...You wanna test that out?!"

She grabbed the scroll from her arm and tossed it in the air. It seemed to extend and encircle the both of us.

Suddenly, I felt myself being pulled. I closed my eyes, and when I opened them again, I found that I wasn't in the tunnel anymore.

I was in a dark, spacious place, with just Sonia in front of me. Around us are swords of many different kinds. The swords that Sonia had already used were among them.

"...Where are we?"

"We're in the special dimension that stores all the swords in my collection. You said that there's not a single sword in here that can match the firepower of your precious Calibur… Why don't we test it out, Sword Princess?!"

I should have kept my big mouth shut.

Sonia picked up a flaming sword and swung it at me. A torrent of flames launched at me. I tried to block it with Calibur, but there was only so much I could protect myself from.

I screamed in pain. My temporary body probably would have collapsed by now, but my real form is made of stronger stuff. I held on, enduring.

"Too hot for you? Maybe this will help you cool down!"

Sonia equipped a sword with a blade of ice. This time, a wave of cold and sharp icicles flew at me.

"[Exterion]!"

I dispelled as much of the attack as I could, while attacking Sonia as well.

"Hah! You can attack me all you want, but I can just heal myself! [Skofnung]!"

The stone sword healed her once more. If this was going to be a battle of attrition, she would surely win out.

She knew about my damage reflect ability, but she was confident in her ability to heal herself.

I realized that was where my winning condition lied.

After figuring out how to win, the damage I procured, I gathered them into one spot.

Just like in the battle with Makemake, [Akashic Transfusion] didn't just target humans.

It could target objects as well!

"[Akashic Transfusion]!"

I directed the damage to the scroll that was keeping this dimension active. The scroll encircling us.

"...What?!"

The pocket dimension collapsed, and we were transported to the tunnel again.

This time, however, the scroll was now torn up into scattered pieces. The many swords in Sonia's collection spilled out into the tunnels.

Sonia looked around in a panic, looking for a weapon to use.

"[Shadow Thread]!"

Just as Sonia grabbed a weapon, I pulled her over with a thread of shadows.

She was a bit quicker, cutting my shoulder with Kusanagi.

I only smiled sweetly at her.

"[Akashic Discharge]!"

A wave of destructive, purple energy blasted out from my body, the embodiment of revenge.

"That's for stealing my sword, bitch!"

Satisfied with my revenge, I finally collapsed from exhaustion.