Chapter 1009

1009: Falldown and Evil-Eater

Trismegistus held up his sword and spoke casually.

「Fannabelta says you are still of use to us. You cannot be allowed to die here.」

So his sword really is an Intelligence Weapon!

Meltritte looked absolutely pissed when she heard that. She must bear quite the deep grudge against the ancient Dragon King who slaughtered her ancestors.

And then he saves her life before arrogantly explaining that she is still useful. For Meltritte, someone seeking revenge, this must have been the greatest humiliation of all.

「I’ll kill you too!」

「Is that so? Do as you wish.」

Seriously, what’s going on between the two of them?

Trismegistus abruptly broke off his conversation with Meltritte and turned away as if there was nothing more to be said.

Meltritte kept glaring at him with bloodshot eyes, but made no attempt to strike.

She knew she had no means of killing him, and even if she did, she would just be defeated by Fran right afterwards.

Without the protection of the dragonkin king, who she hated so much, she would have already lost her life. We could easily see the rage she’s suppressing by how hard she’s biting her lip.

Meanwhile, Fran spoke calmly in the face of the transcendent who suddenly blocked our path.

「Are you working with Meltritte?」

「No, but her talent is rare. It would apparently be a shame to let her die.」

「Talent?」

「The talent to wield the failed divine swords. Though not officially numbered, those blades were originally forged as divine swords. Not just anyone can wield such a thing, and yet she manages two at the same time. No doubt she must have a very high affinity for Zechs’ creations.」

So those two blades were forged by the divine blacksmith Zechs. He was the rare divine blacksmith who never managed to produce a single divine sword, since none of his blades were recognized by the gods.

If I remember right, he was the one who forged Overgrowth as well. Although his blades ended up as failed divine swords, it’s not like they were actually discarded as failures.

Judging by Trismegistus’ words, I guess all those pseudo divine swords not officially recognized are referred to as “failed divine swords”.

「The Blade of Corruption, Falldown, which grants the user the power to control evil by converting them into a fiend. The Blade of Eclipse, Evil-Eater, which lets the user manipulate antidemons at the cost of turning their own body into that of an antidemon. She wields both, and yet maintains her sanity.」

I see, now I have some idea of how Meltritte’s domination abilities work.

A sword for controlling evil and a sword for controlling antidemons. In addition, the Wisteria bloodline’s ability of Evil Guidance. By combining all of these, she could dominate antidemons and evil dragonkin.

Was her ability to create antidemons also a result of the two failed divine swords? Considering she had to stab her blade into the Abyss Eater’s core, maybe she used Evil-Eater’s powers to order the core directly?

「If you retreat here, I will not pursue you.」

「……What is Meltritte plotting?」

「I do not feel the need to answer that.」

「Kuh……!」

I wanted more answers, but Trismegistus was having none of that. He suddenly struck at us without the slightest sign of hostility.

「Hoh? You can react to that?」

Though impressed, he continued swinging the blade Fannabelta in his hand at us. His slashes were both precise and sharp, but as usual, I could not feel any hostility directed toward us.

I’ve never seen a foe whose aura and actions meshed so poorly. Moreover, his swordsmanship exceeded even Fran’s.

（He’s strong!）

『This guy definitely has Swordking Mastery!』

He’s been swinging a blade on this continent for ages. In fact, it would be weird if he hadn’t reached that level.

Fran fired herself up and began her counterattack.

「Taaah!」

「I see, so you have Swordking Mastery. I can understand why Fannabelta views that sword as dangerous. Hmm? You say it is merely useful? Is that so? Understood.」

Trismegistus suddenly started mumbling to himself, but there’s clearly telepathy going on. Maybe Fran and I look like that from the outside too.

「This is my first time viewing an Intelligence Weapon other than Fannabelta.」

「…! How did you know?」

「Fannabelta has a talent for data analysis, so intercepting the telepathy of others is a simple matter. I would enjoy the chance to analyze your blade, but my top aide says it must be destroyed if I cannot obtain it. Therefore, destroyed it will be.」

So they eavesdropped on my telepathy and figured out my identity! I have Appraisal Cloaking and Appraisal Camouflage to protect myself, but that doesn’t mean much if they can hear me talking.

And it seems Fannabelta views me as dangerous.

「Destroy… Master…?」

「You can avoid unnecessary harm if you give up your blade immediately.」

「Screw you……!」

Fran snapped at Trismegistus for declaring that he was going to destroy me.

Her killing intent was so intense that I felt a chill.

Meltritte, who wasn’t the direct target of her anger, started trembling with the blood drained from her face. This even sent a shiver down Izario’s spine.

If anyone were to see Fran right now, they would say she’s obviously gone crazy. The current Fran didn’t give off the slightest hint of sanity.

Fran let out a wild, animal-like roar and slammed me down with the full extent of her rage.

「URAAAAH!」

「Impressive movements.」