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ED: LonelyMatter
Part 3
When I stood there frozen in shock at the shadow identities, Yuzuki-kun noticed my arrival.
“Wha… Yuuya-kun!? Why are you here?”
“No, Yuzuki-kun seemed to be acting strangely, so—”
“Get out of here right now!”
Yuzuki, perhaps trying to protect me, tried desperately to stand up.
At that instant, Iris-san’s shadow raised its sword.
“Not a chance!”
“…!?”
I immediately pulled the Omni-Sword from my Item Box and sliced through the shadow’s blade.
Seamlessly flowing from that attack, I attacked the real body too, but the shadow slid away, evading my strike and preventing me from dealing any damage.
Grimacing at this, I saw Yuzuki-kun gasp in surprise at my expression.
“Yu-Yuuya-kun, what the hell are you—”
“We’ll talk later. Right now, I’m dealing with this!”
I adjusted my sword stance and charged straight at Iris-san’s shadow.
Then, snapping back to his senses, Yuzuki-kun let out a scream-like cry.
“You’re crazy! The shadows are powerful, and there are three of them!”
“Haaah!”
Hearing his shout, I swung my sword down with all my might at Iris-san’s shadow.
I did this because, having just sliced away the shadow’s sword with Omni-Sword, I thought it had no means left to block my attack.
But…
“What!?”
Incredibly, the shadow sword that I thought I had destroyed instantly restored itself and parried my attack.
Having apparently understood from our earlier exchange that my Omni-Sword was dangerous, the shadow sword skillfully parried the flat side of the Omni-Sword. This allowed the shadow sword to remain intact while blocking my attack.
I was stunned by this when a shadow kick from Master Usagi flew straight for my face.
I dodged it by twisting my upper body away and driving a toe kick into Master Usagi’s back with a backflip technique.
After taking the blow, Master Usagi’s shadow was sent flying high into the air, part of its abdomen vanishing.
As expected, however, the wound healed in an instant.
I frowned involuntarily at the sight and suddenly sensed intense heat approaching.
Glancing in that direction, I saw countless fireballs hurtling toward me.
I immediately did backflips to create distance, then instantly activated Water Ball to collide with the fireballs.
“I-incredible…”
Yuzuki-kun murmured in stunned silence, watching me alone against Iris-san and the others’ shadows.
However, unlike Yuzuki-kun, I was inwardly panicking.
“(This type again… It’s fine that my attacks land, but healing repeatedly? This is really troublesome.)”
The shadows before me gave off the same vibe as the blizzard mutation I’d recently fought.
With three of them, it was quite a nuisance, though of course, there were differences from the other day.
For one, this wasn’t a harsh environment like the snowy mountains before.
Then—
“(I get it now. Those things mimic the masters’ forms, but they’re nowhere near as powerful as the real thing.)”
──Right. This meant that the power of these shadows didn’t even come close to that of Iris-san and the others.
If these three shadows could wield power identical to Iris-san and the others, I wouldn’t stand a chance.
Not only were these things’ Holy powers sealed, but they also seemed unable to use divine authority. As for Odis-san’s shadow, it was recreating magical attacks using an unknown power, not magic.
Furthermore, they showed no sign of coordinating their actions, whether due to a lack of intelligence or not. Each shadow seemed to act on its own whim.
Even so, the magic attacks produced by this unknown power were no less formidable than ordinary magic. Combined with Iris-san and the others’ exceptionally high base stats, I couldn’t afford to let my guard down.
While parrying the relentless barrage of attacks from the shadows, I racked my brain for a countermeasure.
“(For now, assuming this situation is similar to the one on the snowy mountain the other day, these shadows must also be mutated entities. Mutations likely have some kind of core. Last time, I defeated the mutation by destroying its core, but what about these guys?)”
To check if the shadows before me had a core, I switched weapons.
“Heaven’s Whip!”
I swung the whip I’d pulled from my Item Box with great force. Its tip instantly branched out and bound three shadows.
The tip continued to split further, coiling around the shadows with such force that they were entirely enveloped.
Seeing this, I swiftly reeled the whip back toward me.
“…!”
This caused the whip coiled around the shadows to compress instantly. With a popping sound, the shadows wrapped in the whip vanished.
I figured this method would guarantee their defeat, no matter where their cores were located.
But…
“No way…”
The shadow that I thought had vanished split immediately into three parts, gathered again, and revived as if nothing had happened.
“What…no core…? Seriously?”
Yuzuki-kun wore an expression of utter shock.
Given the situation, I decided that Yuzuki-kun was probably more knowledgeable about mutations than I was.
“Yuzuki-kun! Do you know how to defeat these things!?”
“I-I’m sorry… I don’t know anything. With normal mutations, destroying the core somewhere in the main body or using a force stronger than the mutation itself to obliterate it would make them vanish…”
After saying this, Yuzuki-kun seemed to realize something.
“No way… They don’t have a core? Wait, does that mean the core isn’t here? If that’s the case, then where the hell is it?”
I didn’t quite understand, but apparently, these things lacked the core that mutations normally possess. One possibility was that their core existed somewhere else entirely.
However, finding that core with no clues was practically impossible.
Even worse, if the core were located far away, we’d be completely helpless.
So, what should I do next?
I was utterly stumped and unable to find a solution when it happened.
“Oh well, I guess I have no choice.”
“Wh-what!?”
Suddenly, a woman’s voice echoed throughout the entire area.
It was unmistakable—the voice of the Blizzard Mutant that I had fought on that snowy mountain!
Startled by this realization, I watched as the already bitterly cold temperature around us plummeted and snow began to fall.
Yuzuki-kun’s eyes widened at this scene.
“Snow? No, a blizzard!”
What started as a light flurry quickly intensified into a full-blown blizzard, lashing out at us.
Because of it, Yuzuki-kun crouched down, and his figure disappeared from my line of sight.
The shadows seemed to be in the same predicament, their movements restricted by the sudden blizzard. They were unable to get any closer.
Yet, for some reason, I felt no chill from the blizzard. It seemed I wasn’t affected by the sudden change in this place.
“What in the world…”
Then, in the next instant, a sphere of light burst forth from my chest!
It was identical to the light that had entered my body the other day when I defeated the mutation in the snowy mountains.
As I stood, bewildered by this unexpected turn of events, the light gradually shifted form.
And then—
“Long time no see.”
It was the blizzard mutant I’d defeated in the mountains the other day, the woman, floating there in a child’s form.
“That form… What is it?”
As I stared at the mutated woman—no, girl—dumbstruck, she pouted.
“Mph… I didn’t choose to become like this, you know? After losing the battle against my master as well as my power, I can only manifest in this form now.”
“In the battle against me…? No, wait! But more importantly, why did you come out of me!?”
When I asked that, the girl tilted her head in puzzlement.
“What a strange question, Master. It’s because you and I made a contract, of course.”
“A contract!?”
What was that? I had no recollection of that!
While I was stunned by this completely unknown story, the girl laughed cheerfully.
“Kukuku… Well, it can’t be helped if you don’t know. After all, it was a contract I made on my own.”
“Isn’t that utterly despicable!?”
“Well, let’s not sweat the small stuff. As for the contract terms, you are the master and I am the servant. You won’t be disadvantaged at all.”
“No, I know what you’re saying, but…”
As I wore an expression of utter bewilderment, the girl grinned.
“Is that really the right attitude? If I lend you my power, we can deal with those things.”
“Those things… you mean those shadows!?”
“Exactly.”
“What are we supposed to do?”
When I said that, the girl continued speaking.
“Well, wait a moment. First, you have to rescue your buried comrades, right?”
“Huh? Ah, Yuzuki-kun!”
I blurted out in panic. The girl waved her arm lightly.
The next instant, the blizzard subsided, and I rescued Yuzuki-kun and the other two men.
“Khaah! Cough! Yu-Yuuya-kun, thank you…”
“Th-thank goodness…”
“More importantly, that girl…”
Yuzuki-kun caught his breath and turned his gaze to the girl floating before him.
“Sorry about that. It was my first time using my power in this body. I didn’t know how to control it.”
The girl said this without any sign of remorse.
Honestly, I had a lot I wanted to say, but now wasn’t the time.
“Hey, you said you could do something about that shadow earlier, right? What exactly are you going to do?”
When I asked, the girl grinned.
“Very well. I’ll show you my power, Master!”
No sooner had she spoken than she swung her arm again.
The next instant, a blizzard-induced tornado erupted, sucking the shadows within it skyward.
The shadows struggled desperately to escape the whirlwind, but without access to Holy or divine authority, they were helpless.
“Now, like this…”
The girl made a gesture, cupping her hands as if forming a rice ball.
The blizzard then shifted shape and transformed into a sphere.
The sphere gradually shrank, eventually becoming a snowball smaller than a palm.
I’d assumed they would revive as it had when attacked by the Heavenly Whip earlier. However, the shadow fragments that had scattered during compression were unable to escape the snow prison either and remained trapped in place.
“As the girl over there mentioned earlier, mutations can be defeated by destroying their core or overwhelming them with an irregular power that consumes the irregular power they contain. Like this, you see──”
“What!?”
The girl lightly tossed the chunk of blizzard in her hand.
Simultaneously, she began sucking in air as if drinking through a straw.
Then, the blizzard chunk floating in the air swiftly retracted into her mouth.
She gulped down the blizzard, swallowing it all in one go.
“Phew… That’s the end of it.”
“”…””
The absurdity of her battle tactics left Yuzuki-kun and me utterly speechless.
No way… She actually swallowed the mutation?
Ignoring our stunned reactions, the girl placed a hand on her stomach and wore a slightly troubled expression.
“Hmmm… Not nearly enough. At this rate, who knows when my power will fully recover?”
“Eh, so that just now restored some of your power?”
“Umu. It’s a drop in the bucket, but…”
While I stood there, utterly dumbfounded by the girl’s outrageous statement, Yuzuki-kun spoke up with a serious expression.
“This girl… is extremely dangerous. She’s top-tier among the mutations.”
“Y-yeah. I know that…”
Having fought her myself, I knew just how dangerous she was.
But it seems she made a contract with me even before that. What am I supposed to do now?
As if reading my mind, the girl gave me a look of utter exasperation.
“Still worrying? Didn’t I tell you? I am already your servant. I obey your commands and cannot do anything you don’t wish. That’s who I am now.”
“How did that happen? Are you okay with that?”
“It’s not a matter of being okay. It was the only way for me to survive. I had just been born when you defeated me. I was on the verge of vanishing. To survive, I offered you my power. It’s true that my power plummeted after I was defeated, but by residing within your body and absorbing mutations like this one, I’ll eventually regain my strength. In hindsight, I consider becoming your servant a stroke of luck.”
“I-I see…”
For now, this girl was under my control, so she couldn’t cause the same mischief as before.
Instead… I’d become this girl’s master.
I couldn’t help but clutch my head in frustration, but the girl just smiled brightly.
“Well, isn’t that just fine? I’ll defeat the mutations that my master can’t finish off! Not so bad, right?”
“Well… I suppose so…”
…No, that’s not it! I just wish I hadn’t been dragged into this bizarre situation in the first place!
Seriously, what kind of day is this? I went to the shrine for the first time this year, and I immediately got caught up in trouble!
Tormented by these bizarre events, I managed to defeat the shadow.
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Bro’s a problem magnet
Vol 20 is out
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