On our last supper, which sounds more ominous than it needs to, I used all the remaining preserved boar meat and we enjoyed this feast before the big day.

I sat my 2shade clone on Raptor while I went on foot. We exited the square and double checked on all the traps while we carefully made our way through the path where that stupid cloud creature ambushed us.

We quietly walked while being wary of any monsters. n.o.body felt like talking. We were all getting increasingly nervous as we approached the fairy square Reina was holed up at.

“Sure, don’t sweat it”

“Dude, this plan is pretty much perfect, we’ll buy the time you need”

“Yeah, I won’t let you down”

I then put on my white ghillie suit and sat down against the wall in a small depression near our destination. I laid still, closed my eyes, and concentrated on controlling the clone.

“Uoh! Don’t talk so suddenly with that thing”

“Eh~, seriously? I’m hurt”

Though I admit having two of the same person in the same place would creep me out too. This clone is neither transparent nor has any sort of ‘Player 2’ tinting, so appearance-wise at least, you can’t tell the difference.

But I’m already in standby mode, and there’s no way we can backtrack now. We’ll reach our field of battle in under 30 seconds.

“Reinchan...”

It’s his usual immature jealousy, but I’ll be glad if it will work in fueling his hate towards guardian beast SOUMA in this fight.

I call it, the Reverse Amno-Iwato! It’s pretty similar to the story you hear in grade school: When Amaterasu the sun G.o.ddess stayed reclusive in her cave, everyone threw a grand party outside which caused her to be caught when she curiously peeked out. But instead of catching her interest with fun, we’ll be acting as villains to coerce her into coming out. Basically, we’re threatening her.

I stood at the entrance to the square, inhaled, and loudly declared war.

Reina, in a cat-like reflex, instantly s.h.i.+fted her head towards my yell in a fl.u.s.ter. That goes the same for SOUMA who was embracing her.

I was shouting my heart out.

“Now, everyone together”

“You’re better than thaaat!”

“COME AT ME SOUMA YOU b.a.s.t.a.r.d! I’MMA f.u.c.kING KILL YOU DEAD!!”

Now, what’ll she do…

“Sure thing Reina. I will, no, we will quickly remove these pests for you”

One, a torus that blazed like an inferno, and the other a square that crackled with purple lightning. These were of course, the summoning circles that called forth Reina’s primary battle force: The infernal lion, Engard, and the thunder hawk, Ramdane.

“Yuu-kun, En-chan, Ram-kun… protect me ok”

SOUMA, still looking the exact replica he was, put on a refres.h.i.+ng smile while Engard and Ramdane roared their fury.

“What’s wrong ‘beasts’? Scared of losing to us superior humans! You’ll make fine pelts after we’re done with you!”

Now if only we could get a one-shot kill here –– Of course, we won’t.

SOUMA silently cast wind magic to steer Rem’s arrow staggeringly off course. There’s no time to fire a 2nd.

“Get baaack!!”

Everyone, ready and reacting instantly, turned and ran like their life depended on it. It was now ‘Tag, you’re dead.’

The enemy simply had more speed. So to slow them down, s.h.i.+mokawa quickly cast Aqua s.h.i.+eld but it was instantly nullified by Engard’s fire breath.

“Run!”

“s.h.i.+mok.a.w.kun, get ready –– Rotten Bog!”

Anyway, I’m the decoy so I’ll have to do enough to make it believable.

Trap number one. We waited till they were close enough to a spot I previously dropped my blood on, and s.h.i.+mokawa erected an Acid s.h.i.+eld.

Thanks to s.h.i.+mokawa’s superb timing, Engard, who’d been the closest saw that he couldn’t blast it away with fire from so close, probably thought a mere s.h.i.+eld like this was child’s play for him, and attempted to bust through physically.

But the acid should have had some effect.

Engard emerged, roaring furiously, from beyond the shower of acid and deluge of white smoke. He looked like he hadn’t taken any damage… But he was a bit slower.

“He’s tougher than I thought. Looks like we’ll have to really squeeze through this one”

But we weren’t so lucky that they would only be chasing us. They had magic too.

“Uoh! Close call!!”

“f.u.c.k dude, they’re really laying it on us –– Aqua s.h.i.+eld”

Having escaped that close shave with death, he cast his barrier spell anew. But this wall of water spread out to block the pa.s.sage was also instantly broken.

This time it was a large Aer Sagitta from SOUMA that cut apart his s.h.i.+eld. This strong… It must have been a mid-tier variation.

“We gotta do something dammit!”

We’ll soon be at the widest area on this path. It’s the place with that pink gas.

They’re underestimating us, but that’s good. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have gotten as far as we have.

Engard, who was the biggest of the bunch, was first in the line and covered almost the whole width of the pa.s.sage while SOUMA and Ramdane were following behind in single file. The ceiling wasn’t too high so Ramdane couldn’t shoot down at us either.

Honestly, it’s not like we were going there without knowing the risks. But we didn’t have a better choice.

“s.h.i.+t, this isn’t looking good at all”

Alright, guess it’s time.

“GAGAGA!”

I’ll have to leave behind not only Rem but also Raptor here. Rem would be instkilled against 3 guardian beasts, but the two of them should get us some time.

Leaving some proverbial last words, I rolled off Raptor’s back and started running.

So even a low-energy boy like me could maintain a steady pace.

This time was critical, and we all knew it. We ran across the large area without a thought to spare.

“GYOAAAAAAA!!”

Their strengths were leagues apart after all. Even the best Rem I’d constructed from Tendou-kun’s collection paired with Arachne were instantly beaten by just Engard and Ramdane. A simple raptor and a Rem made with raptor parts were even more hopeless.

They’d lasted a whole 10 seconds. Which, as it happens, was more than enough time for us to get out.

We were out of the danger zone and back to running through the pa.s.sage. The goal was in sight.

We practically leaped into the fairy square with Engard’s roar behind us.

Once in, Ueda and Nakai split up and quietly hid behind the few remaining fairy walnut trees. s.h.i.+mokawa and Yamada did the same.

“End of the line”

“GRRR”

After him, Engard entered with with a low growl, his fur slightly unclean from continuously bas.h.i.+ng into acid, and Ramdane let off sparks as if to intimidate me.

It’s great that they aren’t in a hurry to kill me. So I used this chance to strike up a random conversation with SOUMA hoping to drag this out as long as I can.

“No I’m not. I’m Reina’s friend you know? If I died, she’d be missing a lot of conveniences, right?”

“Don’t you see? I was intentionally playing the heavy role of villain, for her. You guardian beasts are strong, I’ll give you that. But can YOU cook a variety of delicious food and instantly prepare a hot bath? If I’m not there, Reina won’t have any of that luxury in this dreary dungeon. Who knows, she might not even be able to survive without those you know? Ah, I got an idea, flash of inspiration really. You’re a fake but you’re still Soumkun right? So maybe she’ll listen to you if not us? Tell you what, you go back to her right now and tell her to listen to what I say. How about it? If she comes here and give me a genuine ‘I’m sorry’, I might just start thinking about kind of slightly forgiving her. You get my flow?”

Hmm. Guess no more talky time.

Our back and forth just now happened probably because, as SOUMA was made to feel human, he was instinctively compelled to hold conversation. He came here under orders from Reina to kill us, and probably didn’t possess any thoughts besides that. He was not angry thinking how selfish my speech was, nor could he think I may have a point. He didn’t have a ‘heart’ to consider Reina from; practically, like a robot.

“Alright, have it your way, faker. You, that stupid mutt, and the dumb bird too. You’re in for an a.s.s whooping”

I didn’t need to though. They’re primary target was me to begin with since Reina hates me the most out of all of us. So these beasts that are so in tune with her must hate my guts just as much.

Engard leapt at me before any of the others.

And I make due on my grudges ––

“Uggh!?”

Engard pounced at me like a real lion, not with magic, but with it’s teeth and claws. I couldn’t do anything to stop the huge but agile monstrosity.

I would be literally dead, if I wasn’t a clone. There’s no pain. Obviously there’s no pain.

But it’s enough to do the job. I’ve completed my role as decoy, so I calmly gave the final go-ahead.

With that, my windpipe was chewed up and my link disconnected.

“… I’m coming for you, Reina”