Renée was walking the main street alone.
If she found a person in a place where she could kill them in one leap, she would kill them, and if she could see someone in the distance, she would kill them with magic. It was funny to Renée how everyone who saw her screamed and ran away.
After becoming this body, Renée began to strangely “understand” the emotions of the people around her. At first it seemed that there was noise running in her consciousness and she was depressed, but as she got used to it, she felt the fear and hopelessness around her like tuning the frequency of a radio.
She could identify buildings where people are hiding with this power. She slammed magic into them appropriately and destroyed them. The signs of life disappeared.
――I was able to try both swords and magic to some extent. I was also able to fight a guy who seemed reasonably strong.
… I see, this is a cheat. It’s strong.
Apparently, there seems to be no need for cooling off, Renée thinks.
Incredible power filled of Renée.
Now, I’m in the body of Dullahan. I had already been decapitated, so I did something like this.
What I can use is the red blade of a curse created from your own blood. It’s held in my hand and swung, but it’s actually a magic attack. My armor does not have resistance to magic and will tear like warm butter. It’s a bit of a first-time kill.
Next, the curse of death, which is characteristic of a Dullahan. It seems that it will gradually weaken the opponent to death… But I’m not using it now because I can kill without using such a troublesome and time-consuming technique.
And then there’s Renée’s own magic. There was a feeling that the output of this magic was considerably suppressed. A dullahan uses magic only for support even in higher species, and is a physical monster that fights mainly by sword techniques, so it may be a negative correction.
――I knew all the knowledge of magic and the undead from the beginning. That’s so helpful.
It feels like the battle has finished her break-in period.
Well, what should I do now? Renée wondered to herself.
Fortunately, this is the royal capital of Ciel-Terra. For the time being, I thought about annihilating the castle town and then destroying the castle, but since it is simply too large and there are too many people, it’s not straightforward.
If you could start a big fire, it would be no hassle, but the streets of the royal capital are stone, stone, and stone.
――It’s troublesome but, I’ll have to crush them anyway.
Up to this point, it’s been a battle to experiment with my abilities.
Maybe it’s about time I enjoy the massacre.
Renée searches around for signs of her prey. Suddenly, her senses caught a strange group.
A killing intent that cannot be hidden, and the feeling of contempt. Renée was curious because she sensed strong emotions coming from them.
There was also a trace of magic in that group. They were approaching Renée without hesitation.
“Knights?”
Earlier I fought with the the guards… But I felt that they were clearly stronger than that.
If that’s the case, they had to be the Knights.
The Kingdom of Ciel-Terra has a form of governance in which lords rule the territory under the king.
From a military standpoint, lords of large and small territories were mainly knights, and lords divided their territories to their subordinate knights, and each of them conscripted foot soldiers comprised of half farmers and half soldiers.
However, apart from that, there is a corps under the direct control of the king. The strongest force of Ciel-Terra, which receives support from the royal family and was built up through relentless training. In this country, simply “The Order of the Knights” refers to this corps.
The Knights are the pride of Ciel-Terra and are heroes for all of the people. That was also the case with Renée.
“I’ll advise you one more thing, you could theoretically become stronger than the demon king, so please be careful not to fight a strong enemy too soon.”
The words of the evil god refrain in my head.
The Knights… Can we fight them?
If you want to kill everyone, it is inevitable that you would clash with the Knights…
While I’m wondering what to do, the group gets closer.
The group of armored knights marched in an orderly fashion through the city that’s almost in ruins.
They held a banner with the emblem of a large shield surrounded by thorns and white roses. The national flag.
The group of several dozen people took a dense formation when they recognized Renée’s appearance.
A bunch of knights pointing shields in all directions as if it were a turtle with one person out of formation.
I don’t know what it is, but I’ll strike preemptively while they are crowded.
For now, I’ll kill instantly. Rene cast a spell.
“Great Roaring Turbo Bomb Explode”
A small fireball was formed in Renée’s hand and she threw it into the middle of the Knights.
The fireball flew at a speed that cuts the wind, and…
A flash of light blinded my eyes followed by a roar that echoed in the snowy sky.
A blast of flames flared up and the shockwave rolled up Renée’s cloak. The surrounding buildings were fanned and collapsed to the other side.
So much dust was kicked up that there was barely any visibility. But soon after, the wind rolls up and clears it away. It’s not Renée’s magic. In other words, it was one of the knights.
The group of knights was alive and well there.
The formation of shields in all directions was also intact save for a bit of scorching.
――… seriously? Oh, what did you do now and how?
It’s not just holding up shields. Did you take a magician inside to protect him and defend yourselves with magic? Or is there some kind of trick on the shield…
“I see. As expected, there’s no strength able to break this.”
The one knight who had not joined the Shield formation muttered.
Speaking of which, this knight had no shield or anything and should have been hit by the explosion, but he hasn’t moved.
He is a knight in silver armor with delicate decorations. Because of the full-face helmet, his real face is uncertain, but it is clearly high class equipment. The armor itself may have a high magic resistance.
The knight steps on the snow and heads towards Renée. He pulls out the long sword that hung on his waist.
That’s…!!
The shock I received when I saw the sword was as Renée, a naïve girl who lived 10 years at Ciel-Terra.
A silvery-blue blade that emits light by itself.
It’s mentioned in numerous poems and is a hidden treasure of Ciel-Terra. Tayla Ayul is a beautiful demon sword that is said to possess mighty power. Only the strongest knight in the country is the only one who can wield it.
If so, the one who’s holding that sword…
“Lawrence Reinhardt, First Commander of the Knights!”
“How about that, it seems that I’m known to monsters.”
Lawrence said as he spat.
The strongest knight of Ciel-Terra who is praised for his power and bravery. The hero of Protectorate, a man whose rumors even say that there are no children that don’t admire him. In fact, even Renée thought “He is a hero who is a person from a distant world but should be proud to be one of the people.”
But… Renee has noticed it.
Why did the king and younger brothers accomplish a coup d’état with ease against Lawrence, the strongest warrior in the world?
Why is he still here after the coup, when he should have fought to protect the king and fight if anything happens?
Why hadn’t Lawrence picked up the national treasure, Tayla Ayul?
The knights who came to capture Renée and her mother bore on the left chest of their armor, a coat of arms indicating their belonging.
Renée has no knowledge of heraldry, but… Looking at the real thing in front of her, she can’t be mistaken. That emblem, which was also engraved on the left chest of Lawrence’s armor, belonged to the First Order.
“The former king whose soul was unclean, and the whore who got with him. That daughter who was born is a silver-haired silver-eyed abomination is now a cursed undead.”
It was a voice like freezing filth, filled with deep contempt.
Sounding the brim, Lawrence points Tayla Ayul’s blade at Renée.
“I’ll you knock you back to hell. As befits a dog, you can die a second time covered in mud.”
“… I will not forgive you”
Renée’s heart, which stopped beating, burned up in a dark flame of hatred.
What hero? What Knight Commander?
“I will not forgive, I will not forgive, I will not forgive!!”
With the red blade ready, Renée rushed forward.
The cursed blade and Tayla Ayul met.
It made a strange sound different from that of ordinary swords, as if a coin was popped.
I can’t cut…!?
Until now, any sword or armor have been easily sliced by the red blade.
However, as expected, it is the supreme sword that the kingdom is proud of. Even though It met Renée’s red blade, there was no damage to the sword.
The two swords colliding scattered red sparks.
Renée looks up due to the height difference, but their power is almost equal even though Renée is one-handed.
“This is the end of the wolf
“Is that so?”
“What?”
Renée had been holding her head with one hand all the time, placed it on top of her torn neck.
Somehow it stuck together. It seems to be sticking with the same strength as a leaflet held to a refrigerator with a magnet. If you take one hit, it would blow away, but now her left hand is free.
Renée attaches that hand to Lawrence’s armor.
She felt her palms burning because his armor was protected by magic, but it was only a moment to endure.
“≪Impact Shock≫”
There was a sound like a wagon and heavy metal colliding.
Lawrence, who was blown away, stepped on the furnace and barely held on. He coughed a watery cough.
“You…”
She definitely did some damage but Renée felt magic flow into Lawrence.
It was coming from the knights in turtle shell formation behind him.
――This is… recovery magic!?
I know the aim of the strange formation.
In order to defeat Renée, whom no ordinary warrior could take on, the First Order chose to pit their strongest warriors against her at their best.
This is the solution for that. Lawrence fights alone, the sorcerer assists, and the other knights protect the sorcerer with their shields.
He’s probably not using such strange tactics for everyday battles. He analyzed Renée’s abilities in a short time and figured out how to effectively defeat her with minimal sacrifice.
If this goes on, no matter how much damage she done to Lawrence, it will be recovered.
“Then, first…!”
No matter how much you harden your defense against magic, it won’t be as strong as Tayla Ayul.
First of all, she should cut off the turtle formation with the red blade.
I tried to cut it down.
However, a sharp blow hinders Renée’s movements.
“Hah!”
A silvery-blue sword flashed, it was Lawrence using Tayla Ayul. She couldn’t react at the last moment and the blade tore a shallow cut into her flank
Blood does not flow because her body is already dead but the burning pain ran nonetheless. She couldn’t ignore damage caused by the holy spirit magic dwelling in the sword.
“Where are you going? … Am I too boring of an oponent?”
A sharp eye through the helmet penetrates Rene.
In Renée’s sense, it was only a brief moment that she was distracted from Lawrence.
It wasn’t that she ignored Lawrence, but she was going to attack the camp while keeping Lawrence on guard. But Lawrence blamed her for the gap.
Not only is his equipment amazing, his sword is also good. No wonder he’s the strongest in the nation!
Why do I have to to deal with this guy and those guys at the same time!
She could keep damaging Lawrence until the supporting magician runs out of power, but how much damage would that take?
Lawrence, has fully recovered, is about to slash at Renée. It’s a light sword technique that doesn’t take heavy armor as a thing, but the response is intense.
A few slamming blows and a deadly stab hit right where her stance was slightly off.
“Kuh!”
Renée, who received it in the middle of her red blade, couldn’t stop it and fell back. She held her head with one hand and backflipped to get some distance. Landing her near the turtle formation.
As she landed, Renée slashes the turtle formation a couple of times.
“Gyaa!”
Unlike ordinary shields, there was some resistance, but the shields that Renée slashed became exactly two, and the knight who had it also split in half.
Striking a spear protruding from the gap in the shields, Renée immediately catches Lawrence’s sword that has been closing the distance.
Okay, I can go…!
It seems that it was lacking in magic power but the red blade’s attack went through.
However, even as their comrades die in front of them, the knights don’t even seem upset.
Another knight waiting inside fills the hole left by the fallen knight and repairs the turtle formation.
This is… How many more do I have to cut down to reach the target?!
Lawrence will not fall if she does not kill the sorcerer that’s guarded in there.
An unlimited number of auxiliary and healing spells will continue to fly.
No, not only that, if you can afford it…
“Holy Arrow”!
A light blasted through the gap in the shield.
The streaks of light coming from the turtle formation are branch in the air and converge to wrap around Renée.
“Guh…!”
The cloak of the banner and the tattered underwear I had barely worn were all blown away.
There are ugly, speckled burn marks on my white skin.
The damage isn’t that big.
But.
“Huh!!”
Her movement was slowed by the impact and that was too wide of a gap for Lawrence.
From her right shoulder to her left flank, Tayla Ayul cut deeply.
That’s bad, It’s quite a lot of damage!
A wound without blood. A body that still moves. Probably, her pain sensations are also considerably suppressed than before she was alive.
However, red alert lights pop up in the corners of her consciousness. This blow is severe.
Lawrence approaches, showing the brilliance of Ayuru Tayla to Renée
As if to show what resides in the blue and silver blade.
For Renée, it was a light of spiteful deception.
“Our unity is the shield that protects our people. Know that you cannot break it!”
“Forgive… what is ah ah ah ah!”
Renée aimed a single blow.
Her warrior’s intuition as a Dullahan tells her that a fight of endurance is no longer possible.
The gap in the armor, Lawrence’s… neck!
“Ah…”
Offense and defense within a fraction of a second. Renée responded almost instinctively with no room to think.
As a result, Rene’s red blade could not reach Lawrence, and Lawrence’s Tayla Ayul pierced Renée’s chest.
Her thoughts caught up.
Immediately after cutting, Renée aimed at Lawrence’s neck to slide the blade in. She thought she could go, but it was a feint.
At the same time that Rene came to strike, Lawrence hit the final blow faster than Renée.
The red blade disappears with the sound of the glass plate breaking, and scatters in the wind.
“AAAHHHH!!”
Renée’s body collapsed.
It cracks and crumbles from hefingertips and toes, and decomposes into white ash as if bleached.
The screams echo sadly. The voice was forever echoing in the freezing wind on the main street.