Someday Will I Be The Greatest Alchemist?

Chapter 212: A Clash, Former Heroes

When I was about to head in the direction of the heroes, Akane called out to me.

「Takumi, I’m going too. I have a duty to face Akira and Yamato.」

「No, you don’t have a duty to, Akane. Their current situation is what they chose.」

「Even then. Let me fight with you, please.」

「Okay. Sophia, Lulu-chan, Maria, support Akane.」

「Understood.」

「Akane-sama, Lulu will protect you nya.」

「Takumi-sama, you be careful too.」

We mowed down the enemies that were being obstacles in our path as we hurried towards the former heroes.

Maybe because we’re in a war right now, we didn’t stop to consider whether the enemies should or shouldn’t be killed.

We sent the enemies to their graves based on our justice.

Justice depends on where one stands, and they too had their own justice. However, perhaps their side and ours would clash no matter how far we go.

Let’s not forget the feeling of cutting through man’s flesh and ending their lives.

As it had become a melee, I switched my weapon to a sword, and Sophia to her sword and round shield.

When we broke through to center of the enemy camp which was verging on destruction, we found our targets.

Akane loudly called out their names.

「Akira! Yamato!」

「U, a, ………aa, kill.」

「E, enemies, kill, kill.」

Two hollow-eyed youths that didn’t give proper responses.

「Akira! Yamato! Wake up!」

Akane’s heartbreaking scream did not reach them.

Recognizing us as enemies, they faced us and attacked fiercely.

Gan! Gachi!

I blocked Akira’s sword, which swung towards Akane, using my own.

Sophia used her shield to parry Yamato’s knuckle duster.

「Akane! Move back! These two are hopeless!」

I’m sure of it having seen them up close. The two Japanese high schoolers were completely different from when we last met.

Their complexion was close to gray, their physiques were distorted, slobbering as they attacked with bodies leaking miasma.

Akira’s sword speed was fast and powerful. If by speed alone, it might even be faster than mine. However, the swordsmanship of someone who has lost his senses no longer has any technique and is easy to read, so I was able to deal with it calmly.

Akane attacked Yamato with the Light Attribute Magic 【Holy Shot】. Holy Shot isn’t that high in terms of attack power, but against the miasma-encroached Yamato, it was extremely effective.

While Sophia used feints with her sword and shield and Akane attacked with magic, Maria and Lulu-chan supported them by not letting the surrounding enemies close.

Sophia skillfully handled Yamato’s two-handed knuckle rush. Numb to fear and pain, Yamato’s movements didn’t falter even when Akane’s magic didn’t let any opening pass.

Yamato’s movements were reaching its limits, Akane resolved herself to defeat her countryman and friend.

As I parried Akira’s sword with the sword in my right hand, I aimed for the moment we’re both approaching and invoked 【Synthesis】 on his armor with my left hand.

Actually, if I use 【Decomposition】 then things would be much faster, but in a battle we move around in high speeds, it’s impossible to use such a slow-activating method. And so, I mixed the metals in Akira’s armor with the carbon in the air using 【Synthesis】. I did this over and over again.

Akira’s equipped armor was a shiny silver mithril alloy knight armor with sophisticated enchantments, a national treasure-class item.

But even then, if I coat a sword with tons of magic power, I can cut it right in half by myself. However, I was reluctant to slay a fellow countryman so violently.

Can’t I bring them back somehow………

Through repeated exchanges, the carbon content of Akira’s armor increased too much and it had become brittle. When my palm hit it when we passed each other, it shattered.

Now that Akira had been stripped of his armor, I moved to break his limbs to incapacitate him when, all of a sudden, the jewel inserted into the necklace hanging off of his neck flashed a bright light and Akira disappeared.

「Wha?!」

I was surprised, and when I looked towards Akane and Sophia who were confronting Yamato, Yamato had similarly disappeared.

At the same time, the soldiers of Triaria Kingdom began to retreat.

It didn’t take us that long to repel the soldiers of Sydnia who have lost their senses.

In the battlefield after the war, I helped heal the injured and clean the corpses as I questioned what those guys wanted to do.

The soldiers who raised their physical abilities explosively at the price of losing their sanity were truly powerful. In fact, the number of victims in the Trination’s army was not insignificant.

「No matter how I think about it, they were disposable, weren’t they?」

「Do you mean the soldiers that wouldn’t stop until they die once the battle starts, yes? They were, indeed. Despite being the enemies, they were quite pitiful.」

I purified the land that turned into a battlefield while talking to Sophia about Sydnia’s strangeness.

I was doubtful of the Pope’s intellect in using and throwing this many people just because he wanted to destroy the Sanctuary.

「……hey Takumi. Can we get them back?」

Akane, who was helping with the cleansing, was worried about the two boys who disappeared right in front of our eyes.

「…………it would be difficult. But all we can do is try what we can.」

「Right…………」

I thought it was more than likely to be impossible, but I simply could not tell her that.

***

Sphy’s Note:

1. I was honestly tempted to mistranslate Akane’s Holy Shot to Holy Sh!t.