When I Returned From Another World I Was A Silver Haired Shrine Maiden: Chapter 90

A Decisive Battle On Christmas Eve (Start Of The Battle)

Me and Souta were standing facing Aimok on the stage.

「You know that your mental manipulation isn’t going to work on us, right?」

I slipped back into the tone I would always use as Ikutari as I provoked Aimok. (TN: Basically Alice started using “Boku” again instead of “Watashi”)

Though my tone as a woman came out naturally during normal conversations, when fighting, my conditioning was removed and my originally tone came out.

「Do you think that mental manipulation is the only thing darkness magic can do? Darkness governs over the power of destruction, as such, allow me to show you how it’s really meant to be used.」

Though I had received a blessing of darkness in the past, I had never actually received any instruction on how to use it since there was no priest or shrine maiden of darkness at the temple. Because of that, my knowledge of darkness magic comes from only what I’ve seen my enemies use.

『In any case, in this world without blessings, large scale magic shouldn’t be usable.』

Alicia tells me and Souta about the current situation using telepathy. Obviously, the connection with Aimok has already be cut.

『I think the best path is to engage in physical combat while using your magic as a counter for his. Until we see our opponent’s hand, we shouldn’t overextend. — Let’s go.』

『『Yeah!』』

I cast physical strengthening magic (small) on myself and readied my body for combat.

At first glance, Aimok appeared to be using the same shadow manipulation magic he was using before, with the darkness at his feet rising up and threatening us in a snake like fashion.

「The number of shadows is troublesome… I’ll counter them first.」

I started to cast my magic. Five spears of ice, each around one meter long, appeared floating in the air around me.

「Let’s go, ice lance!」

In response to my words, the spears accelerated in a straight line towards Aimok.

「Fuun, such a thing…!」

Aimok extended his arm in front of him, causing the shadows to left and right of him to grow, creating a half circle in front of him before forming into a lattice shaped barrier.

All of my spears hit that barrier of darkness, exploding on contact.

In the brief moment where his visibility was blocked by the shards of ice, I kicked the ground and rushed towards him. Carrying that momentum, I slashed the barrier of darkness with my staff.

The darkness in front of me was torn apart like it was made of butter, and Aimok became visible on the other side.

「I got you!!」

Taking another step forward, I swung my staff towards Aimok’s side.

I felt my attack connect, however, the blow was blocked by Aimok’s arm.

Normally, if it was only his arm, my blow would have been enough to break his bone, however, Aimok’s arm was wrapped in something like a dark flame that dampened the blow.

「… To be able to tear my shadow.」

「This staff is made from wood of the world tree, as such, it carries the divine protection of the light attribute… Though it seems like it couldn’t break through that thing on your arm.」

「This arm of darkness is the very essence of my fighting technique, the concept behind it is to wear darkness itself. It isn’t something that you can easily break through.」

「This again, it sounds like something a chuunibyou would come up with… Toh!」

I made another blow towards his shoulder, then used the rebound to follow up with another blow, continuing to unleash consecutive attacks at a speed that would be impossible to follow by an ordinary person.

However, all of them were prevented by the dark flames that covered Aimok’s arms.

Naturally, Aimok is using the same physical strengthening magic as me. Because of that, I wasn’t superior when it came to physical ability, on the contrary, I was inferior due to the size of my body.

Though I kept driving attacks into him, all of them had were completely blocked.

『Ikuto-san, you’re committing too much! Pull back and regain your stance!』

At Alicia’s words, I stopped my aggression. As my narrowed field of vision returned to normal, I noticed movement in the corner of my view.

「… Chi!」

I jumped backwards as a spear of darkness pierced the area where I was a moment before.

One of the shadows that was following after it changed it’s direction, facing towards me, who had lost my balance while in the air.

「This is dangerous…!」

I swung my staff, but failed to cut it out of the air.

The shadow approached me.

「As if I’d let you do that!」

The next moment, a figure appeared in front of me. It was Souta, holding a wooden sword in his hand.

Souta clashed with the shadow that was rushing towards me. Diverting it’s trajectory as a result of the impact.

We took some distance from Aimok and stood back to back.

「Thank you, Souta, you saved me.」

「Idiot, stop trying to do everything by yourself.」

「… My bad.」

As we stood like that, while speaking back to back, shadows as thick as an arm came from all sides.

Though they weren’t much of a threat, they were numerous and annoying to deal with.

We briefly exchanged ideas using telepathy while dealing with them.

『Even though I say that, honestly, I can barely follow the battle between you and Aimok. Even if I join in, I’ll only end up getting in your way… So what will you do? Can you beat this guy?』

『There are various ways to beat him if we can find a hole in his armor. Though it’s possible to strengthen one’s physical ability using magic, one’s defense isn’t that much different than an ordinary person. Therefore, if we can land a single hit, there is a high chance that it will end it.』

『… Likewise, if I take a blow, it’s likely to be a fatal wound.』

『There’s no choice but to land a hit before getting hit yourself. Because of the support magic he’s using, there is no other option than to go for that plan. Ikuto-san will face Aimok, while Souta-san will be on alert for the shadows.』

『Got it, leave your back to me.』

『I’m counting on you, Souta. You too, Alicia, please continue to support me!』

We broke from our position and once again faced Aimok.

… Now, let the second round begin.