17 Chapter 17: Lyia’s Chosen

Unable to withstand the pressure, I caved in and stepped to the side. Asura's sword slashed through the space where I had been standing and cut a deadly swathe through the tall grass. Had I still be standing there when his blade fell, I would have been cleaved cleanly in half.

I gritted my teeth and thrust my staff at Asura. He didn't even bother to dodge. My eyes widened when I blew a hole through his body. Asura merely stayed still, grabbing my staff and holding it firmly in place. His face remained concealed behind that never-changing mask, but I bet he was smirking underneath.

This is the same tactic I used against Kijima!

I quickly let go of my staff before Asura slashed me.

"Gaaaaah!"

I almost blacked out from the pain. Even though it was a slight graze, especially since I succeeded in avoiding a fatal blow by stepping back in time, the red-hot agony flooded my mind and overwhelmed me. Staggering back, I forced myself to stand, heaving heavily as my healing prowess kicked in.

"Oh?"

Asura sounded curious. He pulled the staff out of his body and tossed it to me. The plants trailed around him and mended his wound near-instantaneously. He watched as my own cuts closed up, leaving pink flesh.

"You're the same as me."

"In terms of having the Regeneration ability, I guess so."

I caught the staff and shrugged haplessly. There was no point telling my enemy that I was an undead. Knowledge was power, and the less I gave to my enemy, the more advantageous it would be for me.

Asura studied me for another second, and then he raised his katana and slashed at me. However, as he attacked, several knights attacked him from behind.

"…!"

Asura spun around and slashed at them, but the knights deftly ducked his katana. Among them was the knight commander, who landed on the ground and thrust his sword into Asura's torso, cleaving through the armor.

"Get away, kid! We'll distract him long enough for you to run!"

"Huh? Run?" I stared at him in disbelief. "And leave you guys behind?"

"Don't worry about us! The 5th Lancer Dragoon Company will be here soon to reinforce us! With our combined power, we should be able to overwhelm this demon!"

"How naïve." Asura knocked several knights away with his sword, beheading one of them. "You think reinforcements can save you? I'll wipe you out, and then destroy whatever fools who dare come here. Hmm, maybe I'll use your corpses to warn them."

At his words, several more flower-monsters lunged up from the foliage behind the knights. The human warriors fought valiantly, turning their back on the demon temporarily to ward off the immediate threat.

"…!"

Asura whirled around to face me, his mangled body regenerating from the plants that crawled toward him. As always, the speed of his regeneration was astounding.

Damn it…I thought I could completely destroy his whole body with Doombolt. He's too powerful, huh?

I took a deep breath and charged. I needed to keep Asura busy and distract him from the knights. The commander seemed to have realized my intention, for he risked turning to me and yelling a warning.

"Don't worry, kid! We'll be fine! It's our duty to protect civilians!"

"I'm not a civilian," I told him flatly. Ducking under Asura's sword, I countered with a riposte that blew off Asura's head. When he tried to grab hold of the staff, I obliterated a huge part of his body with Doombolt. However, even with most of his head and right arm missing, his left hand swung forward to slash me with his sword.

"Whoa!"

I jumped back, avoiding the lethal blade by just a hair's breadth. My school uniform jacket split apart, the fabric unable to withstand the sharp wind pressure from the katana. Fortunately, it didn't graze my skin. The remains of my jacket floated down, leaving just the shirt behind.

"Ugh!"

Behind Asura, the knights screamed and shrieked as they were gradually being overwhelmed by the flower monsters.

"Your allies are slowly dwindling," Asura declared. I could hear the grim smile in his voice. "Soon you'll be all alone."

I gritted my teeth as I dodged and stayed out of reach of his sword. Sparing a glance at the knights, I saw that less than half of their number remained.

At this rate, the entire battalion would be exterminated.

"I'm sorry, sir."

"?!"

The knight commander whipped his head to stare at me, baffled, when I yelled an apology to him. I bowed my head slightly before stepping back to evade another slash.

"I'll have to desecrate your dead subordinates' bodies for a bit. I'm very sorry, but if you want me to save your surviving men, you'll have to bear with my uh…unorthodox spell."

"What are you talking about?" the knight commander demanded. I didn't have time to explain with words, so I showed it to him.

Hopping several paces back and placing as much distance between myself and my enemy, I raised my staff and slammed it onto the ground. Taking a deep breath, I casted the Reanimate spell across the forested battlefield.

"Ugh…"

"Uu…"

The dead knights were coming back to life, their bodies jerkily mechanically as they rose. Their movements were rough, as if whichever puppeteer handling them was clumsily pulling on their strings and forcing them to move. Slowly but surely, they shambled across the forest and plunged after the thrashing flower monsters, groaning and reaching out with their fingers.

"You think your weak zombies can stand against my Flora?"

Asura barked out a harsh laugh as he turned to watch the sight. He was unmoved, unlike the knights. The human soldiers had frozen in fear, staring at their once living-comrades in disbelief as they returned from beyond the grave.

"What manner of atrocities is this?"

"How dare you…"

"You're a monster!"

"Do you want to live or not?"

I directed this at the commander, who was looking shell-shocked. He turned to me, his eyes still wide and blank.

"Make a decision now. Do you want to save your remaining men, or do you want to die because you can't be flexible with your beliefs?"

"How dare you…! You think we'll abandon our principles just so we can save our lives?"

"Don't underestimate us!"

"Death over dishonor!"

"If you want to die so badly," I retorted in a chilling voice. "Then I don't mind leaving you guys here to die by yourselves. I don't know how long your reinforcements will take to arrive, but I guarantee that at least 90% of you will be dead before they do."

The knight commander swallowed and clenched his fists tightly. I didn't blame him. It was a difficult decision for him to make, and he needed some time to sort out the mental turmoil I had just thrown him into.

Unfortunately, time was something we didn't have.

"So what do you choose? Life? Or death? If you want your men to live, I'll help you. If not, you can all die here together."

"I get it." The knight commander parried a thorny vine from a flower monster and slashed at it. With a roar of rage, he kicked it down before beheading it. "Do whatever you need to keep my men alive. But if you attempt to betray us, I'll hunt you down to the ends of Restia myself."

"But sir…!" one of the knights protested. The commander rounded on him.

"Did you not hear me, soldier? All of you! Fight alongside the zombies! We'll worry about them after we defeat this demon!"

"Yeah!"

Despite their reservations, the knights realized that they had little choice if they wanted to survive. With one final burst of strength, they formed up behind the dying zombies and defended themselves. They marched forward and slashed at the monsters.

"It's useless."

Asura was chuckling at what he deemed to be futile efforts. He turned to me, slowly shaking his head as he swung his katana down.

"Your zombies are no match for my Flora. I've said this before. You're only delaying the inevitable."

He was right. Even now, my zombies were dying by the dozens, chewed up and ripped into shreds by the flower army.

However…

"Is that so?" I pushed my glasses up my nose and smiled slyly. "Then perhaps it is time for me to tip the scales in our favor."

"…? What do you mean?"

I responded by throwing a hand up. All around me, 1,008 gravestones rose, smashing and splintering trees while splitting the dense foliage apart. The twelve symbols glowed brightly, and the zombies veiled beneath the shadows of the tombstones twisted, mutated and evolved. Their armor cracked open as their muscles and mass expanded, and they turned into more grotesque but terrifying shapes that unnerved their living comrades even further.

"What…what the hell is this?"

"How could you?"

I ignored the knights' objections and focused on directing my zombies. Under the buffs of my Thousand Astral Graves, the enhanced zombies lunged forward and ripped the hapless flower monsters apart. The Flora flailed about, stunned by the sudden increase in ferocity and strength of their prior victims. In seconds, the whole thing became a rout.

Not only were my enhanced zombies overpowering them in terms of brute strength, they were unleashing special abilities such as spawning new zombies or unleashing hellfire and Cocytus spells that bathed the forest in flame and ice. More Flora perished, unable to withstand such dread magic and aggression.

Within minutes, the tide had changed in our favor. So much so that several of my enhanced zombies bundled forward to surround and tear Asura apart.

"You think you can defeat me with these?"

Asura slashed at the first zombie, cleaving it apart, but the rest knocked him to the ground, pinning his sword arm and began tearing him apart. Asura regenerated, but the zombies were relentless and merciless, continually ripping and devouring him no matter how many times he healed himself. At this rate, he would run out of magical energy…

"Ha ha ha ha ha…"

I froze when I heard Asura's creepy laughter. Even in a situation of utter despair and pain, he hadn't fallen into panic, but was in fact amused?

"I never thought you would possess such an amazing ability…the power to buff your familiars, huh? Remarkable! Remarkable, indeed! Of course…I should have expected nothing less from a rival, from a fellow Chosen of her holiness Lyia!"

A burst of emerald flames blasted from his body, knocking my zombies over and sending them flying. Buffeted by the sudden shockwaves, I struggled to stay on my feet. I gritted my teeth and raised my head to watch a colossal torrent of green fire spike up into the heavens, even as the emerald inferno washed over the foliage.

"The Guardian is transforming?"

Even through the sickly, luminous emerald flames, I could see the shape of Asura's body shifting and distorting, growing in size. As the flames roared one final time before abating in a ferocious but harmless explosion, the smoke slowly dissipated to reveal Asura's new form.

My eyes widened when I caught sight of him.

"W…what the hell is this? You look completely different from before…"

Well, duh. That was why the process was called transformation, right?

My Absolute Appraisal kicked in and I stared at the blue holographic screen numbly, blinking as I tried to digest the new information.

Asura's Final Form: Blooming Buddha.

"Blooming Buddha?" I repeated dumbly, and then glanced at the colossal figure who now stood before me. Unlike the lean, feline-like armored figure from before, the new Asura resembled a gigantic sumo wrestler. Gone was his polymer armor and chainmail. Instead, thick green muscles rippled across his bulky body, allowing him to resemble the Incredible Hulk. A red tattoo of a lotus was imprinted on his bulging abdomen, and metal rings floated around both hands and his back, crackling with emerald lightning. He towered over me, reaching almost five meters in height.

"Goddess Evelyn…did that demon just grow into a ridiculous monster?"

"Blooming Buddha? It looks even more powerful than before!"

"Don't tell me…it was toying with us this entire time?"

The shrill voices of the living knights filled the air, even as they fought alongside their undead comrades. I paid no attention to them, my focus riveted on the Guardian's immense bulk. A hole opened up inside his chest, revealing a green fruit.

"Fellow follower of her holiness Lyia."

His voice boomed across the battlefield, several times louder than before.

"Do you know what this is?"

"If I were to guess, the forbidden fruit of knowledge."

Asura…no, the Blooming Buddha threw his head back and laughed.

"Indeed! As expected of a fellow seeker of knowledge. You really do not disappoint."

"Uh, no…that's common knowledge. The forbidden fruit of knowledge is a biblical reference…" I trailed off when I caught sight of the blank expressions on the knights' faces. That was right. It was common knowledge in my world. This was Restia, another world, which had different gods and goddesses. Given how the humans here worshipped Evelyn, I seriously doubted that Christianity and the Bible existed in Restia.

Hmm…if that was the case, then what other knowledge from Earth could I use to my advantage in this foreign world?

Well, before that, I have more important things to inquire about…

"Um…why are you showing me that fruit? Are you trying to show off the fruits of your labor?"

"…"

Asura stared at me. I sighed.

"Sorry, it seems that my attempts at making a humorous joke aren't very fruitful…"

"Okay, I get it! Enough!"

Despite being driven insane from gorging on too much knowledge, it seemed that Asura wasn't immune to my lame puns. He groaned and shook his head.

"I'll tell you how to use the fruit after you defeat me."

"That's assuming my plans to achieve victory will actually come to fruition."

"Stop it! It's not funny!"

"Sorry."

I apologized insincerely. The guy had no class if he couldn't appreciate my high-level puns. It took a person of similarly high intellect to understand such sophisticated humor. For now, I should put that intellect to better use.

Analyzing Asura's Blooming Buddha form, I noticed that his katana was gone. The source of his power, the single unchanging portion of him that didn't rely on regeneration…it was nowhere to be seen. Frowning, I scanned his massive bulk for another moment before my eyes stopped at the fruit that served as his heart.

The sensation it gives off…the magical energy signature…

My eyes widened when I suddenly understood. They were extremely similar. That fruit was a transmuted version of the weapon and remained as Asura's main source of power!

"I see. If I break your heart…ahem, literally, I'll be able to defeat you. Correct?"

"That is correct, young man."

I raised an eyebrow at his reply. I mean, I didn't actually ask the question with any expectation that he would honestly reply.

"Should you really be telling me that?"

"Does it make a difference?" Asura sneered mockingly as he took a step forward. "Even if you know, it won't change the outcome of the battle. And you would have figured it out anyway, given how intelligent you are."

"How do you know I'm intelligent?" I countered, resisting the urge to roll my eyes. "Because I wear glasses?"

Asura guffawed. "You give yourself too little credit. From our earlier exchange, I can already tell what sort of person you are. The fact that you're not recklessly charging at me alone is more than enough to inform me that you're at least smarter than most of my opponents."

The fruit disappeared as the hole in his chest closed up, and Asura returned to being an Incredible Hulk wannabe. Stomping forward, he reached out with his thick, muscular arms. The guy had the whole wrestler thing down pat.

Growling, he threw out an arm thrust – a typical sumo wrestling technique that packed immense power behind the blow. I jumped back and dodged, swallowing when I saw his fist leave a massive crater on the ground along with pulverized grass and splintered trees.

If I got hit by something like that…

Asura wasn't giving me any chance to breathe. His next attack was already coming, with a green lotus magic symbol floating around his fist. This time, it was no mere palm thrust or sumo punch. It was a magically enhanced strike – the real deal.

"You've got to be kidding me!"

I raised my staff to block the attack. Asura smirked, knowing that my puny staff wouldn't be able to completely shield me from such a devastating blow…

I smiled.

"…!

Behind Asura, my enhanced zombies lunged and bit into him, tearing him apart. With a furious growl, Asura twisted around and dislodged them. Grabbing the first zombie, he pulverized his head into the ground and reduced it into a bloody pulp. Twisting around, he smacked the second zombie and sent him flying, then stomped about to tackle the third zombie. My zombie folded in an unnatural angle, his spine snapping from the sheer force, and flew several meters away.

Crunching his leg firmly on the ground, Asura struck the remaining zombies with quick, precise swings of his meaty hands and sent them flying.

"No way…"

I felt despair and fear well up in my heart. Five of my enhanced zombies, receiving 12 different buffs from my Thousand Astral Graves, were all destroyed in an instant. Looking at how Asura was casually dusting off his hands, he clearly didn't even break a sweat.

With my strongest technique sealed, was there anything I could do against such a terrifying monster?

"If these cannon fodder are the best you can do, then you're doomed."

Sneering triumphantly, Asura turned back to me, his fist glowing as the emerald lotus materialized about it. Stomping toward me, he threw his fist forward.

"Yeah…that's assuming they are the only ones I'm relying on."

I didn't move from my spot. Instead, I glanced up and smiled as black circles appeared all around me.

"Why do you think I didn't take the chance to escape?"

I glanced at my zombies and cocked my head.

"I could have run away while my allies were distracting you. But nope. I didn't. Why do you think that is?"

"…it certainly is not because you're not an idiot."

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If the Blooming Buddha thought I would take the bait, he was sorely disappointed. But not as sore as he would be later.

"It's to prepare," I replied. I gestured toward the black circles around me. "This is plan B."

"…" Blooming Buddha spared them a glance. "What the hell are those?"

"Ever since I devoured Kijima, I had always wanted to test this out. But I hadn't achieved a single success so far. I thought that his Summon special ability would be extremely useful, especially for a necromancer for me, so it was surprising when I couldn't summon a single zombie. Apparently I haven't reached a level high enough to summon monsters or familiars like Kijima. At least not yet, anyway…"

I didn't reply to his question directly.

"What are you babbling about?" Asura demanded, but he didn't pause. His fist was still traveling in slow motion. I could almost see its trajectory.

"Well, I was thinking…if I can't summon magical beasts or familiars, then what exactly could I summon?"

"…"

Asura narrowed his eyes, sensing that something was off. But as prideful as he was, he didn't abort his attack.

Just as I expected.

"Yeah…and then I remembered that monsters weren't the only thing that Kijima summoned."

I reached out for one of the black swirling discs and began to pull something out. The handle of a sword, perhaps.

"As if I will let you!"

Roaring, Asura smashed his fist down on me. The entire area vanished in a gargantuan explosion, soil, grass and vegetation thrown haplessly into the air as the ground literally disintegrated under the sheer power of the Guardian's strike.

"That's on a completely different scale from before!"

"That kid! What is he doing?"

"There's no way that kid can fight that demon on his own!"

"Sir what do we do?!"

The knights, who managed to rally and turn the tables on the Flora, watched the entire scene in horror.

"Is that idiot trying to commit suicide!?"

"Knights!" The commander shouted, raising his sword and hacking through the last of the Flora. "Gather around me! We'll destroy that demon once and for all!"

"Oh, that's no need to worry."

The knights froze when they heard my voice. Even Asura stopped, staring disbelievingly at the scene of destruction that he caused.

"That was a deadly attack," I admitted, my figure still hidden by the smoke. "Fortunately, I managed to summon my weapon in time…or I'll be completely flattened by your fist."

"To be able to take my attack…I've revised my opinion of you."

Asura sounded impressed. I snorted.

"Oh, don't bullshit me. This level of exchange can't possibly impress you already."

As the smoke cleared, I stood unscathed. Raising a single black sword in my right hand while gripping my staff in my left, a single Dark Barrier shimmered between us. Dismissing the protective layer of magic, I stepped forward and smiled.

"Is it my turn yet?"

"Don't get ahead of yourself!"

Roaring, Asura lunged at me. Clashing both hands together, he slammed them down on me with meteoric force. From Absolute Appraisal, I immediately understood that this was not an attack I could block with Dark Barrier. The power behind the blow was so immense that it would shatter even my greatest defense within a millisecond.

I could see verdant lightning crackle and wreathed both arms, giving off a sickly glow like unnatural veins. Even though it was such a powerful attack, it was also executed at a speed that I couldn't evade.

But I had neither the need to defend nor evade it.

Dropping my staff, I unsheathed my sword and held the scabbard in my left hand. The blade glowed black, reminiscent of Kijima's summoned blade technique, but corrupted. Just as well. I couldn't use Golden Forge, after all.

I didn't need that weird spell anyway.

Both Asura and I attacked each other at the same time, his arms coming down on me in a pile driver slam while I slashed upward.

"Eh…?"

Asura froze and stared stupidly at the stumps of his arms. Green blood oozed out of his hands, metamorphosing into streams of ectoplasm.

"No way…"

The knights watched as both of Asura's arms flew through the air, tumbling clumsily as they spun end over end, their fingers still tightly clasped. The disembodied hands landed several dozen meters away and rolled to a stop in the thick vegetation.

"The Blooming Buddha's arms were cut off? Amazing! What kind of sword is that? It looks incredibly sharp!"

"No."

Even as his subordinates cheered, the knight commander alone seemed to understand the sheer impossibility of it. He solemnly stared at the gleaming sword in my hand, narrowing his eyes as he analyzed the situation.

"The Blooming Buddha's arms possess incredible power within them. They are not something you can cut through just because your sword is merely sharp."

This guy gets it.

Yeah, well…if it was that simple, I wouldn't bother summoning a sword. I would have just borrowed one from the dead knights.

The knight commander swallowed, and then continued.

"It looks like there is a hidden ability in that boy's sword."

Wow, the guy was pretty sharp. No wonder he was the commander of this knight battalion. I couldn't help but feel myself warm up upon hearing his analysis.

Smiling, I slashed the air, causing a huge, sudden airflow with the sword pressure, and turned to my opponent.

"Well, then…let's put an end to this, shall we?"