Chapter 750: Death Match IV: Twist

Editor: Tseirp

He had already sacrificed his left arm.

By letting his left arm be cut off, he would throw off the path of Garwin’s fist and protect his own neck.

Then, by trading wounds with him, he would use his right arm alone to cut Garwin’s head off.

That was Ryo’s plan.

But… that right arm was cut off as well.

It was not Garwin’s sword that had severed it.

The instant his right arm was severed, Ryo recognized it too.

A lightning-fast step-in.

Shiden Issen. (TLN: Purple lightning flash)

Just as the name suggested, a sword flash like a bolt of lightning severed Ryo’s right arm.

Why?

He knew why.

There was no other sword flash like this. There was no one else who could produce it.

He had experienced it before.

As the dust settled, that person… no, that Phantomkin revealed herself.

“Marie…”

A groan escaped Ryo’s mouth.

“Long time no see, Ryo. I still think Ryo looks better with an arm missing… Huh? Both arms are gone? I only cut off the right one.”

“Garwin took my left arm, and you took my right.”

“Oh…”

Marie shrugged.

That’s right. When Ryo and Marie had fought in the Eastern Countries, Ryo had also lost an arm to Marie’s quick-draw sword technique.

And this time as well…

The bleeding had stopped.

Rather, he had connected the blood flow of his two severed arms and was forcibly circulating it through his body.

“I realized Ryo was here, so I instinctively jumped in and cut off your arm, but… you were fighting, weren’t you?”

“…What kind of greeting is that?”

After Marie explained, Ryo answered with a grimace.

Ryo thought that instinctively jumping in and cutting off someone’s arm was not the sort of greeting one should give.

Then again, she was not human.

She was not someone to whom the common sense Ryo knew would apply.

“Phantomkin, do you want to kill Ryo too?”

“Huh? Ah… Spellno? So, Ryo was fighting a Spellno. I did want to fight Ryo face-to-face again, but that looks a little difficult now. Go ahead and do as you please.”

“I see. Then I’ll finish Ryo off.”

With that, Garwin gave an ominous smile.

“Ryo!”

Abel’s shout reached Ryo as well.

Faintly.

(This is bad…)

Even Ryo could tell that he was in a dire situation.

He glanced toward Abel.

Abel was facing not only Oranj, but also a female Retainer and a male Retainer.

The Retainers other than Oranj were positioned to prevent anyone from reaching Ryo.

It was three against one.

Even for Abel, whose strength had increased after going to the Eastern Countries, the situation looked extremely difficult.

Was there anything?

Was there any chance to turn this around?

He had been searching all this time.

Then, the gaze that had been searching suddenly turned toward the sky.

In the direction of that gaze, space was carved away into pitch-black darkness.

“I will not allow it.”

A voice boomed from beyond the blackness.

“I will not allow it. I will not accept it. Being killed by someone other than me…”

Light emanated from the blackness.

Garwin, who had been about to deliver the finishing blow to Ryo, and Marie, who had been watching beside him.

The two instantly sensed the danger and leaped back.

Ryo could not move.

That voice he had just heard… he knew it.

“I will not allow it.”

It was the same voice as before.

The voice of the one who had just struck the ground.

“I told you, I am the one who will kill Ryo.”

It was the voice of the one who wanted to kill Ryo more than anyone else.

“I will not accept Ryo being killed by anyone other than me.”

That’s right. It was the voice of the Akuma who insisted on killing Ryo head-on.

In a sense, it belonged to someone Ryo knew very well…

“Leonor…”

Leonor, the enraged Akuma, descended upon them.

“Why…?”

The question that escaped Ryo’s mouth was only natural.

“I told you, I am the one who will kill Ryo. I will not allow him to be killed by anyone other than me.”

“Ah, yes. Sorry.”

“Unless the opponent is a Dragon King, there is no way I can allow you to be killed by a Spellno or a Phantomkin.”

“I see…”

Ryo could only be overwhelmed as Leonor questioned him rapidly, driven by anger.

Of course, no one around them could move either.

Garwin and Marie.

Abel, Oranj, Isolda, and Vim Lowe.

And the people of the Bardael Emirate watching from atop the city walls.

No one could move or even open their mouths as they stared at Leonor, who had descended from the sky, and Ryo, whose both arms had been severed.

“That looks painful.”

“Don’t you happen to have a potion that can make an arm grow back in an instant?”

“I don’t. Humans can’t make something like that either, can they?”

“I thought so too, but…”

As Ryo answered, he glanced at Marie, the Phantomkin.

“I used a potion like that once before.”

That’s right. When he fought Marie in the Eastern Countries, the potion Marie gave him after the battle had made his arm grow back.

Even Kenneth Hayward, renowned as a genius alchemist, could not make something like that.

Marie had answered that she had received such a potion from a vampire.

A vampire who was better with a sword than Marie.

“There is such a potion? How interesting. I have no need for one, but if I find one next time, I’ll tell Ryo about it.”

“Thank you.”

Ryo thanked her.

Even so, both his arms remained severed just below the elbows.

“I’ll defeat both of them.”

“Just one… please.”

Ryo protested Leonor’s declaration.

“What will you do about the other?”

“Of course, I’ll defeat her.”

“With those arms?”

“If there’s only one opponent, there is no problem. This much is just a handicap.”

“…It doesn’t look that way.”

Looking at Ryo’s arms, severed below the elbows, Leonor answered honestly.

From her perspective, whether it was an Akuma or an Phantomkin, she simply did not want Ryo to be killed by anyone other than herself.

She wondered whether he could really win with both arms missing.

“It’s all right. I can’t manage one against two, but one against one… I’ve fought her before.”

Ryo stated it clearly.

There was a light of determination in his eyes.

After confirming that, Leonor nodded.

“Then I shall defeat the Spellno.”

“Then I’ll defeat Marie, the Phantomkin.”

“Ryo, I will not allow you to die.”

“Leonor, I’m not going to die.”

Leonor and Ryo nodded to each other, then each walked toward the opponent they would face.

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