Chapter 4 — Sleep, until your life is over • Episode 4–3 — Master And Disciple ④
Translated by KaiesV
Edited by KaiesV
The Diest, silhouetted like a man-horse with a human torso attached to the lower body of a strong beast, aims at Succubus, sending a part of its own body flying like a bow and arrow. The arrow was shot down by Shadow’s scythe just before it reached Succubus and disappeared, but before it had time to catch her breath, two or three arrows were shot and she was forced to defend herself.
「Saki! Don’t you have any other magic you can use!?」
「The only magic that can be used in battle is the Gate Of Nightmares～! I have some leftovers, but I can’t give them out here because they are used up only once!!」
「Then go home! You’re slowing me down!」
The opposing Diest is an Earl-class Diest, and for Shadow, it is a single, evenly matched opponent. If Succubus’ Gate Of Nightmares is hooked well, it is an easy opponent to beat, but this time, unfortunately, it seems that they have drawn the hapless one. A herd of sleepy-faced sheep is marching tediously through the open gate, and they aren’t going toward the Diest, but have broken their knees and begun to sleep as soon as they leave the gate. The world beyond the Gate Of Nightmares was a traffic jam of sheep because of the blocked exits.
「If I don’t close the gate, I can’t use any other magic!!」
Magical Girls have individual differences in the number of magic spells they can use at the same time, and Succubus, who are still new, can only use one spell at a time. Since she had used such a precious slot for the Gate Of Nightmares, and since the gate couldn’t be closed due to the traffic jam, Succubus couldn’t even use the transfer magic to return home, and was completely slowed down.
「Damn it! Shadow Beast!」
Shadow had the ability to deal with a variety of opponents, including one-on-one fights, escapes, or even packs of mooks, but she didn’t have the best magic to protect her foot soldiers. It would be easier if her Shadow Demons were determined, but the enemy Diest has the means to attack at long range and cannot get close enough to it while protecting Succubus. In order to break out of this defensive situation, the shadow-spawned dependents of Shadow went to the sheep sleeping in front of the Nightmare Gate, not to the Diest, and began to carry them impatiently out of the gate.
The only two means of Shadow attacking that can inflict a painful blow on a Earl-class Diest were a blow with her dedicated weapon or the creation of Shadow General. The former is an option that cannot be chosen even if she wanted to choose it as long as she cannot get close to it, and the latter would leave her with no extra strength to protect Succubus.
That is why the third option was a move to quickly get the foot soldiers out of the way,
「What!? Guuugh!?」
At the same time that Shadow was startled by the unbelievable sight, she was caught in a momentary lapse of time and was struck by a blow.
The man-horse Diest, which had been shooting arrows from more than 100 meters away without moving, moved to the front of the Nightmare Gate and began kicking and crushing the Shadow’s dependents without stopping to snipe.
「How is this possible, no matter how much they learn…」
It’s not at the level of saying that once an attack is shown, it doesn’t go through. That Diest’s action is a move that wouldn’t have been possible unless they understood that coughing up the gate could be an effective move in this battle. The level of intelligence is too different from the previous Diest that only ramp up to disorder and learn simply through experience. They should’ve realized this when they were relentlessly targeting Succubus in the first place. They knew that by doing so, they would be able to kill both Shadow and Succubus, not by accident.
「M–Master, are you alright!? W–What should I do!?」
「It’s just a scratch. It’s hard to protect you when you’re moving around. Stay in the shadows.」
Having said that, she doesn’t see any effective moves at the moment. Shadow thought about creating a shadowy underlings to attack the Diest, but decided it would be a waste of magical power, considering that she was easily kicked to the curb earlier. Just as Shadow was beginning to show her endurance fighting stance, wondering if it would be best to play root-and-pocket and wait for help from other Magical Girls, the Diest suddenly split in half vertically.
It was not attacked by another Magical Girl attack, but it split apart. And yet, its size hasn’t changed. The size of the Man-horse Diest was about the same as a normal racehorse, and Shadow also thought it was small for the Earl-class, but it was apparently compressed to a high density.
「…You’re kidding me.」
If the number of Diests is doubled, the number of attacks is also doubled, of course. The black arrows, which had been able to be dodged with some leeway earlier, were now being fired twice at almost the same time, and Shadow’s defenses were becoming on edge. Still, somehow, if she doesn’t lose focus, she’ll manage to knock it off.
「N–No way…」
Behind Shadow, Succubus who was hiding in the shadow of a telephone pole, shouts in despair. If not for Succubus, Shadow would have said the same thing. The Diest further split up, as its number increased to four bodies and the number of arrows fired increased to four.
「Shadow Beeeeeeaaasssttt!!!」
The scythe alone couldn’t keep up with her hands, and she used her dependents like shields to defend herself against the fierce attacks. There was no time to talk about wasting magic power.
More Diest split as they mocked Shadow, who was defending herself in a frantic fashion. At that moment, Shadow realized she could take no more. The first, second, or even third wave might be able to survive, even with some injuries. But beyond that, it is impossible. The production of her shield, her dependents, will not be able to keep up. If they are further split up, she won’t be able to prevent even the first shot.
「Please close and shut quickly! If this stays longer, Master will——!」
Succubus understood this and continued to frantically order herself to close the Gate of Her Nightmare. In this situation, she can’t even save her one-time secret weapon. But even that can only be used if the Nightmare Gate is closed.
「Shit!」
She can escape if she’s alone. If she hide in the shadows, if she abandon Succubus, she alone can be saved. Shadow knows this. But,
「I am your Master…」
She swings her scythe widely, shields her apprentice, sometimes swings her legs, catches the arrows that she still cannot drop with her body, and doesn’t allow any of them to pass behind her.
And then——
「Tornado Mixer.」
The battle to the death was brought to an end by a raging storm that interrupted abruptly, without context, and without a single word of warning. The splitting Diest, the arrows that had been released, and the nightmare gate were all equally swallowed by the tornado and vanished into dust.
As the tornado gradually lost its power and the world became completely silent, Succubus huffed and supported Shadow’s nearly collapsed body and sat her on the ground to lean against the wall.
「Master, it’s my fault, I’m so sorry…」
「Ah, it hurts like hell, but it’s not a fatal wound. You have something to say to the Witch first.」
Although the arrows that had pierced Shadow’s body here and there are gone now that the Diest is defeated, the scars naturally do not disappear, and Succubus is worried about Shadow, who is drenched in blood, but bows her head to the Magical Girl who appears to their rescue at her own prompting.
「Uuhh, yes!! Sylph-san! Thank you very much!」
「I’m sorry to have you helped us.」
「…Don’t mind it, it’s just that it would be troublesome if the number of Magical Girls in this town were to decrease.」
The Magical Girl, Tyrant Sylph, was as cool and unassuming as ever, and her attitude was the very character that Succubus admired, but apparently Succubus was not so insane as to get excited in this situation.
「Umm, I’m really sorry about what happened before!!」
Succubus took a step toward Sylph to thank her, and bowed to her again for the hypnotic and enchantment magic she had used the other day. The red-faced sylph, without hearing Shadow’s restraint, was enveloped in a shifting magic circle and left.
「I knew it, she’s mad at me for turning that red… But I’m glad you’re saved, Master.」
「No, I mean, she’s not angry, but… Wait, I think I’m at my limit. I’m going to get some sleep. Call the Magical World and get me a medical fairy.」
「I understand! Have a good rest, Master. Thank you for protecting me.」
「Hah, don’t get me wrong, I just, I–I just wanted to…」
Perhaps she had lost her judgment because she had lost so much blood, but Shadow left a few words that she had no idea what the misunderstanding was, and began to sleep with a regular breath.
