So where was Leina all along during this adventure, and what was she doing? About time we answered that!
Enjoy!
Present: Leina’s Endless Battles
A huge hourglass was floating in the sky, ticking sand falling down.
Innumerable evil spirits and demonic beasts completely covered the land—by now little more than a wasteland.
An otherworldly melody echoed faintly, as if sneering at the vain struggle of the Beautiful Fighter on her lonesome.
“Haaaaaah!”
With a sudden yell, one swing cut a beast into two.
Having defeated a beast in literally one hit, Leina leapt toward the next one. She couldn’t afford to take a break.
Everywhere she looked, she could only see a flock of beasts and evil beasts. Even a single one of them had the power to destroy a small village.
Among the gory sprays of blood and moans of the beasts, the heiress locked on to the nearest beast approaching her, intent on avoiding useless battles.
The sweat falling down her forehead got into her eyes, obstructing her vision. Her reserves of strength were already close to the limit.
Still, Leina’s arm could only slay demons without pause.
Someone who didn’t know her predicament would probably think she was moving by pure momentum at that point.
“You never told me it had come to this extent, Nanael.”
She muttered in discontent, poising her sword.
Before her, an evil spirit with a huge club stood in her way.
“Guruaaaaa!”
The very moment it raised a roar and swung its club, the world totally changed around her.
The last drop of sand had fallen from the heavenly hourglass. Night had turned to day.
Light suddenly spread, without transitioning into dusk, and the creatures turned all into stone statues at once.
The battle that seemed like it would go on forever now enjoyed a little respite.
The creature statues were now far too hard for the warrior to break with just her sword.
“And this makes the seventh day...”
She recalled the number of days she had devoted herself to that battle after Nanael invited her.
[How much time has passed in the outside world?]
That was the Holy Land of Maramaks. Its true nature was that of a different world created in order to seal the demons; the only ones who knew this was a boundary area were the Queens of the past—except Aldra, who couldn’t set foot in this place—and the angels who protected Queen’s Blade.
“I... couldn’t quite reach her.”
The blonde looked beyond the demons.
There was the figure of a demon protected by a magical barrier similar to a huge jewel, shining in amber. Its appearance mimicked a beautiful woman; it was said that a warring king summoned this demon so as to be able to face a Beautiful Fighter, but the truth was not clear. What was for sure was that men had been charmed by this demon and became her servants.
“World Breaker”. That was the demon’s title. The true name ruling over the creature had been lost a long time ago.
In the past, a great war had happened—the event that gave rise to Queen’s Blade—where half the population living in the Continent died, and this demon was the creature the warring king that had ruined the country gave his own life to summon.
Her power was equal to that of a god, impossible for humans to control. She digested the summoner as a sacrifice, and committed all kinds of atrocities and tyranny everywhere she went, out of instinct.
The only one who could stand to her was the Founder Queen. She succeeded in tracking her down, and although she was able to bring the charmed men back to their senses, not even with the heavenly gods’ help was she able to completely destroy such a mighty foe.
There was no way they could let that demon, regenerating and resurrecting boundlessly, roaming in the current world, so the heavenly gods created a different world to seal the creature in. And that was what Maramaks was.
After that, the power of the demonic entity sealed there had been chipped off by the successive Queens. Because of the rituals of the Queens over a long time, the demon’s power was supposed to wane until she was driven back to hell.
However, the demon in front of the heiress’ eyes showed no traces whatsoever of emaciation.
The only silver lining is that the warring king’s summoning had not been perfect, and the creature lacked any intelligence, acting only on instinct.
Still, she had developed a magical barrier to protect herself as she healed the wounds received from the successive Queens, and kept producing evil spirits and beasts—servants with the goal of protecting her.
Her giving priority to her subordinates was probably due to her instinct as a devil. If she was fully intelligent, she’d probably spend all her energy on recovering instead, with the intent to destroy Maramaks and escape.
“To think I would fight alone against an evil spirit army...”
The number of creatures Leina had defeated over these seven days already exceeded three hundred. She had been able to fight so far due to the divine protection of the amulet Nanael had given her, which had granted magical powers to her weapon.
Despite her being able to make it through the magical barrier on several occasions and her sword having actually getting into contact with the demon’s main body, she hadn’t been able to deal a deadly wound so far.
The “Magical Beast Orchestra”, the magical song that had the ability to heal the demon’s wounds, was one of the reasons she wouldn’t easily be defeated.
“I still... couldn’t make it...”
The blonde got as close to the demon as she could, and got down on her knees.
The time until the demons began moving again was the only time she had to rest. If she ever hoped to survive that battle with no end in sight, she needed all the time she could get to recover her stamina.
“Fight, to save the world...”
She whispered as if to convince herself, bringing the Holy Milk Nanael had given her up to her lips.
Her minor wounds were healed instantly, and as she felt her fatigue disappear, she closed her eyes, steadied her breathing, and recalled the circumstances that had made her throw herself into that fight.
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