The war between Lyngle Kingdom and the Maou army continued .


    Enemies and allies were scattered throughout the battlefield while the Rescue Squad was able to prevent a lot of casualties .


    Inside of all that, I was earnestly trying my best to treat the wounded . I wiped the sweat off from my forehead as I started to feel the pressure and stress of being in a battlefield like this .


    “——You aren’t completely recovered . Try not to push yourself too much out there . ”


    After I had finished treating the injured soldier, I went on the find the next person .


    My surroundings contained the smell of death that belonged to either enemies or allies . While trying my best to not vomit, I frantically swallowed and advanced forward .


    “… . I understand, dammit… . !”


    There were obviously going to be causalities and death in a war like this…!


    It was war after all, there’s no way I could save every life out here! Even I could die at any moment on a battlefield like this…!


    While being tormented at the thought of death, my stubbornness allowed me to continue moving forward .


    There was no way I could take it easy on myself when Inukami-senpai and Kazuki were doing their best out here .


    “Ugu!”


    Just then, a sharp pain ran through my head .


    In my mind I could clearly see the scene of Inukami-senpai and Kazuki being killed .


    No matter how much healing magic I used, the pain didn’t go away .


    “It hurts…”


    “I won’t fall in battlefield like this!”


    “Especially at a time like this!”


    While I stopped moving and raised my voice, a soldier with horns swung their axe at me .


    I immediately rolled on the floor to avoid it but the axe was able to make contact with my right arm .


    “Kuh… . . !”


    This wound wasn’t much but my headache wouldn’t stop .


    Just what was going on…!? Don’t tell me danger was approaching Inukami-senpai and Kazuki!?


    If that was really the case, I had to head towards them no matter what .


    “Uu……”


    The enemy ignored my state of confusion and started running towards me . Because of my headache, I didn’t pay careful attention to my surroundings and tripped over a corpse .


    “Die!!”


    The demon was shouting something as they swung their axe downwards at me .


    If I died instantly, my healing magic would be meaningless . If that happened, I wouldn’t be able to help Kazuki and Senpai .


    I braced myself for my own death as I covered my head with my arms .


    “Usato-dono!”


    “Guah!”


    At the moment I was resolving myself, the soldier that I treated just before kicked the demon attacking me and pierced them with their sword .


    “Usato-dono! Are you alright!?”


    “Eh, the soldier from before… T-thank you very much . ”


    T-that was dangerous .


    I let out a sigh of relief as I thanked the soldier . Just then, I remembered I still had this headache .


    “T-that’s right! Inuka… . . I mean, do you know where the two heroes are right now!?”


    “Hero-sama? I recall they should be at the center of the frontlines—“


    “Thank you very much!”


    “B-be careful!”


    “Yes!”


    It wasn’t far from here .


    While thanking the soldier again, I started to run . I felt like the headache from before was some kind of bad omen, I had to hurry .


    Please be safe, Senpai, Kazuki!


    *


    “Aren’t you going to come and attack?”


    “Senpai!”


    “Calm down Kazuki-kun, it’s not a good idea to attack without being fully prepared . ”


    The attack on Kazuki’s shoulder didn’t damage his armor, it only damaged the inside .


    The Captain and the other three who had been attacked also only had wounds on the inside .


    When he transformed his armor to attack and failed, he also uttered that it was ‘unfortunate’ . The meaning might seem apparent but there was no way such an obvious surprise attack would connect . It meant that they didn’t intend for the attack to connect, they were aiming for something else .


    If I were to consider all the possibilities…


    “… . Any damage inflicted on that armor can be returned . ”


    “Looks like I’ve been exposed . Well, I did give you guys a hint after all…”


    “… . . ”


    The Black Knight still had this much confidence despite us finding out what their power was .


    But that was understandable . Even if we do know what their power was, we didn’t know how to overcome it .


    I suspect that it could return blunt attacks as well and slashing attacks were simply out of the question .


    If we assume they could return every attack, we had to defeat them without fighting directly in combat .


    “Don’t run away, okay? Leaving the others aside, the two of you are strong for being humans . Keep on coming at me, keep attacking, keep attacking, keep attacking, until you finally give up and die by my hands . ”


    “… . . We have no choice but to do it . At any rate, the others won’t be able to match this guy . ”


    “But if Senpai is right, our attacks won’t work since they can return any attack—“


    “Don’t be hasty . Listen to me, Kazuki-kun . There’s something I want to try but it might be a bit dangerous . ”


    I said so in a small voice so the other side couldn’t hear .


    For their [Inversion] to activate, they had to meet some sort of requirements . That means there will be chances to attack them .


    After telling my plan to Kazuki, I informed the soldiers behind us .


    “—Do you think it’ll work?”


    “Senpai, that’s just way too dangerous…”


    “If anything happens, Usato-kun can heal us . ”


    While saying so, I drew my slender sword in advance .


    This plan relied on Kazuki-kun while I would just be acting as the support .


    “Let’s go, Kazuki-kun…!”


    I was the first to rush at the Black Knight while Kazuki followed shortly after .


    “Heeh, you’re coming huh . ”


    “There’s no way we can retreat!!”


    The Black Knight transformed his armor into something like a tentacle and thrusted it towards us . We had to be careful when attacking or we might get countered .


    While ducking to dodge the oncoming attack, I generated an orb of lightning and aimed near their feet .


    “With this…!”


    A small whirlwind of dust had formed, this should obstruct their vision .


    Then just like according to the plan, Kazuki and I will take advantage of this to launch a surprise attack . This was to test if they could return attacks that weren’t within their vision .


    “!!”


    I had suppressed my voice since my shoulder had been cut . Before long, something warm flowed out from my shoulder and stained my clothes .


    It seems like we had failed as I could see blood trickling down from Kazuki’s cheek .


    “Kuha—Hahahahaahahaha!”


    “Kazuki-kun!”


    “Yes!”


    I grinded my teeth in anger as the laughing Black Knight seemed to be enjoying this situation .


    It felt like a hopeless situation as we couldn’t run or attack them .


    If we had Usato-kun here to heal us, we would be able to keep on attacking . My feet had stopped moving as I wasn’t used to being in pain like Usato-kun .


    “Haha, I guess I’m still just an ordinary person who lived in modern times . ”


    I came from a world of peace, I had never been injured to this extent . That’s why it hurts— Really, my shoulder was in so much pain that I felt like crying .


    “Nn? Shoulder?”


    When I had attacked the Black Knight, I slashed at their back and not their shoulder .


    If that was the case, I should’ve been feeling pain from my back instead .


    There were two attacks but Kazuki and I started attacking at almost the same time . Kazuki’s attack was reflected back, however, mine wasn’t .


    “Don’t tell me… . Kazuki-kun! Let’s try it again!”


    “… . . I understand!”


    While my feet were surging with lightning, I crouched down .


    We probably only had one chance . I’m counting on you, Kazuki-kun .


    *


    Senpai seemed to have a plan .


    I had no idea how to fight a cheating enemy like this but I’ll trust Senpai’s judgment and do what she says .


    I concentrated on amassing my light magic so that I could fire it any given moment .


    “Hey comrades, are you getting groggy?”


    “Be quiet!!”


    I defended with my sword against the oncoming attack from the Black Knight .


    Withstanding attacks like these weren’t a problem . But we had no way to deal with their counter . Senpai was attempting to do something right now; I should just do what I can right now .


    “Here you go!”


    “Guh—“


    I received the black mass coming towards me with my sword . The impact was similar to a hammer .


    My arm and shoulder made creaking noises as I held my ground . The pain was draining me of my composure . If I take it easy for even a moment, I would be crushed . I couldn’t defend forever like this .


    I couldn’t attack directly— I had to find a different way to win this!


    After deflecting and avoiding the attack, I sheathed my sword . While the opponent tilted their head because of my action, I gathered light into both of my hands . I then clapped my hands together .


    “If I could blind you . . !!”


    “!?”


    A strong flash of light enveloped the surroundings, it was an unusual skill but it should be effective against this kind of opponent .


    Even if direct attacks don’t work, the enemy was supposed to be weak to light .


    Just as I had thought, the Black Knight was trying to cover their eyes with their arms .


    In order to increase our distance from each other, I kicked the Black Knight in the abdomen as hard as I could .


    “Gwah… . This doesn’t work either huh . ”


    While feeling the pain from my own stomach, I didn’t break my line of sight away from the Black Knight .


    The pain was returned to me but it appeared that the force I had used to kick the Black Knight wasn’t . The Black Knight stood up and after showing an astonished expression, they laughed .


    “To think you would try to blind me like that, that was really unexpected!! There haven’t been any users to use such an idiotic-like skill like that before!”


    “I-idiotic—“


    At the moment I was about to reply, I saw an astonishing scene .


    There was something silver embedded in the Black Knight’s chest .


    Senpai had used her lightning to accelerate herself and moved behind the enemy . Right now, her sword was piercing the Black Knight .


    “Nn?”


    “You can’t return this attack? Is this the correct answer…?”


    When I saw Senpai’s sword piercing the Black Knight, I felt like I was about to faint but then I noticed something strange was happening . Senpai seemed to be fine .


    “… . . Ugh . ”


    “Did it work!?”


    I took my eyes off of Senpai for only one moment and that was when she had moved .


    I didn’t know exactly what she had in mind but she noticed something when the two of us attacked the Black Knight for the first time . She then had me distracting the opponent until she found an opening to go in .


    “Kazuki-kun! Attack now! It should be effective right now!”


    A black fluid was flowing out from where the Black Knight was being pierced . Understanding Senpai’s intentions, I drew my sword and shouted .


    “Uoooooooo—!!”


    —But as expected of Senpai!!


    I couldn’t help but praise her . While thinking so, I ran towards the Black Knight .


    “Dammit, to think I would fall in a place like this!”


    If we could defeat them here, we would gain a huge advantage in this war and the other side’s moral would drop . We would turn the current situation around in an instant— This will lead us one step closer to ending this battle!


    Raising the sword from my hip to an overhead position, I slashed downwards .


    “Just kidding . ”


    Just as I heard those words, a sword was mercilessly thrusted into my stomach .


    Unsure of what had happened, I turned to look at the Black Knight— The sword that was piercing him had snapped in two and Senpai was on the ground vomiting blood .


    And using my hand, I pulled out the sword from my back…


    “Gah… Wh . . y… . ”


    “To begin with, you were mistaken if you thought that your attacks were actually hurting me . This armor is made from my magic . The inside won’t be affected at all as long as I have this, it’s the ultimate armor . ”


    “What’s… with that…”


    Wasn’t this guy a complete monster?


    There was no way anyone could win against someone like this . I collapsed onto the ground as I was vomiting blood . What’s more was that blood was gushing out from my stomach and I started to feel weaker .


    It was no good .


    I didn’t have any strength left .


    “… . . Sorry, Usato . ”


    It looks like I won’t… be able to return .


    *


    “Hmm . ”


    Seeing that the two heroes had fallen, I looked at my surroundings .


    Since the heroes were defeated, the morale of the Kingdom’s soldiers had been reduced . On the other hand, the demons were full of vigor .


    Such a ridiculously boring scene .


    “Starting a war like this, just what is the Maou thinking? If they wanted more territory, there were better ways to do it… Well it’s not something I needed to worry about . ”


    I didn’t find anything of worth in this war .


    It was always like this .


    Ever since I was born, not a single person could injure me .  Whether it be demons, humans, my parents… They couldn’t injure me and I grew distant from them .


    “Guess I should finish up . ”


    Removing the sword from myself, I went towards the female hero that was still breathing .


    She glared at me while holding her stomach in pain . Without showing much reaction towards it, I held the sword in an underhand grip and aimed at the hero’s heart .


    “It was fun… Only a little though . ”


    The sword descended towards her heart .


    Aah, it was already over . The moment I was feeling disappointed—


    “As if I’d let you do that, aaaaaahh!!”


    “Wh—?”


    A childish and young voice that didn’t suit this battlefield resounded in my eardrums .


    I unconsciously turned around to face the idiotic voice and at that moment— There was an impact of some sort on my face and I felt a sensation that I never should have experienced .


    ———It huuuuurts!?