* * *

<<<GUNUAAAAAAA!!!>>>

A scream echoed through a corner of the Spirit Forest, which had rotted away and lost its shine.

It was the scream of the Great Spirit of the Myogomyogoshugo, Myogoshugo.

He had just been split in two by a single slash, and rolled onto the ground with a thud.

His two pairs of four arms had already been torn off and captured by the 【Black Extending Jaw】, leaving him unable to move.

No... since Myogoshugo is a spirit, he should originally be able to swim freely in the air by manipulating magical power.

...He has no spare energy left.

So much so that he can't even move a muscle.

Myogoshugo had squeezed out all his magical power, used it up, and was defeated.

The hood that had been hiding his face had come undone, and his current form, revealing the true face of the Myogomyogoshugo, was exactly the same as a Myogomyogoshugo that had been attacked by a small bird, wounded, and was about to be carried away by ants.

"............"

On the other hand.

As for Emi, who had dashed past Myogoshugo in one go and dealt him a fatal blow with the huge, dark black, and ominous 【Black Greatsword】 in her hand.

She herself was, at first glance, in a state of being badly injured.

Her entire body was covered in scratches, and in some places, she was cut so deeply that even her bones were visible.

Her right eye, in fact, had been crushed by a slash.

However, for her, this level of injury could not be considered fatal.

With a sizzling sound and white smoke rising... her wounds are rapidly closing.

By the time her right eye had completely regenerated, she released her guard and looked back at Myogoshugo, who was lying on the ground.

What was reflected in the eyes of Myogoshugo, who was literally at death's door, was a beauty that would put even a goddess to shame, with not a single wound remaining.

Her figure, enveloped in miasma and stained with blood... was still beautiful and sublime, Myogoshugo felt.

<<<A complete defeat...>>>

Myogoshugo muttered, staring blankly at Emi.

<<<Even with a surprise attack, and taking advantage of your disadvantage, I couldn't win...>>>

Emi's 'disadvantage'... was actually the 【Black Extending Jaw】.

To fight the skilled Myogoshugo while maintaining the 【Black Extending Jaw】, which must capture the spirits until their lives are exhausted.

That was very difficult, even for Emi.

After all, the 【Black Extending Jaw】 is physically in the way, and she has to continue fighting while maintaining the mana absorption she can't yet control freely.

In fact, several of the 【Black Extending Jaw】 were cut by Myogoshugo, and several spirits were released.

The released spirits, although weakened, certainly functioned as reinforcements for Myogoshugo.

"...You were strong. The strongest among the spirits I've fought."

Before she knew it, Emi had spoken those words.

Myogoshugo, his arrogance shaved off by the battle with her, was a warrior-like, good-natured old man.

He was an enemy, but.

Emi didn't feel like tearing him apart, killing him, and eating him without a second thought, like the other spirits.

Emi... has a weakness for grandfathers and grandmothers.

<<<Ha, ha... that's, that's... a word I should be proud of, isn't it?>>>

Myogoshugo, with a wry smile at his own ridiculousness, having been unintentionally moved by the high praise from Emi, who was young enough to be a newborn baby from a spirit's perspective... coughed—Geho, geho.

Every time he coughed, the magical power that made up his body scattered as white light and dissipated into the air.

Before he knew it, his body had become quite transparent and thin.

Myogoshugo had fought, squeezing out everything he had.

His magical power... his life is about to run out.

<<<Emi>>>

Finally.

To give his last words, Myogoshugo summoned his remaining strength and glared at Emi.

Yes, he glared.

Myogoshugo, at the last moment, tried to be not a loser but an elder.

It was an expression of his own pride.

<<<...A splendid fight!!>>>

Everything he had, having lived for a long, long, long time!

This young girl had defeated it!

Even if she's an enemy, he must praise her!

Myogoshugo's body, having fulfilled that last thought, became [N O V E L I G H T] a myriad of white light particles that dissolved and rose towards the starry sky...

And dissipated on the way, and was swallowed by the darkness of the night, and disappeared.

That scene, Emi.

Covered in miasma, covered in blood.

Stood on the rotted forest and stared intently.

◇ ◇ ◇

(Y-Yikes!? That human, she's killed three great spirits now!? Yikes!?)

A single spirit, hiding in a hollow in a broken large tree, staring intently at Emi.

...It was the Weasel Medium Spirit, Falweasel!