#ruby eye shabranigdo

Tarot cards. Major Arcana [3/3]

15 The Devil (Xellos)

16 The Tower (Martina)

17 The Star (Gourry)

18 The Moon (Shabranigdo)

19 The Sun (Cepheid)

20 Judgment (Luna)

21 The World (L-sama)

Inktober day 4: Spell 

It should have been as hard as a stone, but for some reason, I easily smashed it in my mouth and it disappeared. Demon Blood. According to the dark lord that was the perfected philosopher’s stone, a magic amplifier of unparalleled strength.

“Lord of another world, Chaotic Blue!” That wasn’t a spell. I was simply speaking chaos words. “With your blood as the price, display your power before me!”

“What?!” The dark lord was shocked.

If there is only a thin layer between this world and my original world, then that means there is also a thin layer between this world and the other neighboring worlds. Which means…

The sky glittered. Waves of light spread across the sky, like ripples in on the surface of water. From the center came down a pillar of blue light, striking down the dark lord.

The dark lord’s scream echoed under the silent pressure of the light. The crimson shadow took in the glare. “–nghaaaaagh!” The red light that was created was forced back into the sky by a white light. The sky fell silent, and the dark lord stood.

“W-Was that… a spell from a dark lord of another world…?”

It was effective! It definitely was! In that case…!

“Lord of another world, Death Fog!” This time was the white jewel on my left wrist. “With your blood as the price, display your power before me!” The space surrounding the dark lord was tainted white. It certainly resembled fog. The mist curled. The air howled. Our world’s dark lord was mangled by it.

“Guuuuaaaagghhh!” A battle cry, or perhaps a scream of pain. There was a small sound like something being crushed, followed by a sound like water being thrown across the ground and the white cloud burst, dispersing back into the atmosphere. The dark lord took a step forward and the demon sword he carried in hand cracked.

I plucked the talisman from my belt and put the black jewel in my mouth. “Lord of another world, Dark Star! With your blood as the price, display your power before me!” There was a low rumble through the air. The black mass spread out, and converged on the red shadow, swallowing it along with the dark lord’s voice. The void compacted. There was no sound. The darkness burst in midair. With a single sway the dark lord stood up. It seemed like he had taken a considerable amount of damage but… I only had one more demon blood on hand. It represented the opponent right in front of me. The dark lord of our world, Shabranigdo. That meant it had zero significance. So it’s just as I thought. I only have one method left…

No.

I knew the answer. It was there from the very beginning. I felt it.

“Is it… over?” The dark lord looked toward me. The mask he wore was covered in cracks, but from his voice, his vitality hadn’t gone away. “In that case… Now is the time to settle this. Let’s go!” The dark lord roared and kicked the ground. Because of those three successive attacks, his movements were weakened but the red figure was still coming toward me! I stepped forward on the earth to meet him.

Not yet! Not yet! We both closed the distance together. The dark lord’s hand which held his sword moved slightly– Now!

“Ragna–!” I held out my right hand, “Blaaaaaade!” The red figure was still a way off. The blade of emptiness slashed through the air. The dark lord dipped back by a hair’s breadth and evaded my strike. I immediately propelled forward. With the force of my right arm’s swing, I twisted my body– And unleashed a blade from my left hand.

“Two swords?!” The dark lord screamed. Red and black blended together. There was no resistance at all. The blade of nothingness had cut through him. But the sword was still in the dark lord’s hand! He took a great jump back.

“Looks like the outcome’s been decided…” Before my eyes, the blade in his hand was regenerating.

My body shook up and down. I sprung up and placed the red jewel from my chest talisman in my mouth.

“Darkness beyond twilight–” I crushed the demon blood in my mouth. Ruby Eye Shabranigdo’s demon blood. “Crimson beyond blood that flows!” I held both hands out toward the dark lord. Both blades of nothingness disappeared. “Buried in the stream of time, sleeps Ruby Eye!” A brilliant glow appeared in my hands.

“Dragon Slave!”

Before there hadn’t been a single presence. Now, there was a red shadow standing there. The color was a bit off, but it reminded me of a god of death, wrapped in a red cloak with a hood and wearing a smooth white mask to cover its face. There was no mouth or nose, and in the place where the eyes would be were two sparkling red jewels.

I-It can’t be…! I knew there was sweat collecting on my brow.

“This is in the same place as Sairaag. It is, so to speak, another world piled on top, partitioned off by a paper-thin layer. This is a temporary world I created.”

You can’t be…

The question froze in the back of my throat. I didn’t want my guess to be affirmed. I couldn’t feel any presence from our opponent, and he wasn’t trying to hide it. Our opponent’s presence had naturally melted into the strange air around us.

“Here, the world is full of magical power. Magic is essentially this world’s energy. Because the difference between this world and your original world is a only a thin layer, that thickness serves as a weak boundary between this world and various other worlds. Consequently, the atmosphere is full of magic power. You both felt it before. This world is overflowing with it.”

Now I get it. That uncomfortable feeling was concentrated magic energy. The red death god continued speaking. “As long as you’re in this world, girl, your blade of emptiness won’t disappear after an instant. You don’t need an incantation for that spell, all you need is the power of your own will and the chaos words to invoke it. Boy, the sword you have, it feasts on your surroundings. Passing that on to the sharpness of the blade, you can wound me. In other words, I have provided you with the power to destroy me.”

“Just what… are you trying to do?!”

“This is a rite!” Answering Gourry, the red shadow spread his arms wide and proclaimed clearly. Under his cloak were deep crimson robes. “I told you! When you last destroyed me!”

I knew it!

There was a grinding sound. It was the sound of me grinding my own molars together.

“It is already our second meeting. This time I have prepared for our encounter. And here is where I must defeat you! This is where I return the world to nothingness. But it will be all too easy to defeat you, yet that’s not the whole reason. You once had the power to defeat me. When I defeat you, I will regain the qualification as the King who will destroy this world. That is why I invited you to this world, to this place. The miasma left behind by the magic beast of old. The vengeful ghost left behind by Hellmaster. The quaking of the world left behind by our Golden Mother. Using those things I composed this world.”

“I get it.” This time I somehow managed to speak. “But your tenacity is quite boring… for the King of Demons.”

“It’s because I’m the King.” With a single sway he stepped forward. As he took that one step, Gourry and I instinctively took a step back.

“I don’t want to stand here socializing too much… and it’s not just because you gave us some kind of advantage.”