1011: Dragon Eye

The woman’s voice made no attempt to hide her hostility and malice toward us. The way it echoed in our heads was clearly due to telepathy.

「……Fannabelta?」

『How dare you address me directly, insolent girl! Hurry up and hand over the sword! Trismegistus-sama has given you a direct order!』

「No.」

『……Then we simply kill you and take it by force! Even if it means stealing from your wreckage, I must have that power!』

It seems Original Sin Envy can be used on me even after my destruction, which makes it much more versatile than my Skilltaker.

『What about you, “Master” or whatever? If you want the girl to live, come over to us yourself.』

『Damn, you even know my name?』

Trismegistus did say she was good at analyzing information, but it seems she found out even more than I thought.

『Ah, I want it all……! Such a mediocre blade is unbefitting of those terrific powers! So much evil energy, and the potential to grow despite being a sword!』

『It’s like you can see right through me.』

『Obviously! I am one with Trismegistus-sama! I see everything my liege sees!』

「The guy has a skill called “Dragon Eye”, which is apparently a very powerful skill capable of seeing the true nature of anything. Moreover, though Trismegistus can’t leave the castle, all his abilities are amplified as long as he’s in here. Even my divine sword is probably stripped bare before his Dragon Eye.」

Izario’s words matched what I felt earlier. Every time he looked my way, it was as if he saw right through me. That must be how getting Dragon Eye used on you feels.

If he can perceive the abilities of a divine sword, his skill must be a superior version of my Heavenly Eye. Plus, it seems he can share the skill with Fannabelta.

「A fragment of the Evil God, a divine beast, and a dungeon core, is it? You appear to not be a divine sword, but that itself is rather unbelievable.」

『They really can see everything!』

「Hey, come on. Little lady, Master, is he serious?」

「Nn.」

「What the hell……」

Izario, the wielder of a divine sword, was left in shock. Well, if you put it that way, yeah, the stuff inside me is pretty ridiculous. Meltritte was cowering in the corner, staring at me as if I was some kinda freak.

『Then you should be fully aware of the consequences, right? Destroying me might bring the Evil God back into this world.』

Since he knew everything about me, this should be a very potent threat. Not even Trismegistus and Fannabelta could get away scot-free after resurrecting a fragment of the Evil God.

Maybe he could survive due to being immortal, but he would have knowingly resurrected the Evil God. That means a high possibility of receiving divine punishment.

However, Fannabelta simply cackled as if my threat was laughable.

『Ahahahahaha! As if that will ever happen!』

The malice within such a melodious voice only made it more sharply felt.

『You truly know nothing about yourself, do you? Kufufufu. The divine beast and Evil God Fragment are already set up to mutually annihilate each other if your blade is ever destroyed. A safety feature, I’m sure. The magic formula behind it is incredibly powerful, so that was one of the first things I noticed.』

I have no clue how Trismegistus sees me, but he seems to even have a grasp of the system within. Even Alistair, a divine blacksmith, wasn’t able to get that far.

I’m a little relieved to know that the Evil God won’t come back even if I’m destroyed. But for Fenrir-san’s sake, I absolutely can’t let anyone kill me.

Now the problem is that my biggest threat just failed. If they already know this much, then maybe my equipment restriction isn’t gonna work either? Is there any way I can talk him into equipping me?

Fannabelta, who predicted that very thought, laughed even more and spoke again.

『Kyahahaha! It seems a lesser divine punishment will be enacted if anyone other than the girl equips you, but we’ve already seen through that too! Foolish!』

She’s got quite the nasty mouth. I could clearly sense the madness in her tone, but I guess we are technically holding a real conversation. Though if someone asked me if she was crazy or not, I would have to say yes.

Is this really supposed to count as “not crazy”? Well, at least she’s better than Fanatics……

『The possibility to grow while being a sword! Simply wonderful! Upon taking your power, I can become eternal again! I will be able to serve Trismegistus-sama forever! A second-rate blade isn’t worthy of such a gift! I, the greatest sword in the world, deserve this seed of limitless potential! So hand it over already!』

「The best sword in the world is Master!」

『Hah? What did you just say?』

「You’ll never be the best!」

『It seems you don’t deserve any more of my kindness. You die here along with your sword! Your fate has been decided!』

「You heard her.」

Trismegistus held up the silver falchion in response to his beloved sword’s words. It’s as if he was nothing more than Fannabelta’s puppet, without any initiative of his own.

『Fran, we have no way to beat an immortal. You understand what I’m saying, right?』

「……Nn.」

『We need to run. I know you’re frustrated, but we don’t stand a chance.』

（……Got it.）

After accepting the decision to run, Fran acted quickly. She jumped backwards to get far away from Trismegistus.

But he already knew what we were up to.

「Hmm? You cannot escape me.」

『Tch!』

Trismegistus closed the distance at once. As he stated, there was no way he would allow any opening for us to escape.

However, that’s when a mass of flame flew toward Trismegistus at tremendous speed.

Trismegistus held up his hand to block it, but it exploded just before impact, setting the entire region ablaze. Only the area around Izario and Fran was not covered in flames.

「Izario?」

「Run little lady. I’ll buy you some time.」

「!」

In response to Fran’s surprise, Izario shrugged and spoke light-heartedly.

「I’m am a Rank S adventurer, you know. I can handle him if I’m alone. So go!」

「……Okay.」

Fran hesitated for a moment, before nodding back immediately. She saw the determination in Izario’s eyes, so she knew not to waste his resolve.

Besides, it was obvious she would be a liability if Izario got truly serious.

Though frustrated, Fran squeezed out a few words.

「Don’t die.」

「I know.」

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