Katahane no Riku

Chapter 90.The pride of the stray?dog

Barusak residence.

The speed of Raimon′s attacks increased.

With a speed similar to lighting, his whip-shaped sword moved. Riku was narrowly deflecting the attacks with her halberd, but Raimon wouldn′t give her any leeway. With the shape of the deflected sword being changed into another direction, its blade headed straight towards Riku′s neck.

“Gh.”(――ッく)

Riku bent her body and somehow avoided a direct hit.

But even so, the tip of the sword grazed at her cheek. The place that was grazed was gradually becoming hotter. Riku faintly frowned her face, and then she jumped back. Although she took distance from Raimon, there was no mistake she was still inside his weapon′s range. Without letting her guard down, Riku reworked her stance.

“I see. Seeing how you can be here at a time like this, I guess this means that you′ve successfully captured Rook.”

Raimon said in a carefree tone, seeming like he was saying something like “Today′s weather is great”. Riku narrowed her eyes because of the bad feeling she felt from it.

“Oh, is it fine if father doesn′t hurry up?”

If Riku′s memories were correct, Raimon Barusak had more than sixty years of age. Since Riku′s mother had died, there were no talks about Raimon marrying another woman, and she didn′t hear any rumours about him keeping any concubines. Because of that, in case Rook was to die, only Raku Barusak would remain to take the succession of the household. However, it was hard to think that Raku, who had the temperament of a scientist, would be able to manage the household.

In other words, the direct bloodline of the Barusak would be over.

“Hurry up? Is there any reason for me to hurry up?”

“Is it fine for the direct lineage of the Barusak to become extinct? While you are spending your time fighting me, your precious heir might die.”

When Riku pointed that out, Raimon′s smile became even more striking.

“It will be fine if I have Raku′s children succeed. There are many that can take Rook′s place after all. Rather than that, is it fine for Riku to be here? Is it fine for you to be running amok at a place like this?”

Raimon calmly sat down on the table. He was so carefree to the point that it looked as if he wasn′t scared of Riku coming to attack him.

“Riku would have been the one made into the sacrifice if you hadn′t captured Rook after all, you know?”

Raimon quietly spoke the words of truth that Riku didn′t want to believe.

“Riku is just a dog that had been raised for the sake of becoming a sacrifice after all.”

“!”

Feeling Raimon′s words, Riku bit her lips.

His expression didn′t look like the one of someone that was telling lies. Besides that, it completely coincided with the information that the shinigami had told her.

In other words, it became clear that the reason why Leivein picked up Riku was none other than to have her used as [a sacrifice to break the seal].

Let aside her revenge, the other reason why Riku had come to the Barusak residence was because she refused to believe this fact. But even despite that….

“There is no way that man thinks of you as something important. He is an inhuman demon that would have easily got rid of you the moment he saw you didn′t have any value in being raised. That′s why Riku is just a stray dog right now.”

Crossing his legs, Raimon held his sword in an exaggerated manner.

“This stray dog may as well die a miserable death fitting of a stray dog.”

Once again, Raimon′s sword ran through the air.

It was an attack that was faster than before.

…Riku couldn′t dodge this.

So did her instincts tell her. No matter how much distance she takes, no matter how she bends her body, that attack was going to directly hit her heart. After all, the speed of that sword was at one that couldn′t be followed by the eyes. There was no way Riku, who at the end of the day was nothing more than just a human, could block this attack that was faster than lighting.

But even so, Riku deflected the attack in reflex. With its direction changed, the sword hit her at her shoulder.

“…Ah!”

An intense pain ran through her right shoulder.

Because of how painful it was, Riku almost dropped her halberd. However, she somehow kept it in his hands, and just like that, she defended the sword that was swept in her direction, desiring to pierce through her cranium.

“Just like you said, perhaps I might be a stray dog.”

Just like Raimon had said, Riku was a stray dog right now.

She was thrown away by her family, the Barusak, and she was also abandoned by Leivein, who was the support of her heart.

Perhaps Leivein had picked up just for his own gains.

Perhaps since the beginning, Riku had been picked up just for the sake of being used up afterwards.

The reality was miserable to the point of making her want to drop tears, and it was so frustrating to the point she wanted to scream; to the point she couldn′t bear.

“But even so… he picked me up.”

The pain on her right shoulder stole strength from her body and she felt her life force flowing away together with her blood. If she was to become even more exhausted, she wouldn′t be able to evade Raimon′s continuous attacks.

However, was it really fine for her to give up here? Riku asked that to herself.

Even if her sense of value of herself had been radically turning around again and again until she arrived at this room, this was still the “return match” Riku would imagine about even in her dreams. Was it really fine for her to lose against the perpetrator for her fate to become hell when the chance was right before her eyes?

“He gave to the me that was dying a way to live!”

Was it really fine to let someone that didn′t know anything about Leivein to speak about him as he wished?

Was she being a stray dog really something that could be decided by others?

Was it really fine for her to be killed by that man and truly turn into a [defeated dog]? (TL note: An expression is being used literally means defeated dog. ->負け犬<- It is used for losers. Since it would be a shame to not keep up with the “dog” usage, I put “defeated dog” even if it feels a bit weird.)

“Besides… I would rather die than lose to you!”

She put everything onto that suicide attack.

With all her strength, Riku kicked the floor. In one go, she jumped. It was difficult to read the movements of someone in midair. Not only Raimon, but Riku too knew of that well. Riku noticed the tip of Raimon′s sword being pointed to her direction.

“Even if I am a dog, I am not a stray dog.”

Raimon′s sword extended.

This time, she truly couldn′t dodge. Both of them reached the conclusion that the force made by Riku swinging her halberd with only one hand wouldn′t be enough to change the direction of the sword. It was obvious that this time Raimon would consider the way she would be deflecting the attack within his expectations.

That was why this time, it was an attack that would definitely hit her.

Raimon too should have thought that this would be the finishing blow.

But Riku showed a bold smile. And after that…

“I am the best guard dog of the Dragon Demon division!”

…at the next instant…Riku greatly mustered her strength and threw her halberd.

Her target was her biological father, Raimon Barusak, who without any changes in demeanor was still sitting on the table and showing a nonchalant expression. The halberd that was thrown with Riku′s super human strength increased in weight at the same time its falling speed became faster. With a force made space creak, the halberd nose dived in direction of the single man that sat on the table while dragging the surrounding air with it. (TL note: I guess by saying dragging the air it would be that thingy the planes that fly at march speed do.)

As to be expected, even to Raimon, Riku throwing her halberd was outside of his expectations. Opening up his eyes with a slight surprise, he brought back his sword that had been extended to the air so that he could defend himself. In an instant, the sword turned into an steel shield that was made in order to protect its owner. Right after the moment the five-layered shield was formed, the halberd crashed into it.

“Wha!?”

Without any difficulties, the halberd pierced through two of the layers.

The third layer was starting to crack, and it was only a question of time until it would reach the fourth layer. The one the halberd was weighing at was the owner of the sword, who was holding its handle. In other words, the attack′s pressure reached even to Raimon′s body. The attack that had the strength was making his arm creak.

“Tch, it can′t be helped.”

Raimon went down the table and stood firm with his foot on the floor.

Maybe because now Raimon′s stance was stable, the steel shield had also become stronger. However, by that time, it had already broken through the third layer and it was about to break through the fourth layer.

All that remained was the fifth one… The last shield.

If that one was to be broken through, Raimon would be crushed by the halberd and die.

Raimon concentrated all his power onto the defenses. While twisting his face in a form he hadn′t ever done until now, he held the handle of the sword.

“Hmth!!”(――ふんっ!!)

The halberd was pushed back with Raimon′s blow that was done with his whole strength.

Perhaps he was able to do that because the halberd had already lost most of its force by the time the fourth layer had been broken.

“…It was a very surprising attack… But did you really think you could kill me with only this much?”

Raimon brought the shield back to its sword form. The halberd fell to the floor to no use.

That carelessness. He decided by himself that that had been Riku′s last stand… This carelessness had set his destiny.

“Wha!?”

Riku flew right into the front of Raimon′s eyes. It was now that surprise truly appeared in Raimon′s eyes.

“With that, it is over.”

Riku expected he would be able to defend himself from the halberd from the beginning. To begin with, since the instance that Raimon had blocked Riku′s first attack when she entered the room, she had already become aware that Raimon was able to change his sword into forms other than the whip.

That was why she betted everything onto the attack that would come after Raimon blocked the halberd.

“Fatherr!”

Riku got close range and started punching Raimon.

While her fists weren′t as strong as her halberd, with her inborn super strength and the added force from the gravity, Riku′s fists had a power that was many times that of the average.

“Guhah!”(っぐは!)

Riku hit Raimon at his stomach with all her power.

Blood flew from his mouth, and the grip on his sword weakened. Riku wouldn′t give him the chance to counter-attack. Just like that, his body was being sunk by those punches. When Raimon nearly fell on his knees, Riku swept through both of his legs with her left leg.

“…Gh, doing such dirty tricks!?”

“Dirty tricks?”

Receiving Riku′s sweep kick and having his stance broken, Raimon fell to the floor on his back.

However, Riku′s pursuit didn′t stop there.

“I was taught… that in war… only the obvious is bad!”

With the vigour increasing in the attacks, she bursted through Raimon′s flank with her left elbow.

The girl of monstrous strength hit him with an elbow strike, and then without any mercy, she threw a kick at Raimon, who had dropped his sword, with her right leg.

Rather than the fist or the elbow, the leg had more strength.

“!!”

Raimon′s body was sent flying.

Perhaps because there was no obstacle in the way, he kept on, going straight towards the window, and then….

“Wha-!?”

…he broke through the window.

The glass shards flew to the sky and Raimon′s body fell in mid air.

That took only a few seconds.

No, it shouldn′t have taken more than even one second.

However, to the point of it being unnatural, that scene felt very long… it felt like eternity.

Before one′s notice, the sky was already colored with the sunset. Raimon′s white hair was colored by the redness. With eyes opened in surprise, he looked at the girl that stood inside the room.

However, his lips were formed into a lonely smile.

“Father!”

The next instant after Riku unconsciously extended her hand, time started moving again.

The man vanished from Riku′s sight. Riku hurriedly ran to the window and leaned forward at the window frame. The limbs of the old man who had fallen from six floors were twisted into impossible angles. A red flower had blossomed at the place his head used to be.

After looking at his changed form, Riku…

“Ah, Aha, AHAHAHAHAHA!! He died! He finally died! He got his punishment!! Even though I didn′t die when I fell off, father died! He died in such a simple way, really!!”

Her mad laugher continued.

Forgetting she was at the enemy territory, at the Barusak residence, she continued to laugh.

“Serves you right! Ahahahahaha….. Ha, haha.”

After having continued to laugh for a while, she crumbled down, coming to lean onto the window frame. It felt as if a wide hole had opened inside her heart.

“…Huh?”

Riku felt a feeling of loss she had never felt before. It was different from the time she killed Mary or Selestina. It was a bitter feeling of emptiness; it was like sand falling from the palm of her hands.

“Now then, what are you doing next?”

At some point in time, the shinigami flew down next to her.

While having his arms crossed in a bored manner, he looked at Riku from above.

“If you don′t finish your business soon, people will be coming here, you know?”

“I… need to go after them.”

There was no way Riku could keep standing there.

Standing up, Riku went to pick up her halberd. And then, with unsteady steps, she walked for her escape.

Her destination was where Leivein and the Demon Lord army were headed to: [The location of the seal].

Leivein definitely doesn′t know about the trap the spiritualists laid there. She also needed to tell him that Raimon Barusak had died.

Other than that, while she didn′t go after him immediately, she would still receive punishment for going against her orders and not obediently staying at her room.

If Roppu, who was staying on guard, was to make an excuse for himself, saying something like “Riku forced me to do this”, he would be able to escape from the punishment, but Riku herself wouldn′t.

In the end, she would be receiving the punishment.

Even if Leivein Adlar didn′t care for Riku, she still wanted to be his strength even if by only a little.

She definitely would be able to be of use to him.

Right before Riku left the room, she turned her head back one last time…. to the office room that had lost its owner.

And then, in a small voice, she said her parting words.

“…Goodbye, father.”

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