Grimoire Master Ch. 185

https://ncode.syosetu.com/n7178ek/189/

Chapter 16
Section 15: Capital Defense – Epithet

[Iris]: “The Goddess Illya overwrites reason as commanded by Iris Calvafon!!”

The grimoire burned a bright red in my hand. When I turned the page, the flames burned even brighter as words rose to the surface. 

[Iris]: “Absolute law established in the name of the Almighty. Long forgotten tower perched atop the solitary island of a distant sea. Princess of Life who illuminates the world, spread your wings to the summit!!”

[Grides]: “…..Calvafon-san? You, aren’t supposed to be able to use magic……”

Grides’s line of sight kept shifting between me and the fiery red bird in front of me. A color of astonishment was dyed in her eyes. I didn’t have the leeway to give her an answer, my tongue too preoccupied with the words emerging from the sea of light. 

[Iris]: “Subjugate those who would disrupt the peace with your sweltering flames! Grant us the divine protection of rekindled ash!!”

My mana was being sucked out of me while the flames swelled and expanded more and more. 

The red flames eventually grew white and burned like the sun. 

[Iris]: “My life, my name as a step, come forward…….Phoenix!”

Phoenix had curled herself into a ball when I first began my chant, but she now threw out her wings as if she were breaking out of a shell. 

In that moment, a violent wave of heat spread outwards burning our skin and throats. 

[Grides]: “A…..Phoenix?”

The light of the glowing grimoire continued funneling my mana into Phoenix. 

Taking it all in, Phoenix unleashed a wave of light that restored life to all those it touched while simultaneously raising a merciless killing intent towards the enemy before her. 

[Grides]: “A-An elementalist? No…..I’ve never heard of an elementalist being able to summon a phoenix before……”

Fully released as she is, Phoenix’s size rivals that of Sanz Wanz’s. The sight of her caused Grides-san to lose her sense of balance and stagger backwards. 

[Rose]: “Are you all right Grides-san?”

Luckily Rose-san was close enough to catch her before she fell over. 

[Grides]: “A-Auroll-sama…….”

[Rose]: “Iris-san. Treatment for the injured is finished. I will be assisting some knights who arrived to help escort these people to the castle.”

[Iris]: “Got it. Thank you”

Going tete-a-tete with Unicorn, Sanz Wanz made a huge leap backwards. 

It then extended out its wings and took to the sky. 

[Iris]: “All that’s left is to beat Sanz Wanz.”

[Grides]: “Sanz Wanz!? That…..she means that dragon Auroll-sama!?”

[Rose]: “Yes, she does. A ghost laid to rest a thousand years ago walks the world once more. But after today, its existence will disappear completely.”

[Lapris]: “Oi, Iris!! It’s escaping into the air!! Is Phoenix ready yet!?”

Lapris was yelling at me from a distance. 

Phoenix is fully motivated. She taken in enough magic power. 

And now that Rose-san has treated the injured and escorted them a safe enough distance away…..

Phoneix can stretch her wings worry-free.

――And take to the sky!!

[Iris]: “…..Iris Calvafon commands my winged one!! Reduce it to ash!!”

With my words at her back, Phoenix flapped her wings a single time. The large breath of air pushed out from that one movement was enough to lift her body high above my head. 

Phoenix arced upwards, darting straight up to where Sanz Wanz had moved to, inside the clouds. The dragon moved its two pair of wings, diving through the air like a shooting star to shake the bird that had moved on its tail. 

But Phoenix couldn’t be shaken off. With a blaze of ample magic power all around her, she slipped and slid through the air like a fish in the water to keep chasing after Sanz Wanz. 

[Grides]: “Y-You…..who are you?”

Eventually Sanz Wanz gave up on trying to escape and turned to confront its pursuer. Then aiming for Phoenix as she flew up, it unleashed a blade of wind with a beat of its wings. Phoenix saw it coming, but rather than changing course, she continued to shoot straight into it like a loosed arrow. 

*Gakiiin!* It was as if two blades had collided against each other in mid-air. Phoenix had pierced through the wind, and her claws collided with the sides of Sanz Wanz’s wings. 

There was a twinkle of light up in the clouds that soon quickly fell to the ground below. 

They were fragments of Sanz Wanz’s wings that had been chipped off. Each of them were crystal-shaped shards illuminated red by the flames given off Phoenix’s body. 

[Iris]: “——Me?”

I turned my focus away from battle unfolding in the air and towards Grides after she asked me a question. 

She refused to let Rose-san keep propping her up and now stood straight up through her own efforts. 

[Iris]: “I’m the Grimoire Master……”

*Krakoom!!* A loud explosion rumbled through the air as something fell on the collapsed wall. 

A cloud of dust plumed high above, but from within I could just make out the red glow of Phoenix’s talons. 

[Sanz Wanz]: “G-Guu……damn……damn you, Damn You, DAMN YOUUUUUUUU!!”

And then as the dust parted, I managed to make out two pairs of stone wings being pinned to the ground by those talons. 

[Iris]: “She who manages the world’s reason, or so I’m told.”

[Grides]: “The….world…..”

[Sanz Wanz]: “No matter where I am, no matter where I go…..you insist on being a hindrance to me…… Unforgivable…..Unforgivable! You all who dare to take everything from me, unforgivable!!”

Sanz Wanz’s stone wings were crushed in Phoenix’s grip. 

But the broken pieces of rock scattered and took root in the ground like seeds to soil. 

[Lapris]: “O-Oi!!Golems will grow from the fragments!! A lot of them!! That’s what Linzflare says!!”

The roots pierced into the ground and the fragments began to grow as if they were really sucking nutrients out of the street. Each fragment soon took on the form of a dragon-like construct, each looking more and more lifelike by the second. 

What’s more, seemingly having given up on flying, Sanz Wanz had coated its body in stone once again. 

[Grides]: “A-Ahh……golems, coming to life……from the ground”

The golems were scattered on the castle side of the collapsed sixth wall. When I glanced behind me, there was still a flood of people at the seventh wall’s gate. It looks like it will still take some time for everyone to get through. 

[Iris]: “…..Rose-san, I have another request”

I faced forward once again and took a deep breath. 

[Rose]: “Whatever you need”

[Iris]: “I want to end things here. Neither Sanz Wanz or its golems can get close to the gates.”

[Rose]: “I was thinking the same thing”

Only tragedy will follow if Sanz Wanz makes it to that crowd. That goes for the dragon-style golems as well. 

[Iris]: “So, would you stand here as a shield?”

[Rose]: “Yes”

Rose-san stood in front of me and raised her shield. 

And then she nailed her shield into the ground just as she had done at the castle in the sky enclave. 

[Grides]: “W-What are you making her do!? Auroll-sama, you intend on fighting this alone!?”

[Rose]: “No, I am sure that will not occur.”

[Iris]: “No, it won’t”

I opened up the two grimoires in my hands. 

Then with the pages slowly fluttering open, the books rose into the air and began spinning around me. 

[Iris]: “I know you’re worried Grides, but I have another grimoire I haven’t used yet.”

I looked at the ring resting on the index finger of my left hand. The silver tikarodeka etched onto the ring was now softly glowing. 

When I pressed my lips to it, a brilliant shine swelled up. And then with the accompaniment of a high-pitched bell, a third grimoire materialized in front of me. 

With a tikarodeka etched on the cover, I……

[Iris]: “Names engraved on my forefinger”

Chapter 184 ⊥ Chapter 186