Your Real Enemy

"Princess Iris..."

Beatrix gazes at Iris with a face that indicates that she has words she wants to say.

"I know. I know better than anyone that I am no match for him..."

Iris tries to hide her frustration with a smile.

"However, I cannot pull back here. After doing whatever he wants at the Festival of the God of War and turning it into a total mess, how can I let him get away without doing anything about it? Even I have my pride. Both me, and also Midgar Kingdom..."

Then she shoots Shadow a glare.

"Even if it costs me my life, I will stop Shadow's movements. Beatrix-sama, please take advantage of that moment to finish him off."

"... Very well. I will match you."

Seeing Iris' resolve, Beatrix decides to cooperate with her.

Drive fills the two's eyes as they confront Shadow together.

"Come, then... show me your struggling."

Shadow turns the point of his sword downwards, taking a defensive stance.

Iris begins slowly inching towards him, probing for an opportunity.

For a while, the sound of rain and thunder continue echoing around.

"You shall taste at least a single blow from me!"

A exceptionally loud peal of thunder prompts Iris to leap forward.

Immediately closing the distance, her longsword aims for Shadow's neck.

However, Shadow evades it by stepping back a mere half-step. Anticipating her sword to miss, he moves into the next motion.

However, Iris' sword stretches.

She has apparently let go of her sword to forcefully increase her reach.

Shadow instantaneously alters his movement. The sword that he was about to counterattack with returns in time to deflect Iris' sword.

So ends Iris' attack——or at least, that's what she wants him to think.

In actual fact, she is still rushing towards him, riding the momentum and reaching out to tackle his torso.

She has indeed demonstrated her resolve to stop his movement even at the cost of her own life.

There's no time for evasion.

"Well done."

The next instant, Shadow's knee hammers into Iris' face.

There was no way she could have known.

Barehanded combat is actually Shadow's most proficient style.

Iris' body crumples.

However, she has indeed fulfilled her duty.

The instant Shadow was sending out his knee, he had indeed stopped moving.

And that was more than enough for her.

"HaaAAAHH!!"

Beatrix's single flash closes in on Shadow.

Beatrix's longsword smashes against Shadow's jet black sword with every ounce of strength that she can muster.

Along with an incredible crash, Shadow's sword, hand, and arm are blown back with force.

Shadow has lost his posture.

This is the most ideal opportunity.

Beatrix seizes this moment perfectly to make a follow up attack.

However, Shadow is even faster at letting go of his sword.

In a split second, he had decided to discard his sword.

Then he disappears.

To a place beyond Beatrix's view.

"Below?!"

He is stooped over so low that it seems like he is crawling on the ground. Before she can react, he has already grabbed her waist. In sharp contrast to Iris, his movements are levels apart in polish and elegance.

He is too close for Beatrix to use her longsword.

Shadow handily shoulders Beatrix, then slams her body onto the floor.

"Gahah!!"

The stone floor cracks from the impact. All the air inside her lungs is expelled.

But at that moment, the distance between them is just enough for her to swing her longsword.

Beatrix brandishes her sword even as her consciousness is fading away.

Shadow pays it no mind, proceeding to pick Beatrix up again and slamming her against the grou——or not, instead letting go halfway through.

Beatrix's longsword cuts nothing, as she herself crashes into the wall of the arena.

With a violent sound, her body sinks into the wall.

Then a sound of something cutting the air can be heard as something falls from the sky.

Shadow reaches out a hand to catch it, revealing it to be——a jet black sword.

As if everything had been according to his plan from the very start...

The lightning illuminates the two motionless bodies collapsed on the ground.

Beatrix and Iris had challenged him together but could not get even a single hit in. This shocking truth has filled all the spectators' hearts with disbelief and terror.

"... So it's over."

After one last glance at the two of them, Shadow turns his heels.

"St-, stop right there..."

That voice stops his feet.

"I, I can still fight..."

With shaky footing, Iris stands up.

In continuation, Beatrix also pushes aside the debris from the wall, getting up.

"Me too."

So the two swordswomen get back up.

But Shadow only gives them one more glance, before resuming walking.

"Stop right there! Or are you running away?!"

Iris' voice causes Shadow to stop again.

"... Running away?"

The next instant, the entire fighting arena is stained with violet light.

"Wh-...?!"

"!!"

A devastating torrent of magic.

It flows out from Shadow's body, drawing out a spiraling whirlpool.

The rain is being swallowed and erased by the magic.

"Don't tell me... you really...?!"

"This... cannot be won."

The overwhelming strength beyond anything that Iris and Beatrix has dreamt of causes the two of them to become petrified.

If he brandishes this strength, this entire arena would be erased.

Iris, Beatrix, and the audience——in the face of this strength, all of them are equal. Equally powerless, that is.

"Where is the need for me to run away?"

No one can stop him. Every single person is forced to swallow this fact, regardless of whether they are willing or not.

"Why...?"

Iris asks in a quivering voice.

"If you have all this power... you could have killed us at any moment."

"... My aim has been achieved. I have no interest in your lives. For we have our own enemies to massacre..."

Shadow looks meaningfully at Iris, then draws all the roaring magic into his sword.

"Who your real enemy is... don't lose sight of that."

Then, the violet magic is released into the sky.

The blinding light stains the arena, the royal capital, and the sky, completely blowing away the rain clouds.

When the light subsides, the only thing left is a clear, blue sky that stretches from horizon to horizon.

Shadow's figure is nowhere to be seen.

The clouds, the rain, the lightning, and Shadow himself... it is as if everything just now had been a mere dream.

"'Who your real enemy is, don't lose sight of that'... Shadow, exactly who are you..."

Iris looks up at the cloudless sky, murmuring the words that Shadow had left behind.

His aim... and the real enemy...

"... How pretty."

There is a huge rainbow hanging in the sky.