Counter-plan [4.5]

As I was walking towards the throne room with Haruto, tension was building up inside me bit by bit. With each step I took, the tension and anxiety grew more and more.

What will I do now?

'I never wanted to lie to him!'

But the circumstances forced me to do so.

What will he do when he found out?

Will he mark me as a liar? Will he say I tricked him?

No matter how much I think, I can't get a satisfactory answer about how will he behave once he found out who I really am. Even if he cut his ties with me I won't be in a position to blame him.

Any normal person would be angry if got betrayed by a person and will hate them.

At this time, the hallway we were walking was mostly empty because of how things are right now. Most of the guards are on high alert, guarding the entrance and accompanying the big shots.

Even so, there's a thing which has been bugging me for a while; the last time when I meet Haruto in the jungle, he was very cheerful, talkative and full of energy. Like he was just born in this world, everything is new to him.

But-

Now he seems kind of… how do I explain? The air he has around him is kind of cold and dark. He is also very quiet since we entered the castle, the look he has on his face is not what you'll expect from a person in a healthy state.

I don't know what but something major has happened with him, I'm sure of it.

I stopped before the gate of the throne room and so did Haruto after seeing me stop.

'This is it!'

I can't go back now!

Confronting and accepting your lie is better than making an excuse and escaping from it for a while. If you do that, you'll have you tell more lies to cover up the previous one. It's a chain reaction which can't stop once activated.

And I also want information on how he knew that the demons are involved in this case.

When I was lost in thought Haruto looked at me, maybe he was asking me to open the gate. By that time, I was also slightly taking a peek at him so our eyes meet.

'Maybe be saw the troubled look on my face?'

Well, it is what it is.

I took a long breath to calm myself and then opened the gate by slightly pushing it forward.

We both entered the throne room after the gate opened. When I took a look at Haruto he was looking all around and scanning the room.

I can't blame him for this, after all this *is* a real throne room!

As we reached the centre of the room, the attention of all the ministers shifted towards us. At that time Haruto was wearing a nervous look on his face.

He was trying his best to not show it but it was clear as day that he was uncomfortable now.

When we reached the exact centre of the room we looked at the throne only to find it empty.

Ah! After I build up all that courage, why is he not here now?

'Should I stop him if he wanted to go back?' I questioned myself.

He stared at the throne for a while and then turned around towards me. Maybe he wanted to ask me something?

But as he turned, he suddenly jumped a few steps backwards. After a second's delay, a sword slashed the area where he was standing before.

Then a girl holding that sword appeared after Haruto.

'W-What…What is she doing here ?!" I thought to myself.

The person standing after Haruto is none other than the only known SSS class adventurer: Alicia!

Without wasting a second, Alicia again swung her sword towards Haruto!

He dodged the attack barely by bending under the sword as some of his hair got slashed and flew in the air.

Then something else caught my attention; the attack which I thought was dodged by Haruto appeared to be a misunderstanding as soon a cut appeared on his left cheek and blood came out from it.

She again went in an attack position, preparing to deliver another blow.

"Wait! Wait! Wait! Why are you attacking me all of a sudden?" said Haruto, stopping her mid-way, he wanted an answer to why she was attacking him.

Alicia didn't respond immediately but after a bit of thought, she said with an expression of disgust on her face.

"Shut up! You monster!"

This was a reply nor did he or I expect; I wanted to step in and stop the fight but the speed at which they were attacking and dodging was too high for me to interfere in the middle.

Soon after, Alicia launched herself toward Haruto and started a series of sword attacks on him.

The speed of her attacks was so fast that I was not able to clearly see her sword! I wonder how Haruto is able to dodge them; a normal person would be on their knees by now.

But while he was able to keep up with Alicia, he was not able to dodge those attacks completely. Cuts and slashes were appearing on his clothes and body one by one with each passing minute.

Finishing the series of her attacks, she stopped and then released a piercing attack targeted at Haruto's right shoulder, which left a deep cut on his shoulder.

She was connecting her next attack with the previous so smoothly without wasting a single movement. I don't know how long Haruto will be able to hold against her.

"Fifth-tier magic: [Fire control]"

"[Burning blades of hell]"

Just when I was sure of his defeat he cast a magic spell and two swords purely made of fire appeared in both of his hands.

He dashed towards Alicia while small cracks appeared where he was standing a moment ago.

He first swung the sword which he was holding in his right hand but Alicia went defensive and dodged it. Taking a full spin he again swung her sword, this time the left one but she dodged it again by dashing backwards.

'Your movements are way too basic and predictable!' I thought about Haruto in my mind.

From what I can see, he was applying a great amount of force in each of his attacks but for a swordsman, his movements are basic and easily predictable. This is understandable because he is a mage and not a swordsman (at least I think that).

But still, he was not what someone would call an average swordsman!

The colour of the flames his sword was made of, turned orange as he swung both of his swords vertically at Alicia.

But this time she didn't dodge it—or so I thought—, she disappeared just before the swords could touch her. Haruto didn't predict that this could happen thus he misbalanced a little while his swords slashed thin air.

"…"

Suddenly Alicia appeared behind Haruto and whispered something to him, I was too far to listen to what she said.

Without wasting a second, she swung her sword with the intention to decapitate Haruto.

Sensing the attack, he immediately turned around and held his swords up to block the attack!

But

Somehow Alicia's sword went through Haruto's sword slashing the flames of the sword smoothly, Haruto's—as well as mine—eyes widened by what he just saw.

'Can he dodge it?'

It was a perfect attack, only a few people would be there with the speed to dodge it.

Without anything left, Haruto ducked under the sword by bending his knees as the sword slashed the air in two pieces slightly avoiding cutting his throat by a hair's length.

He crossed the floor by rolling and stopped after he maintained a certain distance from Alicia.

The swords in his hand disappeared as the flame which was forming them extinguished.

He looked troubled!

Don't know why, but it seems like he can't use those fire swords anymore. Suddenly his eyes meet mine and out of nowhere before I realized it, he was standing before me.

"Ah! What are you," I screamed as I was surprised by this sudden movement.

"Sorry, just borrowing your sword for some time," said Haruto, as he pulled out my sword from its sheath.

"Stay away from the princess you monster!" I heard a scream.

It was Alicia, but why was she calling Haruto a monster?

Behind me was Haruto, he tightened his grip on the sword as it started glowing blue.

'You better return my sword in one piece, it's a rare one!' I said to Haruto in my mind.

"[Dimensional Step]" he muttered and then disappeared.

'Was that a teleportation spell? I never heard of it before.'

He appeared right in front of Alicia and clashed the sword he took from me with hers. After the clash, both of them backed off a little and their body's started glowing with mana.

They both dashed towards each other, leaving craters behind and started exchanging blows.

The speed of their fight now was even higher than before! I was only able to see them as flashes of light clashing and repelling each other.

After clashing swords for a few minutes, both of them separated from each other.

"Body enchantment: [One with the sword]" Alicia muttered.

Oh no! Why is using [One with the sword]?

It's a spell which combines your body and your sword with each other, by this way your mana flows directly into the sword as it does with the rest of your body. Your sword almost feels like a part of your body you can control just by thinking.

Her body, along with her sword started glowing golden; it was her aura that she released openly.

It also seems like Haruto is now using more mana than before because the pressure on his side increased a little.

Holding onto their swords, they both dashed toward each other at full speed. During the whole fight, now both of them were at their peak in terms of speed and strength.

—Clank

As their swords clashed, a force wave was released in the whole throne room. The ministers who were standing fell back on their seats, a crater appeared and the floor broke where they clashed their swords.

Even I misbalanced and backed off a few steps while covering my eyes by hand to protect them from the dust which was blown in the air.

After the dust settled, I saw that Alicia was on her knees!

'Did she lose?'

It was unbelievable!

After the incident in the forest, I knew he was a great mage but… He also defeated a SSS class adventurer in a sword fight!

'Just who are you?'

But then I saw it! My sword which he took from me was shattered into pieces! Only the handle was all that was left.

"Both of you stop! Or you'll destroy this place!" I heard someone saying, it was a familiar voice.

It was Zen, my brother and the current king of this country!

'You arrived very quickly Zen!" I mocked him in my thoughts.

He saw me and the uncomfortable, angry and troubled look on my face. Our eyes meet as he gave a little apologetic smile as if saying "I know you are angry but please save it for later".

After that he shifted his attention towards Haruto and Alicia, this was the moment Haruto will know the truth.

'Will he hate me for lying now?'

Well, no matter how it is I have to accept that and I am ready for that.

--------------------AUTHORS NOTE--------------------------------

This chapter is the revision of chapter 16 and 17 and shows the events which happened from Mary's perspective.

*

So, my break is over and now new chapters will come regularly. I gave you all a mass release of 10 chapters as I promised, I hope you all will like it.

Please support this novel by your power stones and drop a review if you are enjoying this story.

-Thank you.