That Time a Bookworm Got Ascended in Tensura

Ch.4 The Calamity and The Paladin

Rimuru's pov:

I was finally on my way back to Tempest. I had just gotten away from the capital of Engrassia and was making my way out just a while further. I though about the promise I made to the kids last night, and I knew it was the right thing to do. I know Shizu would have wanted me to do it. So I needed to do it. 'This body serves as witness to my responsibilities.' I thought as I held tighter to Ranga. 

It was then that the barrier appeared. We stopped, and I immediately told Ranga to go into my shadow. It was a spatial interference barrier, so I was no longer able to use Spatial moment. This was bad.  I didn't have time for this, I needed to get back to save the girl. 

It was then the second Barrier appeared. I could feel the sudden draining effect. 

<Notice: Holy field anti-magic barrier has encompassed the area> 

'Resist!' I thought almost out loud, while walking to a tree I saw one of Soei's clones covered in blood, but before I could say anything the clone turned to dust. 

<Resistance successful, access to non-magical skills still available. Magic-based skills are rendered unusable, however.> 

Shit. Alright, well it's the best I could hope for.  I heard foot steps approaching me from behind and immediately turned around to see a lady approaching me, she had red crosses on her colors and short black hair. She was clearly wearing armor under her white coat, and had both bracers and magisteel boots that came up to her knees. 

"I don't have time for this!" I almost shouted, I didn't know why but I was getting a very bad feeling. I felt as if this was urgent now. I knew the girl's situation was dire, but was it this bad? Maybe it was the promise. No regrets, I promised myself that when I died. 

"Hmp. Give it time, I am not one for talk but you shouldn't rush into your own death." I realized who she was at the point, Hinata. Her appearance had been described to me by Yuuki, and though this was my first time seeing her, I recognized it. 

"Hinata, I do not have time for this. I have a promise to keep, for my Students. For Shizu-san!" I got to the point immediately, I allowed my emotions to run wild. My aura was as well as a result, even in this barrier it was still sizable, and it caused her a visible discomfort that it could still be this large. 

"You killed her, why would you honor a promise to her?" She said this as she pulled her sword out while facing the ground and holding her sword out parallel with her shoulder line. Her tone was sharp and cutting.

I put my hand on the handle of my own sword and pulled it out slowly. "She died in front of me, she left her wishes to me. She left those children to me." I was almost spitting my words, my aura flared as I got even more livid she was insisting on standing in my way. 

________________________________________________________________________________

Myne's pov: 

I was walking along the street with Lutz, around my neck I had a small string with a pedant he had bought me at one of the stall. It had a small spirit design on it, and I thought it looked nice. It was carved from wood and had a book symbol on it, which is why I had wanted it. 

Lutz was smiling as he was walking along and and had a small weaved bracelet I had bought for him, it had a small inlay with a fire symbol. He was quite happy with it from what I could tell. 

I was looked around for the next place to go while taking Lutz' hand to make sure I could keep a lead on him. I was quick to spot a few things I wanted him to try, specifically I wanted to go to the tappenyaki stand. Though I also wanted to try the cotton candy and churros, both of which I didn't have even in my previous life. 

Lutz was quick to look at me and seemed sorta uneasy for a minute, looking away from me while keeping his face hidden. Though afterward he looked back to me and followed my gazes. "That stand sells meat, right? I saw you looking at it yesterday." He seemed to remember that from yesterday. 

"Well, yes. That's not all they have though." I got close to his ear and whispered to him. "It has foods from my old world, lots of the stands here do." I then pulled away from him. 

To this his eyes were shimmering and he seemed to almost skip a bit in place. "Alright, let's go!" He shouted loudly while staring intently at the tappenyaki stand now. 

I walked toward the stand while leading him along and stopped in front of it to read the sign. "It seems like the okonomiyaki is what is available today.." I trailed off while trying not to drool. I immediately stepped up to the tender who was a husky hob goblin, though he seemed very cheerful. 

Lutz seemed a bit reluctant to get close, though he wasn't shivering now. He also seemed to be pretty enticed by the smells. So that had gone a long way to convincing him. I squeezed his hand as just a little bit of extra assurance. 

I took out my coin pouch and took out four silver pieces, leaving me with two. I lifted them as high as I could to hand them to the hobgoblin and smiled brightly. "Two okonomiyaki please!" I said with an excited tone while keeping my voice just under a shout, making me sound pretty my age. 

The hobgoblin smiled brightly and tilted his head a bit to admire my cuteness before turning to his grill and started preparing the food. 

I turned to Lutz and started talking immediately, "Trust me, it will be really good. They are better than the cakes we could make back in Ehrenfest." I smiled to him while giving off a confident tone. 

He seemed to hit the peak of his interest, "Even better than those!?" He was also just sort of shouting, probably some magical restraint to keep the order on the street. 

The hobgoblin at this point said, "Young ma'am. The food is ready." He then  turned around with two board-carts and handed them down to us. Each of them had pancake with a thick mixed sauce of white and brown that flowed viscously across the surface. 

I took each of them, and the small wooden forks with them, then handed on to Lutz and smiled at him expectantly. I was waiting for him to try it first. 

He looked at me seeming a bit suspicious on my reluctance to try it first, though the smell was quite to draw him in. He used the fork to pull off a piece of the cake and rubbed it in the sauce before slowly putting it into his mouth. The moment he did he blushed and his face seemed to relax nearly completely. He was standing there chewing it for a moment before finally swallowing. "It is so good!" Just under a shout again. 

I smiled brightly while watching him nearly scarf down the entire thing. I ate my own more slowly, by contrast. Savoring it more as I didn't know how long we'd be here. Though it wasn't long before we both finished. 

We were now walking along one of the streets heading outward from the town square. I was skipping along while Lutz was walking sorta fast to keep up with me. I heard some loud talking some distance in front of us, and stopped. 

That's when I noticed a circle of people around a group of tourist, and two Hobgoblin guards. Suddenly one of the tourist shouted something loudly, "You should just DIE!" It felt like a command, and there was a force with it as first, but then that force was immediately dissipated. 

I saw the pink haired kijin, Shuna, walking into the circle now. She said something about the use of that skill being illegal. The purple haired kijin in a pantsuit was with her. Shuna had told the tourist to leave, which I was happy about. They were causing a scene, and had they tried to kill those guards? This city was so great, who would want to disturb the peace here? 

Suddenly in front of our eyes a fight broke out. One of the tourist, a guy with black spikey hair ran towards the kijin, and the purple haired one went to intercept him. The force of their clash was immense, it caused me to fall back, and land on my back as a result of being caught off-balance.

Lutz helped me up, with a worried look on his face, he took my hands and started running away from the fight with me, and I was running as well. Until. 

I saw a bright white prism ascend around the city as a deep pink dome spread out from the center. As both of them encompassed the city and sealed, I felt all the strength leave my body. 

I fell on the ground, hearing Lutz scream my name before I fell totally unconscious.  

________________________________________________________________________________

Rimuru's pov: 

I was staring down Hinata with a certain fire in my eyes. "Get out of my way." I said it simply. I had to try not to scream it to her. My Aura was causing the tips of my hair to lift softly as I took the handle of my sword in both hands now. 

Hinata seemed to lose her poker face for a moment, her pupils going wide, before returning to normal. "I can't do that, your town is in my way. I need to destroy it." She said it simply, this was a bad time to say something like that, though she wasn't fully aware of that. 

My expression went dark. I think my rage broke. Was I really there? I didn't think it was that easy, before I knew it though, I was in a full sprint, using flash step to appear at Hinata in a moment before she could react, and then I had taken her hand, and her sword. I could feel pain as I held the blade, but quickly used gluttony on it.

It wasn't the wrist I aimed to cut, and Hinata knew that, she had jumped back and tried to parry my sword in a panic. While her chest was still clearly uncut, trying to parry instead of retreating entirely was the wrong idea. She gripped her handless wrist with her remaining hand and stared at me in bewilderment. She could have reacted to that if it wasn't so unexpected, she knew I was at his limit, but for all she knew I was very reluctant to kill. She had planned to take advantage of that. 

I stared at her, until suddenly what I had just done clicked in my mind. My eyes immediately changed. I stared at her and tears filled my eyes, falling down my cheeks softly. I had done something horrible wrong. 

She had her eyes go wide, it seemed the change in me clicked in her mind. She fell back and held her wrist tightly. This injury wasn't the worst she had ever had, though she doubted she could keep fighting without her dominant hand, and recovery magic would take too long. 

I immediately sheathed my sword and made my way toward her slowly. I couldn't say a word, I simply picked up her hand and kneeled down to her. After this I used [Gluttony] to predate her hand and begin doing so on her wrist. 

She seemed panicked, though I believe she realized what I was doing soon after her eyes went wide, as they quickly went back to normal. She watched sort of interested now. She tried to analyze my skills, but great sage resisted it. 

I pulled away my slime as it reformed into my hand and inspected her wrist, it was now re-attached and didn't seem to have lost any strength from my reattaching it. After this I stood and turned away. I couldn't look her in the eyes now, I felt like I had failed Shizu. 

As a result she was the first one to say something. "I will let you leave, but, I'll be visiting your country. Not today, though. I have higher ups to report to. I will challenge you to a duel then, go save whoever it is you are protecting." and with that she had left. Soon the barriers were gone. 

I stood there for a moment even after the barriers were gone. Ranga had left my shadow, and sensing the mood he didn't interrupt me. I was simply crying to myself. Though I soon got motivated, I had a girl to save. I could hopefully rekindle my honor in fulfilling Shizu's wishes through this. So I needed to be motivated. 

As I had gotten onto Ranga, and prepared to use spatial movement to get to Tempest, Great Sage said something. 

<Notice: Location does not exist.> 

________________________________________________________________________________

Myne's pov: 

I was in and out, my consciousness was inconsistent. I knew at the very least, Lutz was carrying me. I saw the scene change as he ran, or was trying to run. The purple haired kijin had lost, and was getting beaten. We were nearly killed from the shockwaves of the first blasting through her, though she did all she could to protect us. Meanwhile a white haired kijin showed up to protect the hobgoblins. 

I felt so weak, I couldn't move, I could barely think. I could only occasionally see. It felt surreal, like I was in a lucid dream. 

The situation changed again. The white haired kijin had lost the fight, I could tell this barrier was effecting them too from that. He was so much faster before. It was terrifying, why would humans attack a peaceful city like this? I fell fully unconscious again. 

Suddenly I was awake again, a hobgoblin was protecting Shuna, now. I wanted to yell at them to run, if they could. Maybe they couldn't. I could almost feel Lutz' heavy breath in my mind now. I was so worried for him too now. If he passed out maybe they'd go after us next. 

Suddenly the two attackers retreated. I didn't know why, I though it was a good thing. I tried to move my arms, I needed to move, to help. The purple haired kijin had saved my life, I needed to help her. 

Then I felt the rumble, like a stampede, knights on massive brown horses had  entered the street, I realized the attackers had retreated to join the knights. Was this to justify a war? A horrible bloody thing like a war, out of what? For what? I got angry, and I was burning up. My chalk board clattered away from me as the satchel holding it almost melted apart. 

My skin was extremely hot to the touch, soon Lutz had dropped me, as my skin was burning him, trying to carry me, he was left with a scorch mark on the back of his shirt. He stared at me with a shocked expression as he tried to say something, but I couldn't hear it. 

My gaze was on the knights, and their horses. I was filled with rage like I had never experienced. Then I saw the small goblina, frozen in place, unable to flee, about to get trampled to death by the knights' horses. I wanted to scream out to her to run, but I couldn't. I felt helpless, worthless. Utter defenseless. 

I saw the purple haired kijin now, she had ran toward the small goblina, and had cradled her, and tried to run. She couldn't get far though, I saw the lead knight raise his sword, ready to strike them down. I couldn't allow that, I wouldn't allow that. Maybe I had no choice? 

Out of my own control, my voice said something. What was in control was my arm, I raised it, putting my palm toward the group of knights. A silver flame engulfed my hand, and soon the rest of my body. I couldn't feel the pain though. My own skin was turning black and my hair had nearly completely burnt off. "...Luminous..." This was all I could get out, but it was enough. Hopefully, I hoped it would be enough. 

The silver flame shot from my hand and engulfed half of the knights, and when it dissipated there was nothing left. 

I could feel as my heart stopped, and my eyes closed, I fell back and my outstretched hand fell off, in a charred crisp. 

With that, a second time, I had died. 

________________________________________________________________________________

--2801 words, revised 26/11/2021, originally 2094 words--

(AN: I hoped you all enjoyed this chapter, this one was the most exciting to write yet. Sorry for the cliff hanger, I just wanted to build suspense, ya know?)