" Please watch over me, New Emperor-sama. Watch me settle my... karmic debt."
—The monsters and specters haunting Shimousa had been completely wiped away.
And remaining here was a single young girl who cared deeply for her mother, who had fallen into the path of a Swordmaster.
...—The Heroic Spirit Swordmaster, Seven Duels.
Facing that fate and karma... Fujimaru Rikka stepped forward—!
"Mother...!"
Rikka suddenly looked around. —She wasn't there. Her mother was nowhere to be found—Where—
In that exact instant—
"FUJIMARU RIKKA!!!"
A pentagram manifested around Rikka's body, robbing her of all movement—!
"!"
"—Persistence in evil that surpasses even beasts."
Masakado spat out bitterly. Appearing before them was—
"Useless! Futile! Pointless! Meaningless! It was THIS VERY MOMENT I was waiting for! Fujimaru Rikka! That soul of yours, a Human Evil!! Nn, nnnnnnn! Through karma!! I shall drag you down into utter villainy!!"
Having reattached his severed head, Limbo stood there raving like a lunatic. Seeing him in that state, Rikka muttered softly:
"Karma... You embedded it in yourself, too."
"Indeed! Neither mystic blades nor extraordinary powers can reach me! For we are mere vessels—automata moving in accordance with karma!!"
"—Master. Do you require my assistance?"
Rikka shook her head. —To be completely honest, she was sick and tired of him.
He had toyed with her mother.
He had dragged out the New Emperor's vengeful spirit.
He had terrified Tasuke and Onui.
And he had made Grandpa Muramasa worry.
Against this creature called Caster Limbo—
"A special! A very special karma shall be embedded within you! For a beast like you—who killed her parents, went unloved by her parents, and turned to wickedness—yes, the Avici Hell awaits—"
She was going to break his smug nose—no matter what it took!
"HAAAAAAA—!!!!!!!"
Putting every ounce of her spirit into the effort, Rikka resisted the binding of the pentagram. Igniting the magical circuits throughout her body, she unleashed a massive burst of magical energy from within.
"It is useless, useless, USELESS! Even your mother could not escape this karma! How could someone who is not even a Heroic Spirit hope to overturn it?!"
"Ghhhh...AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!"
"Just like Minamoto no Raikou of the past! She once declared: 'No matter what becomes of me, my affection for Fujimaru Rikka will never change!' Those were her final words! How utterly, utterly, UTTERLY ridiculous! How foolish! Pitiful creatures clinging to a fake family play-act with no shared blood! Your futile struggles only serve to excite me—"
His shrill laughter froze instantly.
It was the swords. The 'swords' moved on their own, floating around Rikka before spinning around—
"W-WHY—?!"
They lunged straight at Limbo. One sought to devour his rich, festering malice and karma; the other moved out of pure maternal love—to save her daughter from a dire plight—!
"OOOOOOOOAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
The mud of Human Evil tainted and overwrote the pentagram's binding. Mere constraints were far too weak to bind the total malice of humanity.
Above all—
"I am going to... FREE MY MOTHER—!!!!!!"
To achieve her unchanging wish—she shattered that vile constraint by sheer force—!!
"WHAT—?!?!?"
Expreing utter shock and panic at the human... no, the beast who had violently overwhelmed, soaked through, and crushed his binding through raw power—
"Y-You bastard—"
—He never got the chance to finish his sentence.
"—Ga, gi...!?"
A clean diagonal slash ripped through him from behind. Cleaved straight in two by an unknown attacker, Limbo turned around, unable to comprehend what had just happened, only to find—
"B-Black Rope...? Wh-What are you doing—"
Looking down at him with cold, emotionless eyes, the Black Rope Hell had delivered the strike without a shred of feeling.
"What am I doing? Nothing at all. I explicitly gave you an order earlier, did I not? Have you forgotten?"
"Wh-What—?"
"'Fujimaru Rikka is mine to slay. Anyone who interferes is equally my enemy.' —I simply slaughtered the enemy standing right in front of me."
He was given no chance to hurl curses at her broken, contradictory logic.
"――――――――――AAAAAAAAGGGHHH!!!!!!!"
With a roaring battle cry, Rikka unfurled her wings and leaped into the air, throwing her fist forward with every fiber of her being to punch Limbo square in the face. Limbo's neck twisted violently, snapping the bones as his head spun around three full times.
"――――!!!!"
Simultaneously, using her left hand—completely drenched in demonic energy—she grabbed Limbo by the groin with terrifying force—
"Hyu, ii—"
She crushed two of the exposed internal organs in his lower abdomen with raw strength—
"!!!!"
Drivng Dojigiri Yasutsuna straight through his torso, she sliced his body cleanly in half from top to bottom—
"—AAAAHHH!!!!!"
And pulling out Ryuko Juonzan Muramasa with her left hand—she launched his head into the air with a swift upward slash.
"―If it were Hime-sama, I'm sure she would have found something worth saving even in a guy like you. She might have even offered a prayer for a soul like yours."
Raising her sword high—
"But—I am NEVER letting you see Hime-sama again."
Releasing a massive surge of magical power—she incinerated Limbo down to the last atom, leaving not a trace of ash behind.
"—Punishment executed."
His vessel returned entirely to dust. Caster Limbo was completely erased—
"..."
"..."
And then, eyes met between a single human girl... and a single Heroic Spirit Swordmaster—
"..."
—There was only one who stood witness to this fateful encounter: Taira no Masakado alone.
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