The Hero King, Reincarnate to Master the Art of War ~And Thus, I Became The Strongest Knight Disciple (♀) in The World~-Novel

「Three on one, is it?」

Despite what he said, there were no signs of panic on Diego’s facial expression.

「General! We can’t let this situation continue!」

「Now that it’s come to this, please use our power to help you!」

「You’re right, forgive me!」

Diego took off the thick gloves he had been wearing and pointed his palm at his collapsed subordinates. The palm was engraved with some intricate, glowing pale blue pattern. The aura the pattern gave off was similar to the ‘Levitation Magic Formation’ Rafinha had seen in the town ruled by Cyrene, Nova.

「Convergence Magic Formation! I will gladly use your strengths.」

Pale blue light rose from the bodies of the goons and it was absorbed into the ‘Convergence Magic Formation’ in Diego’s palm. Despite the fact they had never seen or shouldn’t be able to see it, the scenery in front of them was the very image of a person’s soul being plucked away from them.

And then, the assassins whose pale-blue light was drawn out by Diego had lost their consciousness and stopped moving altogether.

「……! WH-, WHAT?!!」

「Their power, I have certainly received!」

「So you killed them and rob it from them?!」

Leone was right. He just twisted his words.

「What cruelty!」

「You left me no choice under these circumstances!」

Diego’s body was filled to the brim with the pale-blue light he had absorbed.

「I shall not let their souls and resolve to go to waste!! Accelerate!」

Diego rushed towards Liselotte, the one who had been engaged in a one-on-one battle with him. The flames that spewed out of the tubes on his back were bluish-white, hotter, and more intense.

The blade protruding from Diego’s Arm collided with Liselotte’s halberd.

「Kgh! He’s even faster and stronger than before?!」

Liselotte was being overwhelmed for sure.

「Not a problem!」

Leone’s sword extended and struck Diego’s blade. The two joined hands against Diego.

「GUuaaaahhhh?!」

Overpowered, Diego was blown away and slammed into the wall.

「Leone! Thank you for the assist!」

「Sure! It’s alright, we can win if we work together!」

They looked at each other and nodded.

「Big sisters, you’re all cool!」

Alina’s eyes lit up at the flashy battle that was unveiled in front of her.

「Yeah, that’s Knights for you!」

「Sorry for saying your Flygear was lame!」

The other kids started to cheer as well.

「Sh-, shut up you brats! It ain’t over yet!」

The store owner chided in. As far as Rafinha could see, it appeared that they really were just caught in the middle of all of this. She didn’t know just why these kids were the only ones left behind, but it wouldn’t be a problem if they get this incident over with.

「It’s okay, it’ll be over before you know it! Be good girls and boys and wait for a bit more, okay!」

Added Rafinha before she joined the two and surrounded Diego.

「Accept your loss!」

「You can’t escape!」

「With the three of us working together, you are powerless!」

Nevertheless, Diego still maintained his composure.

「Still not enough, huh! Then!」

He pointed the ‘Convergence Magic Formation’ towards Alina and the kids.

「Uwah! Wh-, what the hell is this?!」

The area around the store owner’s upper arm was beginning to glow intensely. There was some kind of small pattern on it, now that Rafinha took a good look at it, it was somewhat similar to Diego’s ‘Convergence Magic Formation’.

「That is the ‘Submittance Sign’, the sign that sends power to ‘Convergence Magic Formation’. The proof of sacrifice for my power!」

「It- it wasn’t just a good luck charm?! So you gave us all the tickets for this?!」

「Forgive me. You are our reserve for when things don’t go well!」

「GUUUOOOOOHHH?!!!!!」

The store owner began to shriek in pain and agony. Being drained of power by the ‘Convergence Magic Formation’ was actually quite a painful process. Diego’s goons didn’t even make a sound because their bodies were incapable of feeling pain.

Just as before, a pale-blue light was extracted from the store owner and sucked into Diego.

「AAAAaaaaaahhhhh?!」

The store owner fell on the spot, his eyes all white.

「「「Mi……MISSTEEERRR!!」」」

The children shrieked.

「Wha?! Stop it! You dragged a bystander!!」

But now, Rafinha understood why Alina and the others were left behind. It was due to their ‘Submittance Sign’. Inglis had judged them to be ‘people with an odd flow of mana’.

In terms of judgment, she did the right thing, but it backfired greatly. Had Alina and the others been included in the evacuation, Diego wouldn’t have been able to do what he did.

「Rafinha! Liselotte! We need to defeat him ASAP!」

「Yeah, no more mercy!!」

「Accelerate!」

Diego went and broke through the enclosure. And then, he once again held out his palm towards Alina and the others.

「Still not enough!!」

This time, it was Alina whose ‘Submittance Sign’ glowed.

「AAAaaaahhhhh?!」

「A-, ALINAA?!!」

「Fu, fufufufu!! This is marvelous, she has quite the amount of mana. With this, I can even defeat all of you and accomplish my mission!」

「I won’t forgive you!! Eat this!」

Rafinha shot an arrow with maximum power right at Diego’s face. Their body, as in, anything from the neck and below couldn’t feel pain and was still able to move even after it was destroyed, but if their head was blown off, it should seal it. This was no longer a time to choose her means!

The thickest arrow of light Rafinha could muster approached Diego like a violent stream.

「What fierce power! However, I who possess the ‘Convergence Magic Formation’ will get stronger the more I absorb!!」

His right arm and the blade that was protruding from it were covered with a strong vein of light. He then slammed it into Rafinha’s arrow with all his might.

*Boom!

「——?! It’s being pushed back?! Then, I’ll do this!!」

In accordance with Rafinha’s will, the large light arrow was scattered into a rain of thin light arrows. And all of it fell on Diego simultaneously.

「Nuu?! What petty tricks!!」

If they were spread out in overwhelming numbers at such close range, it would prove to be difficult to intercept or avoid them all. Diego was forced to fold his thick arms in front of his body and take a defensive posture.