Editing Shinmai Maou no Keiyakusha:Volume 7 Chapter 1 (section)

===Part 3===

After Basara lost consciousness during Jin’s special training, he only regained consciousness after night had fallen.

After realising that he awoke on the bed in the guest room the Moderates Faction had assigned to him—

“Yo… you awake?”

Someone said to him suddenly. Turning around to look, he saw Jin smoking a cigarette by the window, calmly gazing at him.

“Dad… Uh—!”

Basara sat upright. But his face suddenly twisted in pain.

“Treatment for your injuries just finished, so don’t force it… The maid who tended to your injuries said that you need to recuperate for now.”

“Recuperate for now…? Then, doesn’t that mean…!?”

“Don’t worry, you’ll recover before you arrive at the Current Demon Lord Faction’s city.”

Saying that, Jin suddenly stopped smiling, and turned solemn.

“Let me ask you… do you still remember ''that'' during the last moments?”

That question, made Basara recall that last attack he released during the last moments from his training with Jin.

“……Nn, I still remember.”

After muttering that, he lowered his vision to look at his right hand.

Back then – Basara had released an attack that destroyed a large portion of Oldora Forest. Normally, Basara who is a speed-type fighter should be unable to release an attack with such great power and magnitude.

“Then, you better remember that feeling well and recall it constantly in your heart, until you can release that attack at will. When in a pinch, you can’t leave your life to ad-libbed moves.”

“I understand…but, what…”

“That, is part of [Banishing Shift]’s potential… Originally, it can only be activated when counterattacking, snuffing out the target by completely eliminating it or as an indirect attack; but that attack took it a step further to release the eliminating power, turning the counterattack into an attack.”

“Releasing the eliminating power… Wait, could it be!?”

Jin looked at Basara with solemn eyes and said to the stunned Basara:

“That’s right… Just like during the tragedy in the [Village], the principle is very similar to when you lost control of your power.”

“ ! ———— “

When he understood what Jin meant by that, Basara’s heartbeat suddenly went wild, causing him to grip his chest in pain. His heart twisted in pain, and his breaths became shallow, and his vision became blurry.

On that day five years ago, that scene before him – replayed itself again in his mind. As Basara’s consciousness was fading away—

“—Basara!”

Jin shouted at him while gripping his shoulders, pulling him back into reality. When he noticed that Basara regained himself, Jin gently said while focusing on Basara’s eyes that were looking into his:

“Calm down, breath slowly… you okay now?”

“ ! …Aahh…”

Basara nodded while stabilizing his breathing, slowly taking deeper and deeper breaths. After a while, he managed to calm himself down.

“You’re still blaming yourself over it, so asking you to do this is a somewhat cruel, but…”

Jin’s consideration, caused Basara to say while shaking his head:

“This is a problem that I must face and accept… something that I can’t leave alone. You said, from your point of view, the current demon lord against me…when fighting against the one called Leohart, I won’t have a chance if I don’t use that power?”

“No, that’s not it.”

Jin answered:

“Currently, you’re still regretting that incident from five years ago, so you’re suppressing your strength with your surface consciousness, and had set an upper cap with your sub-consciousness; when you were able to release that power before, it was Brynhildr that helped you dispel those reasons limiting you.”

“Brynhildr…?”

“Yes. However, although you see Brynhildr as a weapon, you care about Brynhildr a lot somewhere in your heart… as the cause of that tragedy was from Brynhildr being drawn out from the ground.”

“………”

Basara showed affirmation with silence to the question Jin raised.

Fighting poison with poison – to fight against evil spirits with the demonic sword Brynhildr, the [Village] used it to seal ancient evil spirits. But they had not expected it to be drawn out from the ground, and thus causing that tragedy.

“Compared to spirit weapons like a spirit sword that has the『Holy attribute』, demonic weapons like a demonic sword are much more troublesome. If used too indulgently, the user’s consciousness can be disrupted and eroded.”

Jin continued to explain:

“And your concern for Brynhildr’s sin to this day, coincidently prevented the demonic sword from eroding… but similarly, it also limited Brynhildr’s strength.

''Do you understand?''

“To put it simply, right now you have placed three limiters on yourself… but when you were pushed to death’s door during daytime, you forgot about Brynhildr’s sin and your strength exploded. To be able to match up against Leohart, you need to release at least one limiter, best would be two, otherwise your chances aren’t’ that great.”

“………I see.”

Jin’s assessment, caused Basara’s reply to be naturally downcast.

To protect Mio, he must win against Leohart. Yet, he didn’t think he could just leave the tragedy five years ago behind him with just merely a nod – that unforgivable painful past, is something he thinks he should not leave behind. The knot in his heart made him look downwards, and tightly grip his right fist. At that moment, Jin said in a tone that held a double meaning:

“Don’t be so pessimistic… I never said you have no choice but to defeat Leohart.”

“ ? What do you mean?”

“The problem is with where your final aim lies. The power struggle within the Demon Realm has been going on for countless years, and is simply just an entangled mess, a bottomless swamp; but your goal, is to end the situation with Mio being used as a negotiation tool, right? If you use methods that are too rough against the Current Demon Lord Faction, the Moderates Faction’s cries for Mio to be the new Demon lord would get louder.”

But—

“If you lose, there’s no guarantee of withdrawing safely; even if you manage to protect everyone’s lives, the title of [Daughter of the Former Demon Lord] will be a source of trouble. To quell their minds, the Current Demon Lord Faction will definitely hunt her to the ends of the words.”

“Then… you want me to get a draw against the Current Demon Lord Faction?”

Basara thought about Jin’s words for a while, and tried to understand the underlying meaning, but—

“Not exactly… Fighting a draw, wouldn’t change the antagonistic situation between the Current Demon Lord Faction and the Moderates Faction; the Current Demon Lord Faction would continue trying to kill Mio, and the Moderates Faction would still want her to be the new Demon Lord. Listen closely—“

Jin then said out the summary:

“In other words… your final goal, lies outside of the victory of the Moderates and the Current Demon Lord Faction, understand?”

“I know what you mean… but, just how…”

He can’t simply win, yet he can’t lose, and a draw would be meaningless – he had to find a clever way to victory, including cutting off the Current Demon Lord Faction’s grudge against Mio, when the opponent’s strength is above his. Basara doesn’t really think, that such a beautiful way exists. Seeing his expression became solemn, Jin said while smiling:

“Don’t worry… I have a way. At least, I thought of a few ways already.”

“ ! –really!?”

Basara couldn’t hold back his surprise and shouted.

“Really… But the opponent has got their own plans too, so two parties pulling the strings, things may not go as I planned; pursuing too much perfection would only tighten the knot around the neck, so be careful. To raise the chances of success, the minimum is a draw against Leohart, and I hope that you can push him into a corner.”

“To push Leohart…”

Jin already said that unless he can release one, or two, of his self-imposed limiters, his chances are slim. Could he really do it? Just then—

“Actually… You still have an insurance that can be used in an emergency.”

“Insurance? What insurance do I have…”

Jin's puzzling sentence, confused Basara again.

“As it would only just shift the focus of the problem away, I would try to not use it… but to let you out into battle without a trump card, you’ll easily lose your life if you’re too nervous… Nevermind, looks like I have no other choice.”

“What is it…? You seem to like speaking to yourself a lot today, dad. Forget about that trump card, I still can’t make sense of what you said just now.”

“Indeed… but before I tell you what the insurance is, and how to win, there is something that I must tell you first. To tell the truth, I would really like to tell you at a later date… After all, it involves too many complications, but… since thing have come to this, there are things that I must make clear to you right now.”

“…Just what would that be?”

Jin gave a bitter smile, and said something to the doubtful Basara.

As if he was revealing a hidden secret.

“Actually… it has to do with your mothers.”

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