The villa was now a complete mess.
The large hole in the wall, split open by the sword energy, was still letting wind into the house. The curtains were flapping loudly.
The Miyano sisters, Kazuha, Mrs. Shizuka, and even Yunyun and Megumin, who themselves possessed considerable strength, all had their eyes wide open.
None of them had expected that Iris, who looked like she was just junior high school age, would be this strong.
But what shocked them even more was another person.
Makoto sat on the sofa, his legs crossed, his left hand resting on the armrest, his right hand extending a single index finger.
Iris swung the holy sword. Golden light came slashing down one after another, so fast that ordinary people's eyes couldn't even capture the trajectory of the blade.
He used that single index finger to block, deflect, push, or flick aside every one of Iris's slashes.
Makoto's body didn't move at all. He didn't even put down his crossed leg.
Iris's breathing grew more and more rapid.
Her blonde hair was wet with sweat. Her arms were starting to ache.
The little princess stopped, holding the sword handle with both hands like a cane to support herself, gasping for air.
"I'll give you another advantage."
Makoto's voice came from the sofa. "As long as you can force me to leave this chair, I'll agree not to take action against this country."
Iris looked up. There was no gratitude in her eyes, only unwillingness.
The conditions had been eased, but she wasn't happy at all.
More than the gap in strength, this feeling of being completely underestimated was even worse.
She gritted her teeth and tightened her grip on the sword handle.
Iris took a long, deep breath.
She closed her eyes to concentrate her magic power, then opened them again a few seconds later.
Her light blue pupils reflected Makoto's face, which had a half-smile. She raised the holy sword, its tip pointing at the night sky. Golden light surged from the blade.
The pillar of light that enveloped the entire sword continued to extend upward, growing brighter and brighter, until it dyed half the sky gold.
"Holy—Explosion—!"
Iris brought the sword down.
This was the strongest single-target magic she currently mastered.
The golden pillar of light struck down from the sky, like a divine punishment descending from the sky, slashing toward the top of Makoto's head.
'Saber's Excalibur?'
Makoto looked up at that golden pillar of light and couldn't help but think of another blonde-haired girl who wielded a holy sword.
"Makoto, move!" Yunyun's voice came from the side, carrying obvious urgency.
Hana also couldn't help but shout.
Makoto didn't move.
On his raised right index finger, a golden light exploded forth.
Compared to Iris's pillar of light that reached into the sky, his pillar of light was only as long as a finger, wrapping around his index finger like a golden fingertip.
The difference in size was like a hundred-ton truck versus a baby carriage.
The two sword energies collided.
The moment the two pillars of light touched, space seemed to hit the pause button.
A few seconds later, Iris's pillar of light began to shatter.
Starting from the point of contact, it crumbled piece by piece like glass, scattering as golden specks of light in the air.
The shattering speed grew faster and faster, spreading from the tip to the sides.
Clang—
With a crisp sound,
Half of the sword tip flew out from the golden light, flipping several times in the air, and with a 'click', embedded itself in the ground in front of Darkness.
Darkness looked down at that half of a sword tip. Her face turned pale.
'That was the holy sword passed down through the Belzerg royal family for generations!'
The golden light dissipated.
Iris stood there, still holding the sword handle with both hands, but only half of the blade remained.
The break was jagged, like a branch snapped in two.
Makoto looked at his index finger. There was a faint white mark below his fingernail. He nodded in approval.
"You did your best, little princess of the mortal world."
Iris's tears fell in big drops, streaming down her cheeks and landing on the broken sword's blade.
The holy sword... their royal family's heirloom holy sword... had been broken in her hands.
"You broke my holy sword! Pay me back! Give it back to me! Give it back!!"
At this moment, Iris had completely lost the pretence of being a little adult. She was acting more in line with her age.
Yanagi covered her mouth, the corner of her mouth curving into a mischievous smile. "Makoto-kun, you made her cry."
Makoto tapped her on the head, looked at Iris wailing loudly, and thought to himself, 'Children were really troublesome.'
Makoto bent down, picked up the half of the broken blade on the ground, and then took the sword handle from Iris's hand.
He observed for a few seconds and could determine that the sword was already wrecked.
"Is there any possibility of repairing it?" Hana came over, tilting her head as she looked at the broken sword.
"No."
Makoto casually placed the two broken pieces of the sword on the sofa he had just been sitting on. "It's just scrap metal now."
To be honest, if his women were here, they might have been able to think of something.
But Makoto himself truly had no solution.
He was very good at destruction. Repair was another matter entirely.
Iris's mouth pursed again. Tears began to build up in her eyes again.
"Alright, stop crying."
Makoto reached out and pressed down on the top of her head. His palm covered her blonde hair and ruffled it twice. "I'll give you an even more powerful one someday. Cry again and I'll sell you to a brothel."
Hearing this, Iris's face turned pale with fright, and she actually stopped crying.
Darkness quickly ran over, hugged Iris, and constantly comforted her. She couldn't help complaining to Makoto, "How can you say things like that to a child?"
Makoto shot back at Darkness without mercy. "Talk any more nonsense and I'll sell you off too, and then I'll come to your brothel to be your customer."
Hearing this, Darkness immediately began to pant with excitement. "R-really? Th-then that would be... so... so..."
Even though they already understood Darkness's personality, everyone was still speechless.
Yanagi blinked her eyes, hidden beneath her bangs. She felt that if Darkness joined in, things would definitely be even more fun.
Iris looked at Darkness with a completely blank expression, unable to understand what she was so happy about.
"How could there be a sword more powerful than the holy sword..."
Looking at the broken sword on the sofa, Iris couldn't help muttering.
Yu walked over from behind and said sarcastically, "How powerful could the strongest sword be in your tiny little country?"
Not to mention other places, in the Great Tomb of Nazarick alone, there were countless weapons stronger than this sword.
Any one of them would be far superior to Iris's sword.
Of course, the premise was that Iris could become one of their own.
Iris finally realized that Makoto's hand was still on her head.
She stepped back two steps angrily to escape that hand. "I'm going back."
With that, Iris raised her right hand, palm down. A magic circle rose from the ground and quickly swallowed her up.
Soon, Iris disappeared.
The Teddy Devil licked the back of his paw, looked at the complete mess in the room, and tilted his head. "Boss, where are we staying tonight?"
"Back to the inn."
"We haven't even stayed here for two days and it's already like this." The Teddy Devil muttered.
But he didn't really care. Barring any accidents, they would probably be staying in the royal palace in a couple of days.