The golem chased after them, even though the golem was nowhere near agile, its speed was still on par with Saito.
Tabitha's Wind Dragon landed in front of Saito to help in their escape.
“Get on.” Tabitha said.
Saito placed Louise on the dragon’s back.
“You too, quickly!” Tabitha said to Saito with urgency unlike her normal self.
But Saito did not get on, instead he ran towards the golem.
“Saito!” Louise shouted.
“Fly away now!” Saito shouted.
Tabitha stared at Saito emotionlessly for a while, and was forced to make Sylphid fly up as the golem was approaching them.
Bang!
The golem’s fist smashed onto the place Saito stood on. Just in the nick of time, Saito jumped and evaded the blow. The golem removed its fist from the ground and a crater a meter wide was formed.
Saito mumbled to himself, “Don’t cry if you can’t take it lying down. Stupid! This really makes me feel like doing something for you!” Saito faced the golem and said, “You better not look down on me! You’re just a pile of dirt!”
He grabbed hold on his sword and said, “I’m Louise’s familiar!”
“Saito!” Louise attempted to jump down from Sylphid which was in mid air, but was grabbed by Tabitha.
“Please save Saito!” Louise pleaded.
Tabitha shook her head.
“Impossible to get near.”
Whenever Sylphid tried to get near, the golem would try to attack it. So Tabitha was not able to approach Saito at all.
“Saito!” Louise shouted again.
Louise saw Saito wielding his sword in a stand off against the golem.
The golem moved and threw a punch. In mid-flight the fist morphed into steel. (3)
Saito saw this, and parried the attack with his sword.
Pang! The sword broke from the hilt upon impact.
Saito was stunned. Was this sword really made by the famous Germanian Alchemist Lord Shupei? It’s totally useless!
Without a weapon, all Saito could do was evade the golem’s attack.
Seeing Saito in a pinch, Louise was desperate. Wasn’t there anyway to help him? Just then, Louise noticed the “Staff of Destruction” held by Tabitha.
“Tabitha! Pass that to me!”
She nodded and passed the Staff of Destruction to Louise.
The Staff of Destruction had an unusual shape that Louise had never seen before.
But since Louise’s magic did not work, all she could depend on now was the Staff of Destruction.
Louise closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Opening her eyes again she said, “Tabitha! Use levitation on me.” And jumped off the Sylphid’s back. Tabitha hastily casted “Levitation” on Louise.
Under the effect of the spell, Louise slowly descended and, facing Saito and the golem, waved the Staff of Destruction.
Nothing happened at all. There was no response from the Staff of Destruction.
“Is this really a magical staff?” Louise shouted urgently.
Were there any special requirements in order to activate it?
Saito looked at the descending Louise and was shocked. Why did she come back? It would have been better for her to stay on the dragon!
At the same time, Saito saw the Staff of Destruction that Louise was holding.
Looks like Louise did not know how to use the staff and she was just waving it around…
Saito rushed towards Louise.
If we could use this, maybe we could defeat the golem!
“Saito!” Louise shouted to Saito who was running towards her.
Saito grabbed the Staff of Destruction away from Louise.
“I don’t know how to use this!”
“It’s to be used like this!”
Saito grabbed hold of the Staff of Destruction, took out the arming handle, opened the rear cover and pulled out and extended the inner tube.
… Why do I know how to do this?
But now this is not the time to think.
He flipped up the telescope sight on the tube and aimed.
Seeing his proficiency in handling the Staff of Destruction, Louise was too shocked to say anything.
Saito placed the Staff of Destruction on his shoulder and pointed the front of the staff towards the golem.
Due to the short distance between him and the golem, Saito decided to aim directly at the golem.
As the distance was very close, the arming range (4) might not be attained and therefore even if hit directly, it might not explode.
Forget about that, just try it! Saito thought while shouting at Louise, “Don’t stand behind the staff, there will be a back blast!”
Louise hurriedly moved out of the way.
The golem approached closer and closer to Saito.
Saito released the safety latch and fired the weapon.
Immediately, a loud thunder came from the staff and a projectile with wings flew towards the golem.
The projectile met with the golem with a terrific explosion.
Saito instinctively closed his eyes.
A deafening roar occurred and the upper body of the golem pulverized and flew out in all directions, causing a rain of earth.
Saito slowly opened his eyes.
As the smoke from the explosion cleared, only the lower body of the golem was left standing.
What was left, took one last step forward before it finally stopped moving, and knelt down.
Then slowly from the waist, it crumbled… and returned into what it originally was – dirt.
Just like last time, the golem was reduced into a mound of earth.
Louise, who witnessed everything, felt her legs weaken and sat on the floor.
Kirche, who was hiding near the bushes, came running out.
Saito finally gave a sigh of relief.
Kirche hugged Saito and said, “Saito, My darling! You did it!”
Sylphid, who was carrying Tabitha, descended. Tabitha looked at the mound of earth and asked, “Where is Miss Longueville?”
Just then everyone realized that Miss Longueville was missing.
Just then Miss Longueville came out from the forest.
“Miss Longueville! Did you find out where Fouquet was controlling the golem from?” Kirche asked.
Miss Longueville shook her head.
The four of them started searching the mound of earth for clues. Saito looked at them, and then looked at the Staff of Destruction, thinking to himself: Why did this thing appear in this world?
Just as he was thinking, Miss Longueville took the Staff of Destruction away from Saito.
“Miss Longueville?” said the puzzled Saito.
Miss Longueville widened the distance between the group and then said, “Great job, people!”
“Miss Longueville!” Kirche shouted. “What’s the meaning of this?”
Louise stared at Miss Longueville, too shocked to say anything.
“The one controlling the golem was me all along.”
“What? That means… You’re…”
Miss Longueville removed her glasses, her once gentle expression had changed into one full of killing intent.
“Yes, I am Fouquet the Crumbling Dirt. The Staff of Destruction is really powerful; it actually can defeat my golem in just one hit!”
Fouquet held the Staff of Destruction on her shoulders like Saito did just now.
Tabitha waved her staff and began chanting.
“All of you don’t move! I have the Staff of Destruction pointed towards you. Drop your wands now.”
They had no choice but to obey. Without their wands, they could not cast any magic.
“Mr. Agile Familiar, please drop your broken sword too. You’re a threat to me if you’re holding a weapon.”
Saito obeyed her orders and dropped the sword.