Translator: Haruto.

Amane and I find ourselves in a place I could only describe as majestic.  

Why, you ask?

Haha, you see, today’s the day we receive our divine arms!

Heck yeah!

When I used to play this eroge back in the day, a great sword was always the weapon of my choosing.

It comes quite in handy in this world thanks to its heavy strikes.

Weak hits don’t work against calamities because of their regenerative abilities.

On the other hand, heavy strikes are capable of wounding them to the point they’re unable to heal themselves.

“Let’s get started, shall we? I ask that all divine-arms recipients step forward, one by one.”

In order to receive your divine arms, you first need to pray to the gods.

And then, you’ll be given whichever weapon suits you best.

Amane got a long sword.

It has a nice silver gradient with golden sparkles here and there. It looks pretty cool.

It’s called “The Winter Snow Sword,” and its reach and power are nothing to scoff at.

Man, it’s hard not to get excited after seeing her get a sword like that. I can feel my heart racing as I begin to pray.  

An almost sublime light reveals two swords floating before me.

Wait, two swords?

In this world, the only divine arms that involve the wielding of two swords are known as Dual Blades.

They’re the weakest, yet also the fastest weapons.

With that being said, there’s no point in being fast when your attacks don’t pack a punch.  

Not to mention, using life energy allows you to move pretty fast already, which renders these swords basically useless.

And to add salt to injury, compared to wielding a sword with both hands, each of your attacks is way weaker because you need to hold both swords at the same time.

I see, this must be why Shuu never entered the battlefield in the original storyline and worked as nothing more than a scout, which is also why he didn’t have much screentime.  

He wasn’t able to get past this obstacle.  

Amane looks at me with worry in her eyes, before being taken away by some important guy.

Agh, what the heck is wrong with me?! Haven’t I been working my ass off all this time?!

Why am I letting Amane worry about me like that?!

Who cares if this puts me at a slight disadvantage?! It’s not over yet!

Smile!

I’ve gotta follow my own advice!

“Hey, Shimizu. What did you get again? I received a curved greatsword, you know?! Oops, that was mean of me. After all, you—”

“I got dual blades. You’ve got a problem with that?”

Aoyama enters the scene. A curved greatsword, huh. Their combo attacks make them a force to be reckoned with.

“H-How dare you speak to me that way?! It seems I have to teach you a lesson.”

I look around but no one is coming to my aid. They’ve given up on me, huh.

It’s obvious my parents wish to help me, but the fierce glare of one of the chiefs is keeping them in place.

The Aoyamas have a higher rank than the Shimizus which means that winning here will only spell trouble for my family later on.

Let’s try to find a simple way out of this.  

Aoyama raises his sword.  

“Rejoice! You’ll get to witness my special skill!”

Considering he’s wielding a curved greatsword, he’ll probably use either whirl slash or swing slash.

“Take this! Dimensional Slash!”

“Wha-?! Crap!”

I underestimated this guy. I thought he could only use LV2 skills at best!

Dimensional Slash is a LV3 attack.

It directs a flying slash to your target and it’s capable of sending a part of them to another location.

However, because of how small I am, the skill will swallow me whole.

It’s far too late to dodge now.

Dimensional Slash teleports me away.

“Ugh… Where am I?”

All I see around me are trees. In other words, I’m in the middle of a forest.

I feel a chill creep up my spine.

Some sort of evil presence appears all of a sudden, and I rush to find a place to hide.

That’s… a rank-three calamity?!

Calamities are divided by rank. They go from rank lower-rank twelve to rank one.

Rank-five to rank-one are the most troublesome.  

Not only is their strength on a whole other level, but they also possess a certain degree of intelligence and superior regenerative powers…

Damn it. This is not just some regular forest.

Even if the rank-three calamity is an exception, the fact that there are rank-five calamities here as well means one of three things:  

1. This is a Dark Green Forest.
2. This is a Spirit-Calling Forest.
3. This is a Champions’ Forest.

If this is a dark green forest, then I’m pretty much dead. Dark green forests are the calamities’ dens. Basically, you need to have cleared the entire game beforehand to even have a chance.

Next, there are the spirit-calling forests where, as their name suggests, spirit-type calamities dwell. What makes these calamities so dangerous is the fact that when you take too long to defeat them, they summon more and more of their brethren. A greatsword could end them in a second, but facing them with dual blades would be an uphill battle.

Finally, we’ve got the champions’ forests; as you get closer to the summit, the calamities around you get stronger and more numerous.  

You must adapt constantly or you’ll be in deep water.

In short, they’re all dreadful places, but if I had to choose one, I’d take the champions’ forest.

Alright, let’s see where I ended up.  

I climb a tree and begin jumping around as I look for more calamities.

And once I’m done with my search, I arrive at one conclusion…

This is a Spirit-Calling Forest.

I take a peek at my divine arms one more time.

“The Dark Blades of the Divine Dragon.”

What? These swords—I mean, these blades belong to an amazing god!

The Divine Dragon, also known as Okami, is a deity of water that was born when Izanagi killed the deity of fire, and as you may have guessed, its main ability is controlling water.

Okami, or the Divine Dragon, is usually regarded as two deities in one: The Takaokami, the Divine Dragon of the Mountain, and the Kuraokami, the Divine Dragon of the Abyss.

It is said that Kuraokami presides over the rivers that run through the valleys, while Takaokami presides over the rain that falls in the mountains.

When rain falls in the mountains, water accumulates and becomes streams that make their way down to our settlements. And we’ve got Takaokami and Kuraokami to thank for that.

On that note, please save me! This is a mountain and as an offering…

Sorry, I’ve got nothing.

Now that I think about it, though, Kuraokami is also considered an evil deity since rivers may cause misfortune to people as well. That’s why it’s known as the Divine Dragon of the Abyss.

I’m screwed.  

Some people even believe that Kuraokami actually became Takaokami after it was sealed and enshrined.

So, why am I telling you this? I don’t even know. All you need to keep in mind is that it’s a pretty amazing god.

Smug.

Wait, that doesn’t make you amazing, you say? I know, I just need something—anything—to keep my spirits up.

“I mean, just look at that…”

An army of one hundred calamities stands before me.

A rank-three calamity commands them.

What the hell?!

How did things end up like this?!

I grip both of my blades tightly and get ready for action.

I can’t wait to see Amane again…

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