Incidentally, the reason both of them had resorted to such juvenile tactics was because they’d already exhausted all of their mana fighting each other seriously. Noticing the arrival of newcomers, Shea turned to the newly formed entrance.
“Oh? Tio-san? And the people from the hero’s party. Looks like you all beat your trials. That’s great! Look, Yue-san, Kaori-san! Tio-san’s here! So stop fighting already and let’s get moving! Come on, take your hands off each other’s cheeks, and stop slapping each other! Hey, no kicking! Calm down and—”
Despite Shea’s entreaty, the kicking, slapping, and pulling continued. Shea had had enough of this tomfoolery.
“I said give it a fucking rest already!”
Running out of patience, Shea punched Kaori and Yue on their heads, using body strengthening to enhance the power of her fist. The force of her blows caused Kaori and Yue to scream out in pain. They cradled their heads and rolled around on the ground in agony.
“Hmm... It seems as though Yue and Shea’s positions have reversed ever since we entered this labyrinth. I suppose Yue is being affected by this labyrinth more than most...or perhaps Shea has simply grown that much in this short period,” Tio mused to herself as she watched Shea grab Yue and Kaori by the scruff of their necks and drag them toward her.
Her conjecture was spot-on. Shea’s growth both in terms of physical prowess and mental fortitude had been explosive. Especially after Hajime had officially accepted her as one of his girlfriends. She was no longer the rambunctious, difficult-to-manage newbie of the party. Now she was every bit as reliable as Yue. As a result, Yue had naturally started letting herself be spoiled by Shea the same way she let herself be spoiled by Hajime.
“Phew... Sorry for making you guys wait. The new passageway’s that way. Let’s get going, guys.”
“I must say, you’ve grown into quite the reliable leader, Shea.”
“Sheashea, you’re so cool...”
“It’s reassuring knowing you’ve got our backs, Shea-san.”
Tio, Suzu, and Ryutarou showered Shea with praise. Shea’s bunny ears perked up and she cocked her head to the side, still holding onto Yue and Kaori. It was a pretty strange sight, seeing the two of them sitting quietly in Shea’s arms.
With Shea in the lead, the party headed into the next passage.
“The only people we haven’t met up with are Hajime-kun, Shizuku-chan, and Kouki-kun.”
“Mmm... Hopefully Hajime’s next. I don’t want to run into any more duds.”
“Are you implying I’m a dud, Yue? Hmmm?”
Kaori and Yue bickered amicably with each other, attempting to pinch each other’s cheeks, but being prevented by Shea pulling them apart. All they could do was glare at each other and slap each other’s hands. Once they started getting too feisty Shea glared coldly at them, causing them to meekly quiet down.
“You two should at least walk on your own...” Ryutarou muttered, and Suzu and Tio nodded in agreement. Before either of them could retort, they arrived at the dead-end that indicated the entrance to the next room. But instead of hurrying forward, Shea and the others came to a halt. Shea’s ears twitched a few times, and her expression grew troubled.
After a few seconds, her eyes widened in surprise and she exclaimed, “Wha... Th-Those two are—?”
A few seconds later, Yue, Kaori, and Tio also picked up on what was going on beyond the wall and their expressions turned grim. Yue and Kaori extricated themselves from Shea’s arms, and Suzu and Ryutarou exchanged confused glances.
“There’s little point in idling here. Let us go see the situation for ourselves.”
“It’s not a friendly fight like ours are... is it?”
“Mmm... If he’s truly Hajime’s enemy, then I’ll kill him.”
“We’ll find out soon.”
Shea and Tio stepped forward, their expressions grim. Yue looked downright murderous, while Kaori was praying the situation was less serious than it seemed. Unfortunately, Kaori’s prayers weren’t answered. A storm of malice and bloodlust raged beyond the wall of ice. It seemed Hajime and Kouki were in the middle of a true deathmatch.
Chapter III: What Makes a Hero
Kouki Amanogawa. He had been born to average, unassuming parents, but there was one person in his family that he respected greatly, even to this day. His grandfather.
Kouki’s grandfather’s name was Kanji Amanogawa, and he’d been a famous lawyer back in the day. It had been customary in the Amanogawa family to spend extended holidays at Kanji’s house. Since Kanji’s wife had passed away at an early age, he lived alone and doted on Kouki whenever he came to visit. Kouki, in turn, grew rather fond of his grandfather.
The thing he liked most as a kid was hearing Kanji’s stories about his workdays. During his years as a lawyer, Kanji had accumulated a lot of experience and wisdom, which he passed down to his eager grandson. Of course, he’d summarized his stories for Kouki, both so that his grandson had an easier time understanding the lessons contained within, and also to protect confidential client information. Still, he was a good storyteller, and Kouki had hung on to his every word.
Kanji’s stories were always about saving the weak, humbling the strong, and lending a helping hand to those who needed it. The protagonists in his stories always did the right thing and were always fair and impartial. In other words, they were stereotypical heroes. But of course, Kanji’s stories were just that. Stories. While they were based on reality, they were embellished to the point of being fairy tales.
However, as far as Kouki was concerned, the true hero was his grandfather. While other kids his age idolized popular fictional heroes like Kamen Rider, Kouki idolized his grandfather. And because Kanji was someone Kouki could actually talk to rather than a fictional character, his admiration for him was that much stronger. Kouki’s dream was to one day be like his grandfather.
Naturally, however, the world wasn’t like Kanji’s stories. Things weren’t perfectly split into black and white, and justice didn’t always win the day. Lawyers weren’t paragons of justice whose ultimate calling was to unveil the truth, but rather legal advocates whose job was to protect their client’s interests, regardless of who the client was. Indeed, the very reason Kanji had been such a famous lawyer was because he’d been able to accept both the good and evil that came with his job description and make rational decisions based on the evidence presented. He’d understood best of all that justice and idealism weren’t enough to fight against the dark side of society. Of course, he’d kept the more nuanced details of his job from Kouki, believing that a young child shouldn’t be exposed to such truths so early. He’d intended to eventually tell Kouki about his more grim stories once the boy was a bit older.
But unfortunately, he never got the chance. Not long before Kouki was due to start elementary school, Kanji passed away. And his death had a huge impact on Kouki.
It made sense. After all, Kouki’s greatest hero had just died. The passing of his beloved grandfather made Kouki immortalize the ideals Kanji had told him about in his heart as a way of honoring his memory. But those ideals were all tinged with childish simplicity, and they allowed no wiggle room for situations that weren’t black and white. Worse, the way which Kouki interpreted those ideals meant he would always side with what the majority believed was just, even if that majority was wrong.
Of course, that was hardly a unique mindset. Most children Kouki’s age believed in the same simple ideas of right and wrong that he did. However, most other children were eventually given cold, hard doses of reality that contradicted those simple morals they believed in. And after many setbacks and failures, they learned to compromise in their beliefs in order to survive the stormy sea known as life. They realized their ideals were nothing more than ideals, and the heroes they once aspired to be didn’t exist.
Most children locked their childish ideals away in a box and learned to face reality. It was part of growing up.
The same should have happened to Kouki. Had he ex
perienced a normal childhood, he would have ended up perfectly fine.
Unfortunately for Kouki Amanogawa, he was too extraordinary. His superhuman talents allowed him to overcome the wall known as reality. He experienced no failures or setbacks and was always able to get his way through force. He was able to live by the ideals he believed in no matter the situation, and always come out successful.
As a result, Kouki never once doubted the righteousness of his actions. His parents, Shizuku, and his other close friends pointed out the dangers of believing he was always right, but Kouki always brushed their words off. Because of his natural charisma, and the fact that his actions were rooted in moral principles, everyone but those close to him believed Kouki truly was a hero and supported him. However, that sadly served to strengthen Kouki’s belief that his friends’ warnings weren’t worth listening to.
Naturally, not everything he did resulted in positive outcomes. Though he wasn’t aware of it, he caused almost as many problems as he solved. For example, the way he’d caused Shizuku’s classmates to get jealous of her.
However, Kouki always interpreted things in a way that favored his worldview, thus allowing him to continue pretending he was always right. These delusions were only possible because the vast majority of people supported and adored him. His popularity made him blind to his shortcomings. No matter how many times his parents or Shizuku warned him, he didn’t listen.
Though fundamentally he always tried to do the right thing, Kouki’s ideals became warped by their very purity. It was only after being summoned to Tortus that his worldview was finally challenged. Unlike peaceful Japan, Tortus was filled with violence and hatred. More importantly, in this world filled with the supernatural and superhuman, even Kouki’s godlike stats weren’t enough to make everything go his way. The biggest example of this was when a completely transformed Hajime had saved him and his comrades from the demon and her monsters in the Great Orcus Labyrinth. For the first time in his life, things hadn’t gone Kouki’s way. In the aftermath of his first-ever failure, the childish nature of his personality was finally revealed to all. Not only that—
“She was stolen from you, wasn’t she?”
“No! That’s not what...”
Kouki’s copy narrowed its crimson eyes and sneered at Kouki. Its hair was gray, and its armor black. Thirty minutes had passed since the start of their battle. Kouki was panting heavily, and sweat cascaded down his brow. But it wasn’t his exhaustion that caused him to stumble over his words.
“It’s like Shizuku said, Kaori’s loved Nagumo from the start... so she wasn’t...”
“Who do you think you’re fooling? I’m you, remember? I know you better than anyone. Even if you pretended to accept Shizuku’s explanation, the truth is you believe she was stolen from you. Hell, you still think you’re the one Kaori should marry. You’ve thought that ever since elementary school. Who cares what kind of run-in she had with Nagumo in middle school, you’re the one who’s known her longer. Besides, she’s meant to be your, the hero’s, heroine.”
“Shut up. I-I never thought anything like that! Stop spouting bullshit! You’re just another one of the labyrinth’s monsters. I won’t be deceived by you!”
Eyes bloodshot, Kouki glared at his copy and unleashed a barrage of light slashes at it. It lazily let loose an equivalent barrage of dark slashes to cancel out Kouki’s attack. A few of them even overwhelmed Kouki’s spell and punched through toward him.
“So you say, but you look pretty shaken up. Man, that legendary sword is wasted on you. Nagumo even went through all the trouble of honing it, too. Or is that why you don’t want to use it? Because the guy you’re jealous of made it stronger?”
“That has nothing to do with anything! Besides, I’m not jealous of—”
“Hahaha. You just keep averting your gaze from the truth, huh? Keep this up and I’ll only get stronger!”
Sneering, the copy unleashed a Celestial Flash - Shatter. It was clearly more powerful than the last one had been. Shuddering, Kouki dived to the side just in time. His instincts told him he couldn’t neutralize that attack head-on. But his copy launched another barrage of shockwaves at the location he landed, giving him no time to catch his breath. The attacks were getting faster as well, and it took Kouki everything he had to keep dodging.
Meanwhile, the copy continued leisurely poking fun at Kouki.
“You hate how Yue and the others all fawn over Nagumo too, don’t you? You think all those cute, strong girls belong with a true hero like you. And you just can’t understand why they prefer a guy like Nagumo, who’s willing to abandon people he doesn’t like.”
“Shut up already! Those girls all love Nagumo... and that’s their decision... so...”
“Oh, and you hate how strong Nagumo is too. You think all that strength should belong to you, don’t you? Hell, you just plain don’t like Nagumo.”
“You’re wrong! Sure I think he’s a little selfish, but he’s saved my life multiple times... How could I hate him?”
“Are you serious? All those times he saved you, you were jealous. You didn’t feel grateful at all. You were just mad because you thought it was your job to swoop in and save everyone.”
“That’s not true! You’re lying!”
“Am I? Then how come my power’s still growing?”
His desire to be a hero, his jealousy bordering on hatred for Hajime, and his desire to monopolize Kaori while still wanting other girls to be enamored with him were all things he’d thought somewhere in his heart, but Kouki had truly managed to convince himself he hadn’t. He was subconsciously ignoring his own true nature, which was why his copy kept growing in power. And because this was happening subconsciously, he couldn’t even stop it. The copy raised its black sword high, gathering pitch-black mana around it. Since it was a direct counterpart to Kouki’s Holy Sword, Demon Sword was a fitting name for it.
Grinning, the copy thrust its Demon Sword up toward the heavens. A pillar of black light rose up to the ceiling and burst, transforming into countless dark meteors. They hurtled toward Kouki, a dark meteor shower of death. Kouki used Flash Step to evade the barrage and desperately searched for an opportunity to launch a counterattack. But his copy showed no openings, and cold sweat started pouring down his back.
To make matters worse, the meteor shower had slight homing capabilities and each meteor unleashed a mana shockwave upon exploding which made avoiding every meteor even more difficult. If he dodged too early, the meteors would follow him and if he dodged too late, the shockwave would catch him.
Thanks to all the improvements Nagumo made, my fake’s even— N-No, that’s not what I should be thinking. This guy’s just strong. Kouki shook his head, banishing those negative thoughts. After all, they weren’t the “right” thing to think about someone who’d helped him before.
Unfortunately, though, his conflicting emotions caused him to make a fatal error. He mistimed dodging one of the meteors. Realizing he was about to get hit, Kouki tightened his muscles. He relied on his divine armor to protect him and instead focused on launching a counterattack.
“Ngh! Fly Forth— Celestial Flash - Storm!”
Celestial Flash - Storm was a Celestial Flash with invisible blades of wind added to it. Furthermore, Kouki had used enough mana to fire off a double-digit number of light slashes. It truly was a storm of flashes. However—
“You’re wasting your mana. Gather— Heavenstrum - Shatter!”
The remaining meteors gathered around the copy’s sword. The Demon Sword glowed with a malignant black light, and the meteors merged into a single stream. It thrust its sword toward Kouki, sending the beam at his Celestial Flash slashes. It was as if the copy was trying to prove it didn’t even need to dodge. Indeed, the difference in strength between it and Kouki was already that great. The copy’s black beam obliterated Kouki’s Celestial Flash - Storm in an instant.
“Ah!? Provide a bulwark— Divine Armor!”
A veil of white light covered Kouki
’s armor, and Kouki held his sword in front of him like a shield. A second later, the dark light swallowed him whole.
“Nnnnnngh!”
An immense wall of pressure assaulted Kouki. Though he tried to stand firm, his protective veil of light began to flicker. Heavensturm was originally a relatively weak spell that covered a large area. But thanks to Hajime’s maintenance, Kouki’s sword had been restored to its original power. On top of that, the copy’s Demon Sword had been powered up even more by Kouki’s denial of his negative emotions. Even so, it was quite a surprise that its power was enough to overcome Kouki’s nigh-impregnable armor.
“Gaaaaaah!?”
With a low-pitched whine, the light surrounding Kouki’s armor vanished, and Kouki was blown backward by the dark beam.
“Bwah!”
He felt as though he’d just been pummeled by a heavyweight boxer. He rolled across the ground, coughing up blood as he came to a stop.
“You wanna beat Nagumo, don’t you? You wanna make him kneel in front of you and beg for forgiveness. That way you’ll be able to get Kaori back and make Yue and the others yours. Then you’ll save the world, take your classmates home, and be praised by everyone.”
“Shut uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuup!”
Ignoring the pain lancing through every inch of his body, Kouki screamed and got to his feet. Entrusting himself to the dark emotions welling up within him, he charged. A spiral of pure white mana rose up from his battered body. Its dazzling radiance filled the room; Kouki had just activated Limit Break. He was being pushed hard enough that he no longer could afford to use it strategically.
Furthermore, he couldn’t bear to hear any more of his copy’s barbed taunts. He was supposed to be in the right at all times, which was why he absolutely didn’t want to accept that he was feeling the things his copy said he was.
Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest Vol. 10 Page 12