Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest Vol. 10

by Ryo Shirakome

  “Fuck you! I’ll show you what you get for underestimating me!”

  Furious, Kouki charged at Hajime again. He hated how Hajime was more concerned with Shizuku and the others than the opponent right in front of him. He unleashed a flurry of slashes, trying to force Hajime into paying attention to him. Unfortunately, none of them even got close. No matter how powerful Kouki’s blows were, no matter how fast he moved, Hajime calmly blocked them all. Rage burned so fiercely in his heart that his body temperature started to rise. His emotions started spiraling so far out of control that his swordwork started getting sloppy as well.

  “You—Guys like you always talk like they know everything! But I’m the one who truly understands Kaori and Shizuku! I’m the one who cares about them the most! I’m the one they should be together with! Not you! Not a shitty scumbag like you!”

  “You sound like a spoiled brat.”

  Hajime ducked in between Kouki’s slashes and fired Donner at him at point-blank range. Though he still avoided Kouki’s vitals, this time he hit him in the torso. However, even that wasn’t enough to stop Kouki as he was right now. No matter how badly Hajime damaged Kouki, his overcharged stats allowed him to heal instantly. Kouki really was like a spoiled brat who was just throwing a tantrum because things weren’t going his way.

  Though he’d long since surpassed his physical limits, Kouki’s negative emotions allowed him to squeeze even more power out of his Overload. Now that he’d fused with his copy, whenever his copy grew in power, he did too. Going off of stats alone, Kouki had reached the point where he’d soon eclipse Hajime unless Hajime himself used Limit Break. He was swinging his swords with the same speed and power that Noint had. But even that wasn’t enough for him, and his strength continued to grow.

  “Uoooooooooooooooooooooooooooh!”

  “......”

  Kouki unleashed a bestial howl. On the other hand, Hajime remained silent. Though Kouki ostensibly had the same level of power Noint had, Hajime didn’t feel the least bit threatened by him. He didn’t unleash a battle cry like he had with Noint, nor did he even bother activating Limit Break. And despite all the power Kouki had at his disposal, he still couldn’t hit Hajime. No matter how fast or strong his blows, they couldn’t scratch his opponent.

  The reason for that was simple. His mental state was in tatters. He was in a berserk rage, consumed by a desire to pound his enemy into a bloody pulp. He’d be hard-pressed to beat anyone in the party as he was right now, let alone Hajime.

  While Kouki was whaling away, another section of the wall crumbled away, revealing another passage. Hajime ignored Kouki’s enraged slashes and turned to see Yue and the others dash into the room with grim expressions. It was obvious from their stunned expressions that they couldn’t fathom how things had ended up like this. Normally Kouki would have noticed their entrance, but he was so engrossed in fighting Hajime that he didn’t.

  “It’s all because of you! If you weren’t here, everything would be perfect! Kaori and Shizuku would have been mine! I would have saved the world! But you ruined everything!”

  “......”

  “Even though you’re a murderer, even though you abandon people without a second thought, how come everyone likes YOU!? It doesn’t make sense!”

  “So that’s why you think I brainwashed everyone?”

  “How else do you explain it!? Kaori, Shizuku, Yue, Shea, Tio, they’ve all been brainwashed by you! I bet you’re trying to brainwash Ryutarou and Suzu too, huh!? Well, I won’t let you! I’m the hero! I’ll save everyone from you and reclaim my rightful place! No one needs you anymore!”

  Kouki’s screams reverberated through the room. Naturally, Yue, Shea, and Tio’s eyes narrowed dangerously when they heard that. Kaori covered her mouth in shock, while Ryutarou and Suzu were speechless. Hajime sighed, and spoke to Yue and the others through telepathy.

  “Yue, looks like you guys got through your trials just fine.”

  “Mmm... They were a piece of cake. Anyway, what’s wrong with that moron?”

  “He’s really mouthing off at you.”

  There was a tinge of anger in Yue and Shea’s telepathic voices. They naturally didn’t take kindly to Kouki insulting Hajime and their friends. Especially since Kouki was saying their names without honorifics. Hajime smiled at the two of them and said, “The short version is he lost to his fake and deluded himself into thinking he’s right. Now he’s taking his misplaced anger out on me. He powered himself up by accepting his fake’s offer and fusing with it. If he could just control himself he’d still be able to clear the trial, but... doesn’t look like that’s happening. Yaegashi tried to persuade him and that’s how she ended up.”

  Hajime kneed Kouki in the stomach and glanced over where Shizuku was resting. Yue and the others followed his gaze.

  “Shizuku-chan!”

  “She didn’t take any direct hits so she should be fine, but can you check up on her for me still, Kaori?”

  “O-Of course! Leave it to me!”

  Seeing her best friend lying unconscious brought Kaori back to her senses, and she rushed over to Shizuku. It was only then that Kouki finally realized Yue and the others had entered the room. His eyes widened in surprise, and he put some distance between himself and Hajime. He turned to the newcomers and gave them an insane smile.

  “Oh, you’re here guys. Just wait a little longer. I’ll beat the shit out of this guy and free you all.”

  His statement was so outrageous that Yue, Shea, and Tio went from being angry to giving him pitying looks.

  Ryutarou and Suzu on the other hand, snapped out of their reverie and shouted, “What are you saying, Kouki!? What’s happened to you!? Snap out of it!”

  “Get it together, Kouki-kun! Nagumo-kun isn’t your enemy, it’s yourself!”

  Instead of being happy that his friends were concerned for him, Kouki’s smile contorted into an angry snarl. As expected, he turned back to Hajime.

  “Nagumo. Don’t tell me you already brainwashed Ryutarou and Suzu? Just how low will you stoop? How much do you have to take from me before you’re satisfied!? Oh, I get it now. Eri’s betrayal was your doing too, wasn’t it? I always thought it was strange how suddenly she changed. But if she was brainwashed by you, it all makes sense.”

  “No it doesn’t, you idiot.”

  “Save your pathetic excuses. I’ll make you pay for your sins.”

  “The biggest sin here is that you’re missing your brain.”

  Howling, Kouki raised his twin swords. A spiral of black and white mana erupted from them. The shockwaves from the mana alone destroyed the ground near Kouki and the ceiling directly above him. Kouki was gathering his mana to unleash the biggest Divine Wrath of his life.

  “You know I’m not gonna wait for you to finish every time, right?”

  Exasperated, Hajime took his spatial magic-enchanted bolas out of his Treasure Trove and flung them at Kouki. Because he was in the middle of his incantation Kouki failed to dodge in time. The bolas wrapped around him, trapping him in place. Swords still raised, Kouki shouted, “Fuck! You coward!”

  It seemed villains who didn’t wait for the hero’s transformation to finish were cowards. Cursing, Kouki drew out even more mana, attempting to shake off the bolas by force. But even Noint had taken a few seconds to escape from them, so naturally, Hajime had more than enough time to strike. Deciding it was high time he ended this, Hajime brought out his big guns. Literally. He brought a new weapon out of his Treasure Trove. It was painted black with red accents and resembled Schlagen in appearance. However, its barrel was much larger than Schlagen’s. A basketball could easily fit inside it. Crimson mana started gathering near this new gun’s muzzle. Once the clump of mana reached critical mass, it started emitting sparks. It was like Hajime had fit a miniature star inside it. The amount of force condensed in that one shot was so great that even Yue and the others shivered.

  “Even if you’re too stupid to listen to yourself, you should have at least listen
ed to Yaegashi.”

  The way Hajime spoke, it was as if he was going to kill Kouki here and now.

  “Wait, Nagumo-kun!”

  “Nagumo, please don’t!”

  “Nagumo-kun!”

  Shizuku—who’d been brought back to consciousness by Kaori—Ryutarou, and Suzu all yelled at Hajime. But unfortunately, he still pulled the trigger. The air trembled, and crimson light filled the room. This new gun of Hajime’s had as much firepower as a sci-fi spaceship’s main cannon. Even as the wall of destructive light bore down on Kouki, the hatred didn’t leave his expression.

  “If only you weren’t here, I’d—”

  The light swallowed him before he could finish that thought. Shizuku, Kaori, Ryutarou, and Suzu watched on in horror. The blast from Hajime’s gun was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop in the room. And just as there was no sound, there was no destruction either. The light dyed the clear ice walls crimson without harming them, creating a room of scintillating garnets. The sight was so beautiful that it was hard to believe it had eradicated Kouki from existence. Probably because it hadn’t.

  “Agh...”

  Kouki groaned softly, a huge change from the childish insults he’d been spewing seconds ago. Shizuku and the others looked up in confusion. The light dissipated, revealing a perfectly unhurt Kouki. He slumped in exhaustion, and had Hajime’s bolas not kept him fixed in place, he would likely have collapsed to the ground. There was no mana surrounding him anymore.

  “What just happened?” Ryutarou muttered, voicing everyone’s thoughts. The answer was simple. Hajime’s new weapon, the magic cannon Grentzen, was an Artifact that fired shots of pure mana, with no physical component. Back in the Sunken Ruins of Melusine, he’d run into illusions of the past that could only be hurt by magic, so he’d created this weapon just in case a similar situation popped up again. He just hadn’t had any need to use it until now. Grentzen’s magic bullets were made of a combination of spirit and evolution magic, and they forcibly stripped the mana out of anything they came into contact with. Meaning that Hajime had just blown Kouki’s fake right out of him, as well as all of his mana.

  Though Suzu didn’t understand the mechanics of what had just happened, she sighed in relief as she realized Hajime had rendered Kouki powerless without hurting him. Ryutarou gave Hajime a grateful nod of the head while Kaori smiled happily, and tears of joy welled up in Shizuku’s eyes. In a hoarse voice, Kouki muttered, “M-My power’s gone... No! I still haven’t gotten anything back yet! I can’t stop here.”

  Kouki let go of his swords, and they fell to the ground with a clang. It was obvious from how his hands were shaking that he didn’t even have the strength left to hold them. After a few seconds, the Demon Sword Kouki had inherited from his copy faded away, proving the copy itself had been destroyed. Kouki’s eye and hair returned to their normal color as well.

  Seeing that the copy was truly gone, Hajime released Kouki from his bolas. The hero slumped to the ground and muttered deliriously, “I need to turn everything back to normal.” He groped blindly with his hands, searching for his Holy Sword. His eyes were unfocused, and it was clear he was barely hanging on to consciousness. However, the hatred burning within them hadn’t diminished in the slightest. Humiliated and brimming with jealousy, Kouki had become fixated on the time in his life where everything had gone as he wanted. Hajime put Grentzen back in his Treasure Trove and walked over to Kouki. Seeing Hajime’s boots in front of him, Kouki stopped moving. He looked up and said with a ghastly expression, “Please, Nagumo. Give it all back to me. I’m begging you, please just die.”

  He didn’t realize his childhood friends were all staring at him. Their expressions were hard to read, but they didn’t seem sad, or angry.

  “You’ve got it all wrong, man. This isn’t who you’re meant to be. How’d you end up like this, Kouki?”

  Ryutarou balled his hands into fists, clenching so hard that his nails drew blood. He’d expressed what all of his friends were thinking. Hajime silently grabbed Kouki by the collar and lifted him up. Kouki struggled weakly, but of course, he was unable to break free. Hajime turned to Kaori and Shizuku. Shizuku silently closed her eyes, indicating that she’d trust in whatever decision he made. Her eyebrows drooped apologetically, which was very much like her. She realized she’d caused Hajime a lot of hassle by asking him to spare Kouki. Kaori, on the other hand, looked directly at Hajime, her faith in him absolute. Sighing, Hajime smiled ruefully. “Fine, fine,” he muttered quietly. He turned back to Kouki and balled his right hand—the one that wasn’t prosthetic, into a fist.

  “Go do your life over, you fucking imbecile.”

  He punched Kouki in the face, not using any body strengthening or magic to power himself up. But to Kouki, that punch was even heavier than all the bullets Hajime had fired at him. He flew backward, losing consciousness a few seconds before hitting the ground. Hajime gave Kouki a sidelong glance, then scratched his head and sighed. I guess I kinda deserved that for thinking I’d use these guys as meat shields against the Noint army.

  Once the fight was over, Yue and the others ran over to Hajime. Or in Yue’s case, flew into his arms using gravity magic. Hajime turned to her in surprise, then gave her a gentle smile that was the complete opposite of the grim expression he’d had on until now.

  “Mmm... Hajime.”

  “Yep, it’s me. How’d your trial go, Yue? I guess it was pretty hard, huh?”

  Yue smiled, glad that Hajime had picked up on her feelings right away. Though it had been more worrying than hard, since now Yue was unsure what the future held. She was embarrassed she’d let such a slight problem rattle her resolve, but Hajime didn’t seem bothered at all and hugged her tight. Shea and Kaori knew about Yue’s circumstances—Yue had told Kaori while the two had been having their own fight—so they weren’t surprised at how spoiled she was acting. Ryutarou, Suzu, Tio, and Shizuku, however, were. Hajime looked over the rest of his party members and nodded.

  “Looks like everyone made it out alright. Let’s get going, then.”

  “Wait, hang on! We still need to heal Kouki-kun!”

  Kaori looked down at Kouki, who was lying spread-eagled on the floor. Ryutarou and Suzu nodded in agreement.

  “Do we really have to?”

  “Yes, we really have to!”

  Kaori held her ground, and Ryutarou and Suzu nodded once more. Hajime grimaced, but he didn’t stop Kaori from going over to Kouki.

  “You said he absorbed his copy, right? I think doing that damaged his soul. It’ll take a while to properly cure him.”

  He’d pushed himself far past his physical limits by combining Overload and the copy’s strengthening, so his body was in just as bad shape as his mind. Of course, his physical injuries could easily be cured with restoration magic, but his spirit was a different matter. A human’s spirit was quite fragile, and Kouki had harmed it quite severely by fusing with his copy. If Kaori wasn’t careful in repairing it, he could wake up with a completely different personality. In fact, if she failed it was entirely possible he’d turn into a cheery guy who’d say things like, “Sup, everyone! It’s a great morning today, isn’t it!? Hahahahahaha!”

  As Kaori explained all this to Hajime, his expression grew more and more reluctant. He unconsciously hugged Yue tighter, which she was of course perfectly fine with.

  “Whatever you do, just don’t heal him fully. As long as his life’s not in danger that’s good enough, right? The last thing I want is him waking up.”

  “Huh? Why...? Oh yeah, I guess that might be best.”

  Kaori cocked her head in confusion, but then instantly realized what Hajime was getting at. Knitting her brows in worry, Kaori began healing Kouki just enough to avoid permanent damage.

  “Hey Nagumo, I realize Kouki tried to kill you and all, but... you know...”

  “Nagumo-kun...”

  Ryutarou and Suzu, who hadn’t guessed what Hajime’s intentions were, looked unhappy with his decision. They thoug
ht Hajime was doing this to spite Kouki because he didn’t like the hero. But at the same time, Kouki had tried to kill Hajime so they couldn’t really argue.

  Shizuku on the other hand just watched Kouki with a sad look on her face the entire time. She’d known him the longest out of anyone, and he was practically family to her. In response to Ryutarou and Suzu, Hajime pointed at Kouki. There was no animosity in his expression, just annoyance.

  “Look here, think about what a hassle it’ll be to heal him fully.”

  “Hassle...? Oh.”

  “Looks like you figured it out, Taniguchi. Listen up. Amanogawa failed his trial. He couldn’t bear to face his true self, so he took it out on me. That’s not going to magically change when he wakes up. He’s still gonna be pissed at me.”

  “You mean it’ll just be a repeat of what happened here...”

  “Exactly. Well, he was being egged on by his copy this time, so it’s possible he won’t go on a rampage the moment he wakes up this time, but still...”

  Hajime fished his compass out of his pocket and looked down at it.

  “We’re almost there. I’m guessing this was the labyrinth’s last trial, but there’s no guarantee there isn’t something waiting for us at the end. The last thing I want is to be attacked from behind while dealing with the labyrinth’s trials.”

  “Haaah... I guess he’s lucky to even be alive.”

  Sighing, Ryutarou reluctantly nodded. Hajime’s argument made sense. But like Shizuku, he couldn’t help but be a little sad at how things had turned out. Only Yue was unaffected by the gloomy atmosphere and smiled blissfully as she rested in Hajime’s arms.

  “We should just leave him here...”

  “That’s not good enough, Yue-san. We should finish him off while we have the chance.”

  Shea hefted Drucken ominously.