Humanity's Extinction Actually Happens This Time With the Evil God's Revival?!

by Tsuyoshi Fujitaka

“Surprise attack dodging avoids only the blow that begins the battle,” the man said. “The effect won’t activate while battle is in progress.”

  “You said you’d protect me! Look what she did! Why did you let this happen?”

  “Don’t worry,” the man said. “The ability you stole the other day enhances your endurance. You’ll recover soon enough, although you will be immobile for a while. All right, you both pass. I’d be worried about the girl by herself, but if you’re with her, I think she’ll be fine.”

  The man was now standing beside the boy. Yurika hadn’t even seen him move.

  “You think I will allow you to leave?” Kiryu asked, assuming a fighting stance while facing in the man’s direction.

  He dropped his hips and spread his legs, shifted his weight to his back leg, and turned his palms upwards with both hands thrust forward as if to guard his face.

  “Yes, I do. Because you’re physically incapable of stopping me.”

  The man grabbed the boy’s collar and jumped. In an instant, they were both on top of the five-story building the boy had slammed into before.

  It was true that he probably couldn’t follow them like this.

  “Goodbye. The real battle will start soon. I hope you’re looking forward to it.”

  With that, both the man and the boy disappeared.

  The Divine Vessel resonance had stopped at some point, but it didn’t seem to have anything to do with the pair’s disappearance.

  Yurika had heard that resonance didn’t stop until something was settled, which meant that must have occurred somewhere else.

  Kiryu released his fighting stance and turned to face Yurika. “This happened because you rely too much on your Divine Vessel.”

  “What was I supposed to do?” Yurika demanded. “And what have you been off doing, by the way? I haven’t heard from you since that first time!”

  “I have been preparing the church. Rejoice, for you have steadily been gaining new disciples.”

  “Disciples? The heck?” she cried.

  “Believers in the power of the hero,” he intoned.

  It seemed Kiryu was involved in some kind of hero-based religion. From his outfit she had assumed he was a Christian priest, but that appeared to not be true. He seemed to be the founder of his own sect.

  “Well, all right,” she said. “Whatever the reason, you did save me, so... thanks.”

  “I merely did what is expected of me,” he said. “But I really must have you grow a bit stronger, Yurimaru. To have been nearly beaten by one of his level...”

  “Okay, I get it. I need to level up or something, right?”

  The command list had disappeared at some point, but she was able to bring it up by focusing on it. She chose “Strength.”

  Name: Yurimaru

  Level: 1

  Power: 5

  Endurance: 10

  Speed: 6

  Wisdom: 2

  Luck: 20

  HP: 15

  MP: 6

  The string of numbers around her seemed to indicate Yurika’s stats.

  Yurika felt a sense of danger run through her. The numbers did seem awfully low. She needed to do something about that as soon as possible, but she didn’t actually know how to level herself up. This wasn’t a video game, so there weren’t just monsters wandering around for her to fight.

  Well, I guess I just need to beat up something or other...

  There were plenty of bad people out there in the world. As a righteous hero, Yurika thought optimistically, that she could just beat them up.

  “I’ll just level by beating up some worthless punks who don’t deserve to live... ah!” Yurika had gotten a little distracted by the strange series of events, but she was suddenly reminded that Natsuki was missing. “I’m gonna go look for my friend! See you later!”

  “Understood,” said the priest. “But might I offer you one word of warning?”

  “What is it? I’m kind of in a hurry!” Yurika snapped.

  Natsuki had run when she’d seen the young man. In other words, she’d known he was dangerous. It was quite possible that those two would be going after her next, and Yurika was itching to find her first and save her.

  “You won’t be able to use that technique again for a while,” said the priest. “A hero can have four allies at maximum, and once you have placed someone in your party, you cannot trade them out until you have more than four.”

  “Fine! I see!” She didn’t actually see, but Yurika began running anyway.

  ✽✽✽✽✽

  “Now...” After seeing Yurika off, Kiryu resumed course to his original destination.

  He had been lucky, perhaps, that he had happened to be so close to Yurika. If he hadn’t been, he wouldn’t have been able to join her party; she couldn’t instantly call a party member who was too far away. Perhaps, though, such luck was one of her natural heroic qualities.

  First, we must cut unneeded ties...

  With his newfound confidence that Yurika had talent as a hero, Kiryu hardened his resolve.

  He arrived in front of a moderately-sized, five-story hospital building. As he entered, he found a gathering of anachronistic-looking delinquents lazing around in high-collared uniforms.

  They were lounging on the sofas, surrounded by cigarette butts and empty beer cans. It was unlikely that there were many people eccentric enough to want a check-up at a hospital like this.

  “This a surprise,” he said. “I was expecting a medical Outer.”

  “What’d you say?!” One of the delinquents rose to his feet, let out a stupid-sounding scream, and grabbed at Kiryu.

  But the moment he put his hand on him, Kiryu merely twisted his shoulder, and the delinquent went flying. He had anticipated his opponent’s movements and synchronized with them, using his opponent’s strength against him.

  The delinquent lost his balance and stumbled across the room at high speed. As he slammed loudly into the wall, the other delinquents stood up en masse.

  One of them threw a punch. Kiryu grabbed the fist with his left hand, stepped in, and hit him with his right elbow. Another came in with a kick.

  Kiryu slapped the knee of the kicking leg with his palm, stepped in, and slammed the back of his fist into the goon’s face.

  The techniques, which weren’t terribly impressive in and of themselves, still took out the delinquents one by one. Once he had beaten enough of them, the rest of the goons just stepped back and watched from a distance.

  With his obstacles gone, Kiryu now proceeded deeper into the hospital. He found the hospital director’s room and entered to find a man in a white lab coat standing there.

  He was Kiryu’s true objective: the man who had given Yurika the Evil God’s right arm.

  “How utterly deplorable,” Kiryu said. “To allow delinquents to run rampant over a hospital is an insult to the medical profession.”

  “Fine words from a violent priest,” the man said. He must have known that Kiryu was there, yet he remained perfectly at ease.

  If this man was what was known as an Outer, then he likely had no fear of being harmed by a mortal. Still, Kiryu had not come here to question him. He had spoken up only out of a sense of playfulness.

  Slowly, Kiryu approached the man in the lab coat. Perhaps the man didn’t know what he was there to do, because all he did was stand there. He must have been confident that no matter what he did, he could survive it.

  Kiryu came within touching distance of the man. He gently took his left arm and pulled the man close, then placed his left palm against his chest. The movement was so gentle that the man apparently felt no malice whatsoever.

  Zhen jiao, the stamping foot.

  Kiryu stepped so hard he cracked the floor beneath him.

  He kicked off the ground, channeling all the power of the recoil into his upper body. None of it was wasted; every bit of it passed through his hand and into the man’s chest.

  “What...” The white-coated man’s eyes opened wide in surp
rise.

  He must have found it unthinkable, that such an attack couldn’t possibly hit him, and yet...

  “I have fought your kind many times before, and I have come to understand something,” said Kiryu. “Fast attacks are ineffective. For some reason, you always dodge them.”

  Projectile attacks were the best example. No matter how many times you fired at them, the shot never hit.

  Kiryu continued, “But you cannot possibly dodge an attack from point blank range.”

  That did not mean that you could just plant a gun barrel in their chest and fire. If you did, the gun would just jam. Knives would also break, and poison would suffer a chemical reaction and lose its potency.

  However, it was harder for the influence of a Worldview Holder to affect the body of another person. A person was like a little world unto themselves. This meant that the most effective method against an Outer was to attack them bare-handed at close range.

  “Th-That won’t be enough to—” the man objected. He coughed up blood that sprinkled Kiryu’s clothes, but Kiryu wasn’t fazed.

  Another zhen jiao.

  There was no sign of damage to the man’s chest, yet all the power was focused on a single point: his heart.

  “I was told to consider people like you ‘exceptionally lucky,’” Kiryu said. “I never expected that a single attack would finish you.” Part of an Outer’s nature was that if there was even the slightest chance to survive, they always would. Which meant he had to systematically shave away any chance of survival until at last they were dead.

  Kiryu continued hitting him with penetrating tou jin strikes. Even after the man stopped moving, Kiryu kept attacking, and only released the man when he was sure that he was dead.

  Just to be sure, he produced a knife from his pocket and threw it at him. It didn’t miss, but stuck right into the man’s stomach — which meant, in Kiryu’s judgment, that he was no longer an Outer now, just a mere sack of flesh.

  “Now, Yurimaru can focus on her exploits as a hero,” Kiryu said with satisfaction.

  Chapter 2: It’s Been a While, So Let’s Try to Get These Stories Straight

  It was a Saturday in early December.

  For once, Ryoma Takei was enjoying a quiet, peaceful morning.

  Normally, someone would come to wake him up, or ask him do something stupid, and he’d end up starting his day in a panicked rush.

  Today, though, he woke up after a few rings of the alarm clock, and even after he finally sat up, he was alone in his room.

  The thought “Stranger things do happen” was knocking about in his sleep-addled brain when he heard a voice yelling from downstairs. It seemed the panic was happening there instead.

  He changed into his school uniform and descended the stairs, where he found four girls in the living room.

  “Huh?” Ryoma wasn’t sure of how to react to the sight before him, because one of the four was someone he definitely wasn’t expecting to see.

  His older sister Kotori, his little sister Shiori, and his childhood friend Mio Morikawa were a typical sight, sitting around the breakfast table as usual. But today, they were joined by a girl with red hair.

  Ryoma recognized her as Ende, the young girl who had sneaked into his room yesterday and made a contract with him. She was wearing a uniform from Ryoma’s high school, and eating breakfast like she belonged there. Kotori was staring at Ende in disbelief, while Shiori and Mio were fixing her with their most deadly glares.

  The minute Shiori and Mio noticed Ryoma’s arrival, they turned their hostility to him.

  “Big Brother! Who is this person?”

  “Ryoma! What’s going on here?”

  Ryoma had no idea what to tell them; Ende hadn’t mentioned anything to him yesterday about staying at their house.

  “Why would you ask me? How should I know?” he answered. But despite his confusion, he took a seat down next to Ende.

  “Good morning,” she said. “I haven’t eaten like this for a while, but it’s nice to get to enjoy Japanese food.”

  “Why are you eating breakfast here?” Ryoma asked.

  Ende was utterly shameless. She had probably been brushing off Shiori and Mio’s questions in exactly this way. “It’s not as if I don’t have permission. Your big sister kindly made a portion for me.”

  Ryoma’s elder sister Kotori did have a magnanimous personality, but he never would have expected her to cook for a complete stranger.

  “What’s going on here?” Ryoma fixed his eyes on Ende.

  “I’ll be living here for a while,” she said. “Oh, and I’ve transferred to your class, too.”

  “Huh?! Why?!”

  “We’ve signed a contract, which means our fates are intertwined,” Ende said as if it were the simplest thing in the world. “I need to keep an eye on how things are proceeding.”

  “That wasn’t what I asked!”

  “What do you mean, you’re living here?!” Shiori exclaimed.

  “This is not okay!” Mio shouted.

  “We don’t know what might happen next,” Ende said calmly, responding only to Ryoma. “I think it’s best if I spend as much time with you as possible so that I can deal with situations as they arise.”

  She really had some nerve.

  “Ryoma, eat your breakfast already,” Ende continued. “We’ll be walking to school together so that I can explain what’s going to be expected of you from now on. Oh, and we don’t need the childhood friend listening in. You’d better go on ahead.” Ende finally looked at Mio.

  Mio’s face had turned red with fury. She was apparently too angry to speak. She finally sputtered, “Wh-Why do I have to take orders from you? Who even are you? What are you doing in our house?!”

  “It’s not exactly your house, is it?” Ende asked. “I don’t see why I have to answer you.”

  Ende’s response stunned Mio into silence. She was used to coming and going in the Takei household like she belonged there, but perhaps she was aware of this much.

  “I’m his little sister, so you do have to answer me!” Shiori shouted. “And I will not allow you to live in this house!”

  “But as the youngest of the family, I doubt you have the right to argue with the head of the household,” said Ende. “And I do have permission from the head of the household — Takehiko Takei.”

  “H-He never mentioned it to me!”

  “Me, either...” Ryoma wondered when she could have gotten that permission.

  While Ryoma looked at the girl suspiciously, Shiori produced her cell phone and quickly placed the call.

  “Hello! Dad? Huh? Oh... but... okay...” Shiori’s initial fire gradually faded, and at last she numbly hung up the phone. “He says the daughter of an overseas partner is going to be studying abroad in Japan and he wants us to look after her for a while...”

  Ende nodded briskly. “That should settle it, right? I hope you’ll take good care of me. Now, Ryoma, finish your breakfast.”

  “S-Sure...” He still had questions about all this, but he did have to go to school. Ryoma quickly began to shovel down his food.

  Once Ryoma finished eating, Ende stood up.

  Mio stood up with her. “W-We’re going to the same place, so we should walk together, right?”

  “Hmm,” said Ende. “If you can’t be convinced to go on ahead, then we’ll go without you.”

  With that, Ende placed a hand on the neck of Ryoma, who had stood up after her. Then, with perfect casualness, she pressed her lips to Ryoma’s. It all happened so suddenly that Ryoma had no chance to protest.

  “Hey!” Mio froze up at the sight.

  Ryoma’s mind went blank as he felt something bewitchingly warm wriggling around in his mouth.

  “The childhood friend has locked up. Now, let’s get going!” Ende directed.

  Ryoma could do nothing but let her drag him along.

  ✽✽✽✽✽

  Ryoma’s school was a prep school, so they still had classes on Saturday mornings. But since
fewer schools did that nowadays, there weren’t many other students out on the road that day.

  After finally snapping back to reality, Ryoma laid into Ende. “L-Listen, you! You can’t just spring stuff like that on me!”

  “You’ve saved a lot of girls in your time,” Ende said coolly. “That can’t be the first time you’ve been kissed, can it? I didn’t think it would lock you up, too.”

  “No one’s ever Frenched me before!” Just the memory of it caused his face to turn red. He had a little experience, but it had all more or less been accidental. He’d never had someone aggressively seize hold of his lips before.

  “Well, now that we can talk, let’s discuss what’s going to happen next.” Despite saying they were going to talk, Ende’s attention seemed focused on a trade paperback she was holding in one hand. She was reading it, skillfully turning the pages with one hand, and showed no signs of stopping.

  Reluctantly, then, Ryoma decided to take the lead. “So, what exactly am I supposed to do? You mentioned something about an Evil God, right? But you left before we worked the whole thing out.”

  Ende had only appeared yesterday. He had agreed to work with her, and she’d forced something she’d called the eye of the Evil God onto his right eye. The eyeball had disappeared, and apparently satisfied, Ende had left the room.

  “Yeah,” said Ende. “I had a whole lot to do, after all. I had to transfer to your school and contact your parents.”

  “Speaking of which, how’d you swing that so easily?” he asked.

  “There’s not much you can’t do with sufficient money and influence.”

  Ryoma still had his doubts about a mysterious girl being able to transfer to his school out of the blue, but Ende made it sound like it was nothing.

  “Just what the hell are you?” he demanded.

  “Oh, did I not explain that part?”

  “No. You were in my room when I got home, and all you said was the stuff about wanting me to participate in the Divine Vessel War thing.”

  Thinking back, he had agreed to the contract awfully carelessly. Ryoma was used to getting swept up in strange situations, but this time he wished he’d asked a few more questions first.