“You should use your body to fight, young man!” Peterhausen roared as he attacked.
Hiroshi crossed his arms to block the dragon’s claws.
—Use my body? I have to plan out how I use my weapons...
Hiroshi sighed to himself.
The Brave suit’s energy and weapons came from another dimension. It took time for the heavier weapons to recharge.
“Four minutes and 20 seconds until the high-temperature plasma ball is ready for use...”
The suit’s voice echoed in his head as the screen on his visor counted down. He could use the energy powering the suit to attack, but doing so would immobilize him for several seconds.
“I’m not here to listen to lectures!” Hiroshi switched his claw blade into high-frequency mode and attacked. The two claws collided, sending violent sparks flying everywhere.
“Wire!”
Hiroshi moved his left hand to deploy the molecular cutter. Even Peterhausen didn’t want to touch that. This time he dropped back, and Hiroshi charged forward.
“Tch!”
“Uwooaah!”
The two of them flew through the sky towards one another. As they flew, a huge explosive wind formed, which became a whirlwind that knocked back everything around them.
Most of the soldiers they’d flown over were knocked back, and the ones in their path screamed and fled.
In the center of the storm, Hiroshi screamed to Akuto,
“Why don’t you fight, for all your lectures?”
It was Peterhausen, not Akuto, who answered.
“It’s not my master who fights, but me! I’m the one who wants to fight!”
“Not him! You! Why are you fighting?” Hiroshi kept shouting to Akuto.
“I want to kill the gods. That’s all.” Akuto’s voice was surprisingly soft.
“What’s the point? You’re threatening people’s way of life, using these demon beasts as servants, and bringing destruction! With your power, couldn’t you guide people in a better direction?” Hiroshi yelled.
“I would, if it were possible,” Akuto answered. “Have you ever considered that there’s a reason I can’t?”
“Of course it’s better if anything that threatens our way of life or brings destruction is removed! Thanks to the gods, there’s less crime. The only criminals left are the insane!”
“Do I look like I’ve gone mad to you?”
“You don’t. But whether you’re mad or not, what you’re doing is insane!”
“Then kill me. But if I seem insane to you, I hope you would realize it’s because I’m right.”
“Then explain how you’re right!”
“Mankind has given a name to something that’s only a system, and at some point they started thinking this delusion is real. That’s what really needs to be gotten rid of.”
“That’s so abstract, it isn’t even an answer!”
“I can’t get to the root of things by being simple. What I’m saying is that humanity is too reliant on a story. Gods are just names we’ve given things. We’re not looking at the truth, or even the connections we have with other people. We’re trying to fit other people into a story we dreamed up. People seek their happiness in the story we have now, where the gods rule. We kill and make war based on that story. If that’s how things are, then I...”
Akuto stopped.
“Then what?” Hiroshi slashed at him.
Peterhausen didn’t block this time. Instead, Akuto grabbed the high-frequency blade himself.
The mana light rippled out as the blade vibrated.
Akuto raised his hand, pulling up the blade and Hiroshi’s arm. And then he spoke.
“I’ll tell you all that the story itself has been defeated.”
Hiroshi howled when he heard those words.
“But then you really will be the Demon King!”
He tried to wrap the wires on his left hand around Akuto’s body, but Akuto didn’t let them touch him. He used mana to freeze them in the air.
“Then the story has its hold over you!” Akuto shouted back, then knocked Hiroshi away.
Hiroshi stabilized himself in mid-air as he fired lasers from his back. The lasers changed course as they shot through the air, like shining spider legs were growing from his back.
“Even if I am, there are people suffering because of you! There’s a girl who can’t live without the gods!” As Hiroshi shouted, the lasers attacked Akuto one after another.
“There are people who use the story to trick people and fulfill their own desires! She’s one of their victims!” Akuto said as he deflected the lasers with his aura alone. The lasers shot into the ground, sending the troops around them scattering.
“Don’t be so selfish! How are you going to take responsibility for this?”
The high-temperature plasma ball had reloaded, so Hiroshi summoned it again.
“I’ll take all responsibility in the end, once I’ve ended the story of gods and religion!”
Akuto ordered Peterhausen to fire his iron spikes. The spikes flew at Hiroshi like a missile.
“That’s not what I meant! You should be able to save her now! Why don’t you remove the demon beast mana from her body? You took the mana out of that dog when it was infected. So why can’t you do it now?”
Hiroshi was forced to use the plasma to block the spikes. There was a series of incredible explosions, sending shockwaves into the surroundings.
Peterhausen and Akuto flew through the explosions towards Hiroshi. Hiroshi didn’t have time to recover, so he was forced to block Peterhausen’s fangs from the front.
“You know me, don’t you?” Akuto asked. It was clear from his voice that he wasn’t expecting an answer.
—Oh no.
Hiroshi had blurted something out that he shouldn’t have. He was angry with himself, but he didn’t answer. At this point, it didn’t matter if Akuto knew who he was.
The jaws in front of him were the greater danger, now. He was using his arms to keep them from closing down on him, but if one metal spike reached him, he was done for.
—Is there any way to deal with this? He thought, and the computer voice in the visor answered.
“Will you switch to Anti-Demon King mode?”
—Is it dangerous?
“There is no danger. There is no doubt you will be able to defeat the Demon King.”
—No doubt...
Hiroshi felt something cold in those words. A part of him had always trusted Akuto. But when he heard those words, he felt an uncertainty rising up within him.
When he saw the metal spike being formed in Peterhausen’s throat, he was forced to make a decision immediately.
“Damn it! Switch to Anti-Demon King Mode!”
When Hiroshi said those words, a light like none he’d ever seen before enveloped the Brave suit.
○
During the battle between Brave and the Demon King, there was no small amount of chaos among the soldiers on the ground below. Yet the Hattori Ninja forces were perfectly calm.
So, however, were the demon beasts. As a result, the only spot on the battlefield where a real battle was taking place was the front entrance.
The demon beasts were using a tactic where they attacked in groups of three, but they were still less organized than the Hattori. They were unable to keep up with the impressive way the ninjas covered each other, and were quickly cut down one after another.
The viewers watching at home must have seen Yuko among them, fighting more bravely than anyone else. The demon beasts that charged her were cut down by her ninja blade, and she seemed to be giving the ninjas around her orders.
However, the truth was that the cameraman and reporter were so close to Yuko that she couldn’t be exposed to attack. The Hattoris had surrounded her carefully. Any demon beasts that got close were either wounded or isolated from the rest of the group, and thus easily slain.
“Do you see this, dear viewers? Do you see Yuri Hoshino? An idol, bravely fighting the demon
beasts! This is the new face of a modern woman, strong and beautiful. This is the goddess that everyone has dreamed of!”
Even so, the reporter’s excitement was palpable as he shared her exploits with the viewers. The broadcast that Eiko had hoped would bring her fame was instead only bringing support to Yuko.
—It’s not really good that she’s getting popular for this...
As she slew the demon beasts approaching Yuko, Junko kept glancing over toward the reporter.
—She’s the type of girl who cares about her comrades, but she’s not the type who gets excited about slaying Demon beasts. It must be bad influence from the mana...
There was too much that Junko had to think about.
And then...
“You’re Yuri Hoshino’s sister, right?” The reporter turned the microphone towards Junko.
When Junko didn’t answer, he gave her a disapproving look.
—He’s not happy because I’m not giving him the story he wants, huh?
Junko wasn’t happy about this at all.
But just then, a demon beast came down from the sky behind the reporter. It had already seemingly lost the ability to fight, but Junko took this opportunity to stab it with her katana.
The silver blade went right past the reporter’s face.
“Aaah!” the reporter screamed. Just behind his head, the blade had stabbed into the demon beast, and warm blood was spurting out.
“I am her sister, yes,” Junko said, ducking out of the way to avoid the blood. The demon beast collapsed in the direction of the reporter, who fled.
—Hmph. Well, that’s one less thing to worry about.
So Junko thought; but this had been broadcast too, and her own popularity had gone way up. And while she had no way of knowing this, that fact was about to have an influence on Eiko’s strategy.
○
“What’s going on?! What is this ‘Lovers’ doing?!” Eiko was panicking. She screamed at 2V while she watched the reaction to the footage on her mana screen.
In the skies above, Akuto and Hiroshi were having a battle beyond what any human was capable of. Because of that the army wasn’t fighting, and so there were no casualties, but that meant they weren’t making any headway, either. The only forces fighting — the Hattori — were getting all the screen time, so the viewers were unaware that the rest of the forces below were scattered about. But the price was that Junko’s popularity was rising, and Eiko couldn’t handle that.
“There’s not a single way that girl is better than me! Damn it! Stupid men only like you if you’re a virgin!” Eiko shouted, and then yelled at 2V again. “So what exactly is ‘Lovers’ planning to do?!”
“It’s fine. He’ll take care of this immediately,” 2V said, annoyed, just as an eerie shadow flitted across the battlefield on the screen for an instant. 2V whistled. “He’s here.”
○
Junko saw that things were going fine, and wondered if she needed to ask Eiko for any more orders. At this rate, she’d be able to secure an entrance into the school. But there was no need to just walk right into the enemy’s trap.
And...
—If I keep going, I’ll have no choice but to fight against Akuto and Fujiko.
Junko still wasn’t sure what to do. She was angry at herself for her lack of decisiveness. No, maybe she really had made her decision. But because of her family and her social position, she couldn’t take action.
—In the end, maybe I’m just a coward.
She couldn’t imagine changing that would fix anything, though, which only made her more frustrated.
—I want the power to change things.
This was the first time she’d started to feel that way about political power, not just physical power. She’d spent a lot of her life helping others, and since she was the type who didn’t mind training or studying, she’d never understood how it felt to use power for her own sake. But now, she was starting to understand.
When the waves of demon beast attacks subsided, she put her hand on the hilt of the Sohaya no Tsurugi again. She’d pulled hard, but couldn’t draw it out.
—You have to be chosen by our god to draw it... But Grandmother said that I just need to do what god wants... But what does Suhara want now?
As Junko thought about it, she saw a demon beast in the corner of her vision.
—I guess they won’t give me time to think things through...
She drew her smaller katana again and advanced. It was a demon beast that looked like a human, but with long limbs and that walked on all fours.
—No... This is...!
Junko got a bad feeling, and stopped. Unlike the other demon beasts, it wasn’t using any teamwork. And it didn’t look like any of the others.
Her bad feeling was right. It was flinging its arms around like whips. The arms stretched out far longer than seemed possible, slicing through the air where Junko had been just a moment ago.
“A demon beast... or maybe not,” Junko whispered.
Its skin was slick and shiny like rubber. There was no hair on its head, either. It looked like a human in full-body rubber, or some new type of creature, but its arms were far too long to be human and its joints bent the opposite way a human’s did. But it lacked the awful presence that a demon beast had.
—So why is It attacking me, then?
Junko didn’t know, but she didn’t have time to think. It must have recognized her as a strong opponent, because it leapt behind her and began to attack the Hattori ninjas.
“Watch out!” she screamed. The ninjas heard her and saw the enemy coming, but several of them were instantly knocked away.
—Impossible!
Junko was stunned. She saw exactly what had blown them back. All of the ninjas had tried to block the thing’s attack with their blades, but the rubberlike arms were both supple and strong. It was hard to believe, but their swords couldn’t cut into it. The arms were a paradox, like a soft metal pole. The parts of the arms that touched the swords bent, but only enough so that when they snapped back they blew away the ninjas holding them.
“Avoid the arms!” the ninjas shouted. They responded immediately, attacking the mysterious creature. Several of them were caught off guard by its seemingly random attacks, but five of them managed to get under it. They all stabbed it at once.
But all of them opened their eyes wide in shock. The katanas went right through the body, or so it seemed. It was like trying to poke through rubber with a stick. Its body stretched out softly, and the swords went through it without breaking the skin.
“Gwah!”
“What?”
The Hattoris shouted in surprise. The body snapped back just like rubber, sending the swords high into the air and the ones holding them blasting backwards.
“Get back! I’ll try heat!” one of them yelled, deciding to try magic. He created a fireball and flung it at the rubber monster. But before it could hit, the monster opened its mouth and spat out flame of its own, absorbing the fireball.
This was one of the reasons that combat mages were usually forced to rely on physical combat. Any form of mana damage could be canceled out by using mana in the same way. But of course, only humans, not demon beasts, could do this.
—It’s strong... But if that thing is human, why is it attacking us?
Junko ordered the Hattori to retreat. But just as the Hattori clan fell back, armored warriors marched forward to take their place. They were the warriors of the Teruya clan.
“Idiots! Get back! He’s dangerous! Get back!” Junko screamed.
The armored warriors ignored her. They marched forward in perfect lines.
“Wait...!” she screamed again, but just then, amazingly, the rubber monster vanished into the school building. The Hattori had cleared out the demon beasts in front of the school, so the entrance was wide open, but nobody had thought that that thing would be the first to pass through.
“Even the powerful demon beast fled in the face of the Teruya clan!” the reporte
r who’d been covering Yuko shouted. That was probably how it looked to anyone who hadn’t fought the thing.
—But from what I saw of the way it fought, it wasn’t going to back down no matter what came... which means that it’s... No, that’s impossible...
Junko wasn’t sure what to think.
○
“So I heard you wrong, and it was ‘Rubbers,’ not ‘Lovers?’ Wow!”
Eiko was grinning as she looked at the screen. Thanks to Rubbers, it looked like the Hattori had been stopped from taking all the glory.
“It would make me happy if we could end this with me defeating that thing,” Eiko said jokingly, but 2V’s answer was serious.
“Hmm... I think that would be fine. They’re quite masochistic, so they’d enjoy being punched.”
“Are they human?”
“They were so masochistic they began to experiment on their own body. Now they no longer even seem human. However, they’re quite strong in a magical fight. Now, as planned...” he started to say, but then something happened that even he couldn’t predict.
The Teruya’s armored warriors were about to head into the school when they suddenly stopped. In the next moment, one of their leading lines was immediately blown backwards, like bowling pins struck by a ball.”
“What happened?” Eiko was surprised by this too. She looked at the mana screen.
In the space where the armored warriors had been blown back, she saw Lily Shiraishi, the student council president.
“Don’t try to come in here without the student council’s permission.” Lily spun her right wrist in a circle, her knuckle cracking.
Eiko felt rage surge up inside her.
“Damn it! Just kill her!” She ordered her men to attack, but before she could, Lily’s long arm had reached out and blown several of them backwards. Her strikes weren’t as powerful as Rubbers’, but they were still very powerful.
“Pathetic! I’ll use the other units...!” she spat, but then she finally checked how the rest of the battle was going.
She was astonished at what she saw. Since she’d assumed getting inside the school meant victory, she’d barely given any orders to the rest of the units. Her ground-based forces were mostly unharmed, but they’d scattered to avoid the fight between Akuto and Hiroshi, and were now non-functional. There were almost a thousand infantry out there, but instead of forming up and waiting for orders, they didn’t even know where the rest of their unit was.
Demon King Daimaou: Volume 5 Page 4