“The sealed ground? Do you protect this place, then?” Junko asked.
“Indeed,” the girl answered, again in a loud voice. “I have protected this land for eons.”
“A guardian... But we defeated the Ifrit. Is she the true guardian?” Junko turned to ask Yoshihiko. But he shook his head.
“This character isn’t in the game.”
“Are you... sure?” Junko’s voice was tense. She’d been told the game might change, but wasn’t it a big deal for a new sentient character to appear?
“Wait. She sounds like she’s from a video game. She’s talking about a sealed ground, which describes this area too.” She was right, but Yoshihiko still shook his head.
“You’re right, but you’re also wrong. This character isn’t in the game. She’s dangerous.”
“Is this the other player you were talking about, then...?”
“I think so...” Yoshihiko whispered tensely.
But the short girl didn’t seem to like that they were talking to each other.
“I dislike secret conversations! You leave me no choice but to...”
The short girl put her hand on her sword. Junko was ready for a fight, but then she realized that there was no way for the short girl to draw her sword. Her arm could only reach so far, and the blade was longer than she was tall.
The short girl reached as far up as she could, but the blade had barely left its sheath.
“Normally you’d be able to figure that out...” Junko sighed, but in the next moment, she realized that the girl did, in fact, know that already.
“I am Keisu. I bear no grudge against you, but my duty requires that you die!”
The short girl named Keisu yanked down hard on the blade, and used the momentum to draw it from its sheath. No, it was less a draw, and more a throw. As soon as it was clear of the sheath, she let go of the hilt and let it fly through the air.
“Aah!”
Junko watched as the white blade flew up into the sky, and Keisu, the sheath once more on her back, jumped after it. She grabbed the blade in mid-air, rolled herself into a ball, and began to spin, her long hair flapping in the wind behind her. She’d become a dangerous ball with a sword sticking out of it, coming down towards Junko from above.
“Watch out!”
Yoshihiko jumped in front of Junko. He drew his sword to block Keisu’s incoming blade, which struck with incredible force.
There was a loud clanging, like two bulldozers slamming into each other. The horrific impact from Keisu’s strike sent him flying backwards.
“Yoshihiko!” Junko yelled out his name.
But even in mid-air, he still hadn’t lost his balance.
“It’s fine. I can still fight.” He smiled at her.
“...! H-How stupid do you have to be to try and show off at a time like this?” Junko yelled.
“However, this isn’t part of the game. We don’t know what will happen. I have to take responsibility here,” Yoshihiko said calmly.
“I don’t understand what you’re talking about! All of you, stop making fun of me!”
Keisu was still bouncing around like a ball, flailing her sword around her. Either she was very light, or the blade was very heavy, because it seemed like she was having trouble controlling it. But still, every time she wanted to attack, her aim was dead on. And while she could only strike once at a time, she could keep spinning around as long as she wanted.
If they weren’t fighting on the downward slope of a volcano, Yoshihiko would have been easily overwhelmed. It was all he could do to deflect her attacks.
“Yoshihiko!” Junko tried to find an opening to attack, but Keisu’s body was constantly surrounded by her flailing silver blade.
“You said you’re protecting this land. What are you protecting?!” Yoshihiko asked as he blocked her.
Surprisingly, Keisu was willing to answer.
“What I’m protecting is a secret, but the only thing anyone ever protects is a secret!”
It was kind of her to answer, but maybe Keisu wasn’t very bright.
“Are you protecting that sword?”
“No! I’m protecting the Grail so the Demon King can’t get it! ...Huh? I think I just said the secret...” Keisu shook her head.
“Wait! We’re on the same side, then...!” Yoshihiko said, but Keisu didn’t stop attacking.
“Even if you are, a mission’s a mission. I can’t stop attacking until I lose!”
“Do you stop attacking if you lose?”
“A samurai never goes back on her word! Actually, if you lose, you die! Everybody knows that!”
“If that’s what you think, then...” Yoshihiko stuck out his sword and froze.
“Gotcha!” The instant he stopped moving, Keisu was on him.
“Yoshihiko!” Junko screamed. Keisu’s blade was on course to slice off his head.
Her tiny body quickly passed by him — the blade had passed through his neck.
“Aah!” Junko let out a sharp scream. She knew that Yoshihiko didn’t know how to use a sword. Inside the game he was stronger than her, but only because it was a game. He was able to fight because he knew the rules perfectly. But as soon as he had to fight someone from outside the game, there was no way for him to win. Keisu was strong enough that in the real world, even Junko might have trouble with her.
Yoshihiko’s body was frozen, and about to disappear. If you died in the game, you just turned to dust. But the way he was disappearing was different. It was like a video turning blurry. Yoshihiko was as still as a statue, but the space around him was blurring, like someone had censored it.
“No, he can’t have...” ...really died, she wanted to say. But the words didn’t come out of her mouth. She didn’t want to say them.
Keisu seemed to think the battle was already won.
“For a samurai, dying in battle is a great honor. There’s nothing to be sad about.” Keisu turned to Junko and lifted up her sword.
There was no time to be sentimental. Yoshihiko was frozen, his sword pointing forward, about to disappear. She had to survive herself before she worried about him.
“Come!” Keisu readied her sword to spin around again, lifting the blade high above her head.
But...
Suddenly her body floated into the air. She hadn’t jumped upwards; instead, she was hanging down from her sword.
“Wh-What are you doing? No, who are you?” she said, flailing about as she clung to the sword’s hilt. When she turned around and saw who was there, she screamed. “How?!”
“Aah!” Junko yelled, also in shock.
Yoshihiko was clasping the blade in gauntlet-covered hands, holding it high enough that Keisu was lifted off the ground. The fading image of him was still there, a few feet away.
“I knew I couldn’t beat you, so I used a graphics bug,” Yoshihiko said.
“What do you mean bug? There aren’t any bugs! Gaah! Let me down!” Keisu kept struggling, but Yoshihiko swung the sword and her grip slipped, sending her flying.
“Oooh nooo!” Keisu yelled dramatically as she landed on the ground and rolled.
“A bug?” Junko ran over to Yoshihiko, and pointed to the copy of him that was still frozen.
Yoshihiko nodded.
“If you take a certain series of actions, your character will freeze. You’ll come back a few steps away after a moment or two, but the frozen character remains for a little while.”
“You dummy... Don’t scare me like that.” Junko pouted.
And then they heard a loud voice.
“I lost! I’m about to slit my stomach open, so watch carefully!” Keisu knelt on the ground and opened her kimono.
“H-Hey, wait! You don’t have to do that!” Junko shouted, but Keisu was stubborn.
“Don’t stop me! This is how a samurai dies...” She raised up her right hand as she put her left up against her stomach.
And...
“...I’m sorry, can I borrow a katana?”
“No. You
may not.” Junko sighed.
“I’m a daikatana wielder, so I don’t carry any smaller blades. Please, can you help me out?” Keisu bowed.
“Samurai don’t do that sort of thing anymore.”
“Well, I’m old-fashioned.”
“If you’re old-fashioned, then go get your own katana.”
“I’ve never killed myself before, so I don’t know how it’s done.”
“Nobody’s ever killed themselves before! How is that old-fashioned?”
“Fine, then I’m not old-fashioned,” Keisu said.
The conversation was already starting to go off the rails, and it was clearly Keisu’s fault. Maybe he didn’t want to watch her kill herself, or maybe he was just a little weird, because Yoshihiko offered to help.
“Then entrust me with your life. I need your help.”
“My help?” Keisu stood up.
“No, just tell me who you are,” Yoshihiko said. Keisu crossed her arms.
“Is that all you want?”
“That’s right.”
“I gave you my name. It’s Keisu. I’ve sealed the Grail so that the Demon King can’t get it.”
“I’ve got that part. Where did you come from?”
“I was born to be here. That’s all I know,” Keisu said. She didn’t seem to know the answer herself.
“But the Demon King is Akuto Sai. Wait, does something bad happen in the game if the Demon King gets the Grail?” Junko asked Yoshihiko.
He shrugged.
“No, I don’t know. This Grail wasn’t a part of the original game. Which means... maybe something dangerous happens if he gets it,” Yoshihiko said. He and Junko looked at each other.
“What are you talking about? The Grail contains the Demon King’s power,” Keisu said. “You can’t defeat the Demon King. That’s why we sealed him.”
“Did the story change...? No, is she talking about the real world?” Junko whispered to herself. She turned to Yoshihiko with a tense expression.
“You may not know this, but we’ve been involved in a lot of trouble over the Demon King in the past. If she’s talking about the real one, not the one in the game, we may be facing a huge conspiracy...” Yoshihiko went pale. “Then... what do we do?”
“We need to tell Akuto about the Grail... Maybe it’s best if we have her come with us,” Junko said as she looked at Keisu.
Yoshihiko nodded.
“...Will you come with us?” Yoshihiko said as he handed her sword back. She knelt down and took it.
“My life is in your hands.”
“I’m sorry. I really don’t know what’s going on here... But I do know that we have to do something, even if I don’t know what. I’ve never felt this way before, so it’s a little scary, but... Let’s go meet him. And then once we’re back in reality, we have to face the real battle,” Yoshihiko said. His voice wasn’t the affected, gentlemanly tone he’d been using before. Junko felt like she’d caught a glimpse of his real face. He wasn’t someone who was used to battle.
“I’ll help too. You don’t need to worry.” Junko smiled at him.
Yoshihiko smiled back. And then, with Keisu in tow, they started to walk towards the center of the caldera.
It was still there — the sword that was supposed to be able to defeat the Demon King was embedded in a dais. It was a two-handed sword with jewels embedded on the bottom of the hilt, and engraved with the design of a beautiful woman. If this wasn’t a game, you’d never be able to use it in battle.
“This is the ‘Evil Slayer.’ The strongest weapon in the game.” Yoshihiko grabbed the hilt with both hands and pulled hard. The sword slid out of the scabbard.
“Ooh!” Junko gasped in shock. The second the sword was out of the dais, the ground began to shake.
“This wasn’t part of the game...” Yoshihiko said as he clasped the sword. He turned towards Junko.
“Then there’s something else...?”
“The Demon King must have awoken,” Keisu said.
“Huh?” Junko said, surprised. Akuto was already awake, and playing the game.
But Keisu explained.
“The Demon King’s sealing takes place in two stages. The world itself has changed, so I don’t know where he is, but I do know that the Demon King himself was sealed, and his power was sealed in the Grail. I don’t know where the Demon King is, but I do know that he’s just awoken.”
“What does that mean...? Are there two Demon Kings?”
Yoshihiko started to say more, but the ground began to shake even more strongly. The black rock that formed the base of the caldera split, and a crack several hundred meters long began to stretch out towards the horizon.
“Let’s get out of here!” Yoshihiko pointed towards the path they’d come from.
The three of them started to run.
As they ran, the crack raced towards the end of the caldera and the rocks around it began to fall in.
A huge hole was forming in the caldera’s base.
“Is it going to erupt?” Junko asked. When they were all the way up the path, and she turned around — and she was faced with an astonishing sight.
“Oh!” Yoshihiko gasped.
“What could that be? I’ve never seen anything like it!” Keisu yelled.
The crack had formed a giant hole, several hundred meters wide, and inside it there was only blackness. Something big was revealing itself from within.
They could feel a pressure, like the air around them had changed. The huge object had come out of the hole, and was now filling up the sky.
It looked like a giant octopus. Its skin was slimy, and its arms were lifting its bag-shaped torso up into the air. But beyond its arms, it also had the body of a four-legged beast. It was a monster, like a cross between a lion and an octopus, shaking its body as it rose and howling into the sky.
“What is that...?” was all Yoshihiko said, before falling silent.
And then the monster started to move. It crawled up the caldera, pushed its bulk over the edge, and then headed north, half of its colossal body sticking out of the jungle.
The north was where the Demon King’s castle was.
“That’s the Demon King Keisu talked about...? Is it looking for the Grail?” Junko whispered in terror.
○
Lily ran towards the spot on her mana screen, watching the information as it came in. Hiroshi followed after her, panting and wheezing.
“Is 2V there?”
“If he’s not, we’ll have wasted our time! Well, whoever’s there, they’re getting a beating regardless!” Lily was already excited.
The spot on the map was an old condo in a crowded area of town. The people in that part of town didn’t make much money, so most people didn’t stay there long, and nobody cared about their neighbors. It was the perfect place to hide.
When they arrived, Lily was calm. She circled around the condo to check that there were only two entrances. When she was sure, she told Hiroshi to go in from one of them and wait on the 2nd floor.
“If somebody comes, talk to them to slow them down. If they run, chase them. You don’t need to fight. Just stay close to them,” she said, as she went into the condo from the other side. Her goal was the second floor.
She walked up the stairs, running her hand along the holes in the walls. She’d already pushed the button to send the elevator to the highest floor. If she was quick about getting inside, they wouldn’t be able to use the elevator to escape.
“If I’m quick... that is,” she whispered to herself. When she arrived at the door she was looking at, she immediately punched it as hard as she could.
SMASH!
With a loud noise, a dent formed in the door as it came off its hinges. Lily immediately kicked it down, not even bothering to check for traps. The door slammed into the ground, making an unpleasant noise, and she stepped over the door and went inside.
The room was filled with dolls. There was nothing else there.
The sleeping girl inside s
at up. She was thin, and wearing ragged clothes. Her long hair was unwashed and her cheeks were sallow.
The way she looked made Lily hesitate to immediately punch her.
And that instant’s hesitation was fatal. Maybe 2V had predicted it would happen.
“I’ve got hostages, you know,” the girl said in a hoarse voice. It had the strange, unnatural tone of someone who hadn’t spoken in a long time.
The girl — 2V — called up an image on the mana screen next to her face.
“That game?” Lily readied herself for a punch. And then she understood what 2V meant by hostages.
“That’s right. I can delete the people inside,” 2V said.
She could tell from the girl’s tone that she was definitely 2V. Lily once again regretted not attacking when she saw her.
“I should’ve known that it would be a girl who liked to play with dolls. Not that saying that now helps... I didn’t think you’d be such a sickly little girl, though.”
“You shouldn’t talk about my appearance. Didn’t you learn not to insult others based on their looks? Anyway, if you don’t want your students deleted, then don’t try anything,” 2V said quickly.
Lily knew instantly that 2V wasn’t used to being in personal danger.
“I’d like to think you’re not the kind of petty woman who’d slaughter students over an insult. Heh. it doesn’t matter. You’re finished either way. Keep your hostages. I just need to wait long enough and the students will come out on their own. It’s just a game, in the end. And the instant you kill one of them, I kill you,” Lily said, keeping her anger in check as she spoke. She was only able to do so because she thought she had the advantage.
But looking at 2V, she seemed to think she had the advantage as well, despite the danger she was in.
—Does she still have something up her sleeve?
Lily looked around the room cautiously, and 2V noticed what she was doing.
“Then why don’t we both wait here for a while? I’m okay with that if you are,” 2V quipped.
“You little... Why were you willing to take the risk of hacking when it meant your location could be tracked down? Is that your trump card?”
“I’m not telling. But you could find out with a little research what I was looking at, so I’ll just tell you that to save you some time. The VPS I used for my plan... I’ll tell you what was originally there.”
Demon King Daimaou: Volume 7 Page 9
