Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest Vol. 6

by Ryo Shirakome

Ripples of light spread out from Kaori.

  They covered the courtyard in seconds, healing anyone who was injured. Swords still stuck inside students were forcibly pushed outward by the healing light. At the same time, the light dulled the movements of the zombified soldiers.

  Naturally the light tried to heal Kaori as well. However, unlike the other students, her wound was fatal. Moreover, Hiyama was still sawing his sword back and forth inside of her, and the light wasn’t able to repair such grievous damage fast enough. Hiyama was hell-bent on making sure Kaori died.

  “Aaaaaaaaah!” Kouki let out a primal roar.

  With his wounds healed, he was finally strong enough to shatter his weakened restraints.

  A tremendous amount of white mana surrounded his body. Free of his restraints, Kouki was finally able to activate Overload. The ultimate derivative skill of Limit Break, it quintupled his stats.

  “I’ll... never forgive you monsters!” Eri’s knights tried to hold him down, but he grabbed the sword he’d been stabbed with and sliced them all in two. Strengthened or not, they were no match for Kouki at his peak.

  Unperturbed by the carnage he’d caused, Kouki held out his right hand, calling for his Holy Sword. Eri’s soldiers had taken it when they’d ambushed the students, but it was wrenched out of their grasp and spun through the air toward him.

  “Hold him down,” Eri commanded in a flat voice, and her soldiers rushed at Kouki.

  “Out of my way... Celestial Flash!” He mowed them all down with a single attack.

  Kouki still hadn’t overcome his aversion to murder. However, right now, he was too angry to care. Furthermore, his opponents were technically already dead. Killing zombies wasn’t the same as killing people, and Kouki laid about without hesitation.

  In his reckless rampage, he managed to kill a few of the soldiers holding some of the other students down. More by luck than anything else.

  Of the ones that had been freed, one ran back into the castle without anyone noticing.

  The others, Ryutarou, Atsushi, and Yuka were forced to fight off the soldiers crowding around them. But as always, no one took any notice of Kousuke.

  Even when his mana had been sealed, no one had noticed him. But then, his innate talent at going unnoticed wasn’t something that required magic to use. So long as they weren’t staring directly at him, people would forget he was even there.

  “Tamai! Sonobe! Here!” Kousuke grabbed Atsushi’s artifact, a powerful cutlass, and one of Yuka’s artifacts, a set of twelve throwing knives, and threw them at their respective owners. He wanted to get them armed before the soldiers restrained them again.

  Even his shout wasn’t enough to get their attention, but when the two of them saw their artifacts show up at their feet, they guessed what must have happened.

  “Be careful, Tamai! Don’t cut my hands!”

  “How clumsy do you think I am?”

  Yuka held her hands out, and Atsushi cut through her shackles with impeccable precision. His job was Cutlassier, so it stood to reason he knew how to use his weapon. Freed and able to use magic, Yuka instantly activated the abilities of her own artifact. So long as she had one of the knives in her hand, she could call back all the others.

  The knives themselves weren’t that strong, but the fact that she could always call them back made them quite powerful.

  Yuka’s remaining knives flew toward her, cutting through the soldiers holding Taeko and Nana along the way.

  In the meantime, Atsushi succeeded in freeing Akito and Noboru.

  “Suzu! Put up a barrier for us! Protect the guys who aren’t fighting!” Ryutarou barked out orders while Atsushi, Yuka, and Kousuke ran around freeing everyone they could.

  He knew the stay-home group would be too scared to fight even after being freed, so he asked Suzu to guard them. Eri had realized turning everyone into puppets would be impossible now, so she changed tactics. Her soldiers now struck to kill, not to immobilize.

  Hence why Ryutarou had hoped Suzu could save all of the other students now that she was free, but when he glanced back, he saw her still sitting there.

  “Huh?” Her eyes were glazed over, and it looked as if she didn’t even register the battle going on around her.

  “Suzu!”

  “Ah S-Sorry!”

  Her usual cheeriness was nowhere to be seen. It was obvious from her expression that she was in no state to fight.

  Cursing Eri for doing something so horrible to Suzu, Ryutarou scooped her up and went to defend the remaining students himself.

  Most of the rearguard still had their shackles on, and were unable to assist.

  Jugo, Atsushi, and the others knew that so they formed a protective circle around the remaining students. Ryutarou muscled his way into the ring and began punching people.

  This was a fight to protect his comrades, it was natural that he participated.

  But no matter how many zombie soldiers the group defeated, more rose to take their place. Just how many damn people did she zombify!?

  “Fucking hell!”

  “Calm down, Sakagami!”

  Jugo tried to keep Ryutarou in check. The two of them were serving as the students’ living shield. It was only because they were taking the brunt of the enemies’ blows that Yuka and the others were able to attack.

  Without Ryutarou, the students would be overwhelmed in minutes.

  Jugo knew how much Kaori’s death pained Ryutarou, but if he leapt into the fray, everything would be over.

  “GET OUT OF MY WAY! KAORIIIIIIIII!” Tears in her eyes, Shizuku tried to claw her way over to Kaori. But the waves of zombie knights held her back. She was too distraught to fight effectively, and her blows missed their mark more often than not. Seeing how badly she was fighting only made her more distressed, which in turn dulled her blade even more.

  It was then that Kouki used brute force to punch a hole in the wall of soldiers and create an opening.

  Pure hatred oozed from him as he charged forward, wrapped in an aura of blazing white light.

  “Eri, Hiymaaaaaa!”

  “That’s as far as you go, Kouki-kun.” Eri used her final trump card. She knew Kouki well enough to have all of his weaknesses charted.

  A single soldier stepped in between Eri and Kouki.

  As she’d expected, Kouki lowered his sword.

  In a trembling voice, Kouki called out.

  “No... Not you too, Meld-san...” Standing in front of him was none other than the captain of the kingdom’s knights, Meld Loggins. He was why Kouki had stayed his sword.

  “Kouki... why are you pointing your sword at me... I didn’t teach you to fight so you could kill humans...”

  “Huh? Meld-san... I’m not...”

  “Kouki, don’t listen to him! Meld-san’s already dead!” Shizuku’s words shocked Kouki out of his reverie.

  But by the time he’d returned to his senses, Meld’s sword was bearing down on him.

  Kouki hurriedly raised his own sword to block. Meld’s blow was so powerful that the ground beneath Kouki cracked from the force of it. Like the others, Meld’s internal limiter had been removed, allowing him to exert the full strength of his muscles.

  “Meld-san... I’m sorry about this!” Face twisted in anguish, Kouki nevertheless fired off a series of lightning-quick slashes.

  But even in death, Meld’s swordplay was impeccable. Though Kouki was using Overload, Meld was still barely able to keep up. Part of that was because Kouki was still hesitating a little to kill Meld. He knew in his head that Meld was already dead, but that didn’t make it any easier to fight him.

  But even with that handicap, Meld had no chance against Kouki as he was now. After a furious flurry of blows, Meld’s sword was knocked out of his hand.

  Kouki stepped in and swung wildly at Meld’s neck.

  But just before he parted Meld’s head from its shoulders—

  “Please don’t kill me... Kouki.”

  “Ah!?” Kouki’s sword stopped inches fro
m Meld’s neck. Could it be that Captain Meld hasn’t been killed, and he really is just being controlled? Can we still save him?

  This was Kouki’s greatest weakness. He was easily swayed by his emotions, and couldn’t commit. He should have made a decision and stuck with it. Either save Meld or kill him. However, Kouki couldn’t be that decisive. He continually restructured his priorities based on whatever new information became available. Though he never doubted his own righteousness, and always interpreted things in a manner convenient for him, it still meant that when it came down to the wire, he stumbled.

  Meld kicked a nearby sword up into his hand and once again struck at Kouki. This time, however, it was Kouki was who being pushed back.

  “Ah!? Gah! Wh-What the? I suddenly feel weak—” The strength drained from Kouki’s limbs, and he sunk to his knees. It wasn’t because Overload’s time limit was up. There were still a few minutes until that happened. Besides, the recoil from Overload didn’t leave Kouki vomiting blood. He retched, another mouthful of blood splattering the ground.

  “Phew. Looks like it’s finally working. I used a potent poison but... I guess I should have expected you’d be able to resist it, Kouki-kun. If I hadn’t kept the captain handy, I might really have lost,” Eri said nonchalantly. Kouki hugged himself and looked questioningly up at her.

  Eri ran a finger across her lips and smiled sweetly.

  “Hehe. If the prince’s kiss is what wakes the princess up, then it’s the princess’ kiss that puts the prince to sleep and makes him hers... permanently. Don’t worry, the poison’s not lethal. You’ll just be paralyzed for a little bit! Fear not, I’ll be sure to kill you with my own two hands, Kouki-kun!”

  “So that kiss back then was... Gah.”

  Indeed, when Eri had kissed him after springing her ambush, she’d fed him poison.

  She’d taken the antidote beforehand, which was why she hadn’t been affected. Nobody would have expected her to poison someone with a kiss, especially not the boy she ostensibly loved.

  “Eri, you really are... Gah.” Kouki was once again reminded of the fact that Eri’s nice girl act had been just that, an act.

  The poison finished paralyzing his limbs, and Kouki slumped to the ground. He lay there, spasming uncontrollably. No matter how hard he struggled, he couldn’t reassert control over his limbs.

  “Just wait right there, Kouki-kun~” Eri smiled in satisfaction as she confirmed that Kouki was fully immobilized. She then turned on her heel and headed over to Kaori.

  In another few minutes, Kaori’s soul would leave her body and Eri would no longer be able to bind it.

  Hiyama urged Eri on, his face a ghastly mask. Not only had they killed Kaori, they were going to desecrate her corpse. The thought made Shizuku’s blood boil. She desperately fought her way through the press of soldiers, trying to reach her best friend.

  But as Shizuku watched, Eri raised her hand over Kaori’s head. Then, she started to chant.

  Ryutarou, Jugo, Yuka, Atsushi, Kousuke, Kentarou, and even the students who had been cowering until now all rose and up and charged, their anger boiling over the tipping point. But they couldn’t overcome the wall of bodies, and were forced to watch as Eri continued her chant.

  In a few more seconds, Kaori would be nothing more than an undead puppet who listened to Hiyama’s every command.

  She wouldn’t even be granted the dignity of death.

  Both Eri and Hiyama sneered as they watched the students’ futile attempts to stop them. In the midst of the despairing shouts and anguished screams, a single voice rang out.

  “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Hajime Nagumo had finally arrived.

  Time seemed to stand still. Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned toward him. He was emanating an aura of intimidation so powerful it was palpable.

  As Eri’s zombie soldiers had no emotions, his aura didn’t affect them. But Eri, their controller, did. Her instinctive fear transmitted itself to her soldiers, and they crowded around her instead of continuing their assault on the students.

  Hajime took in the situation, ignoring the hundreds of stares directed his way.

  A contingent of soldiers and knights were attacking the students. The students had clumped in a corner and were fending them off. Kouki was lying in a pool of his own blood, with Meld standing over him. Shizuku was on her knees, the katana he’d given her still in her hands. Eri and Hiyama looked like they’d seen a ghost. And lying in Hiyama’s arms was Kaori, a sword still sticking out of her chest. Her heart wasn’t beating, which meant—

  “Hiii!” Someone screamed.

  In that moment, Hajime looked like a demon from hell. His expression was so terrifying that everyone’s blood ran cold. It felt as though he had all of their hearts in a vice, and a snap of his finger would kill the lot of them. They stood rooted to the spot, their bodies frozen as they imagined what horrific death awaited them.

  Then, a second later, Hajime vanished. He moved faster than human eyes could follow, and with a thunderous boom, appeared next to Kaori.

  Hiyama was sent flying across the courtyard and smashed right through the wall at the far end.

  Hajime had held back a little to avoid hurting Kaori any further, which was the only reason he hadn’t died instantly.

  “Gah... Cough... Ngh.” Half-buried in the wall, Hiyama spasmed and coughed out a lungful of blood. His internal organs had been pulverized, and most of the bones in his upper body shattered, but he still lived.

  The pain was so great that it knocked him unconscious, and then woke him up again. He groaned continually, the pain rendering him unable to move.

  Hajime didn’t even spare Hiyama a glance. He lifted Kaori into his arms, and gently brushed the hair off her face.

  Then, in a loud voice, he called out orders to his comrades.

  “Tio! Take care of her!”

  “V-Very well. Leave it to me!”

  “Sh-Shirasaki-san!”

  Hajime’s words broke Tio out of her shocked stupor, and she hurried to take Kaori from him. Aiko ran over as well, her face pale.

  Tio quickly began chanting the strongest healing spell she knew.

  “Ahaha, give it up! She’s already dead. I never thought you guys would show up here... Well, I guess I should have expected it since Kaori was here and all... Looks like Hiyama’s outlived his usefulness, so how about I give Kaori to you instead? If you promise not to fight me, I’ll use my magic to bring her back. She won’t really come back to life, but at least she’ll still look pretty. It’s better than letting her rot, I imagine. What do you say?” Though Eri was smiling, beads of cold sweat dripped down her forehead. Why’d this monster have to show up and ruin all my plans!? Her thoughts showed clearly on her face.

  Monitoring Aiko’s reactions, Hajime stood up and turned to face Eri.

  Eri knew she didn’t stand a ghost of a chance against Hajime. Her only hope of making it out of this situation alive was convincing him that she could be of use to him. Still, the glare in Hajime’s eyes was as murderous as ever. He slowly walked over to Eri, his face a terrifying mask of rage.

  “Wait, hold on. Let’s talk things through, Nagumo. Look at all these soldiers. They look like they’re practically alive, don’t they? It’s unfortunate that Kaori died, but I can at least make her like them. Besides, this way you’ll be able to do whatever you want with her. So if you don’t want her to rot away, you need to keep me ali—” Eri backed away, desperately trying to persuade Hajime.

  At the same time, someone snuck up behind Hajime. He moved far faster than any of Eri’s other puppet soldiers, and thrust his spear at Hajime’s unguarded back.

  Eri had finished transforming poor Kondou into her puppet, and was now using him to attack Hajime.

  Though he’d been zombified, his overpowered strength still remained. Kondou’s job was Dragoon, and he had been a master of the spear. A spiral of wind surrounded Kondou’s weapon as it shot straight into Hajime’s heart.
>
  “Ahaha, you shouldn’t have let your guard down~ If you let your anger control you, you’ll—” Eri began to gloat, but stopped almost immediately as she saw that Hajime was still walking. He didn’t seem fazed at all by the attack. That was because it hadn’t even hit him.

  Had she been standing behind him, Eri would have noticed a quarter-sized bundle of crimson mana holding Kondou’s spear back. He’d used Diamond Skin and Focused Strengthening to block the blow.

  Hajime pointed his left elbow behind him and, without preamble, fired a shotgun blast.

  There was a tremendous bang and a barrage of bullets slammed into Kondou’s face, pulverizing his skull. Then, a series of wet plops as pieces of his head fell to the ground.

  “Tch... Get him.” Eri frowned and ordered the rest of her soldiers, along with Meld, to attack Hajime.

  Though Hajime wasn’t as attached to Meld as Kouki was, he was still one of the few adults in this world who Hajime had trusted. Enough that he’d been willing to use one of his precious Ambrosia vials to save him back in the Great Orcus Labyrinth.

  Eri was hoping that would cause Hajime to hesitate, like Kouki had. Meld rushed in while the other soldiers held back. They were looking for an opportunity to strike.

  He swung his sword at Hajime with all of his considerable might. Any normal sword or shield would have been sliced in half by the force of the blow, but Hajime simply stopped it with just the tip of his prosthetic finger.

  “So she got you too, huh? What a shame.” Kouki and the others watched, dumbfounded, as Hajime pushed Meld’s sword back. He heaved a despondent sigh as he looked at what Meld had become.

  And then, a miracle occurred.

  “Ah... P-Please...” Eri wasn’t controlling him this time. Even if it seemed like it to the others, Hajime knew those were the words of the real Meld Loggins.

  There was only one response he could give to a request like that.

  “Leave it to me.”

  Bang! Another barrage of shotgun shells flew out of Hajime’s arm, and shredded Meld’s corpse. Blood-red flowers blossomed all over his body. At the moment of impact, Hajime could have sworn Meld smiled. Unfortunately though, he didn’t have any time to dwell on it.