Tatakau Shisho - Volume 08

by Yamagata Ishio

  It seemed that man truly adored Ruruta from the bottom of his heart. His goal was to apparently make the entire world into followers of the Indulging God Cult. He thought that serving Ruruta and living for him would bring happiness.

  What was he thinking about, I wonder? He was probably just an idiot, but oh well, who cares about him.

  Obviously, even now the Indulging God Cult still lives on. We just pretended they were destroyed. We’ve worked hard to fool you. Mattalast worked without sleeping.

  Even now, since Minth became the leader of the Indulging God Cult he keeps working hard.

  Well then, history class is now over. Does everyone understand it?”

  Hamyuts checked her audience using her Sensory Threads. All of them had an expression which seemed to indicate they couldn’t understand anything.

  All of you are bad students huh, laughed Hamyuts. But bad students are cute.

  “Now, let’s get to the main point. Meaning, what is about to happen.”

  At these words all of the Armed Librarians changed their expressions at once. A face of someone who was finally about to hear what he was waiting for.

  “I’m not sure about the details either, though.

  But it seems like Ruruta is fed up, both of the Books offered up to him by the Indulging God Cult and of everyone else. No matter what toy you’d give him, he’d grow tired of it in 2000 years, after all.

  And so it seems that Ruruta has decided to destroy the world.”

  The Armed Librarians’ response was weak. Speaking of destroying the world was probably too unrealistic for them to accept.

  “This world was going to end when Ruruta got tired of it from the very beginning. Well, it took a long time.

  And so, the Armed Librarians are finished. As well as this world.”

  Hamyuts finally concluded.

  “Everyone, you can do whatever you please. There’s no need to fight. It’s pointless after all.

  Seems like there’s going to be a little remaining time, so try not to leave any regrets behind. You can eat delicious food or drink some alcohol. You can also meet your families or confess to your loved ones. You may also do as many bad things as you’d like.

  Well then, goodbye. Thanks for your hard work this far.”

  Hamyuts turned off the voice device.

  A long silence followed. Several minutes have passed after they noticed that Hamyuts cut off the device.

  “…What the?”

  A voice came from somewhere. Who said this? It didn’t matter. Everyone felt the same.

  Mirepoc looked around her. None of them were able to keep their composure.

  The attack of the Guardian Beasts was only the beginning. They couldn’t understand even just that, but then came words they understood even less.

  Today was the end of the Armed Librarians. Everyone was dismissed.

  They only existed so they could offer up Books to the man called Ruruta. The Indulging God Cult was a branch organization of the Armed Librarians and Minth was the new Overseer of Paradise.

  And the world was going to end today.

  Hearing all of this, what should they do? Even if they were told to enjoy their remaining time, there was no way they could that.

  “What all this means, Director?”

  Mirepoc muttered. Doesn’t Hamyuts just enjoy watching us suffer? She felt that her imagination was not so off.

  But what frightened Mirepoc was that Hamyuts’s explanation felt right on the mark. She had had the intuition that Bantorra Library was hiding some secrets for a long time. They were the truth about the Indulging God Cult that she couldn’t comprehend, and the true identity of the Guardian Beasts attacking them.

  She understood that Hamyuts was telling the truth. That’s what frightened her so.

  “What are we supposed to do?”

  Mirepoc was thinking what to do as an Armed Librarian. But she was no longer one.

  She tried sending her thoughts to Yukizona. However, she couldn’t connect to him. He had probably already been defeated.

  “Just what should we do?”

  Mirepoc muttered and sent her thoughts, this time to the one she relied on more than anyone, to Mattalast.

  She believed that if it was him, he would be able to tell her what to do.

  Meanwhile, Mattalast Ballory ran through the Labyrinth. He was at the Third Sealed Labyrinth where there were no longer any signs of the Guardian Beasts.

  “…Shit!”

  Mattalast spat. His body wouldn’t move the way he told it to. He ran so slowly it was unthinkable for someone like him who prided on his overwhelming physical prowess.

  His thigh was dyed with copious blood. There were several holes like those of scorching in his pants. It was because Mattalast had shot his own thigh with his gun.

  “…Uhh…”

  He crouched, holding his eyes. This wasn’t dizziness due to blood loss. It was the dregs of Ruruta’s Power of the Tearless Ending that was cast on him. Mattalast had brushed it aside using brute force.

  That morning Mattalast went down to the Second Sealed Archive with some Books. He was going to offer them up to Heaven. He had chosen some from the Books in the Sixth Archive.

  There was still time until Minth’s Indulging God Cult would start producing Books. It might take several years or even more than that. During that time, the incidents where Books have disappeared from Bantorra Library grew in their intensity.

  “We must hurry up production. I have no idea how satisfied Ruruta would be with just one Book.”

  Saying this, Mattalast entered the Second Sealed Archive. At this point in time there was a sign of the abnormal situation. The last time he had offered up a Book was about six months ago. In the meantime, since the tree was supposed to have been left unattended, it should have swayed. However, its transparent branches remained quiet and it made nary a sound.

  “Well, here is today’s offering, or something.”

  Mattalast held no reverence towards Ruruta. It would be impossible for him to have and Ruruta didn’t want something like that anyway. So he spoke in a jesting tone and put the Book near the tree.

  “On today’s menu is the lucky fellow who had made the great actress Catty Turner his wife. Quite an incredible first-rate product.”

  One year ago, during the fight with the Indulging God Cult, he had thought of trying to defeat it. But these feelings from the time were gone. Was it just a trick of the mind born from fatigue of battle?

  As long as another fool like Kachua doesn’t appear, as long as the Indulging God Cult keeps functioning properly, the tree was harmless. It would become docile when it was given Books once in a while. It was that sort of being.

  “…”

  Mattalast was puzzled. The Book was supposed to have crumbled into fragments and absorbed into the tree. What did it mean that nothing has happened?

  “Are you telling me to choose another, then?”

  It was his first time to see something like that, but could that sort of thing happen as well? A book allowing one to see into the private life of the great actress Catty would make any cinema fan water at the mouth. Offering it up to Ruruta was quite a waste.

  “So bothersome, really now, I’m sick of it.”

  Mattalast tried turning around to leave the Archive.

  ‘You as well, Mattalast Ballory?’

  Someone’s voice replied.

  At that moment, Mattalast foresaw the next two seconds. He tried turning around at once. However, his body wouldn’t move as if he had become trapped inside a stone statue.

  In order to avoid the predicted future, Mattalast took another action. Without turning around he made a giant leap to the right. However, it still turned out just as predicted. It had nothing to do with turning around or going sideways.

  ‘I’m also sick of it.’

  He heard a voice inside his head again. Is this Ruruta’s voice? Mattalast wondered.

  He was restrained, unable to move even a
finger. He couldn’t confirm what was happening behind him. However, his Predictive ability kept working. He could only understand that something was about to happen in two seconds.

  The torture-like silence was broken abruptly.

  A hand touched Mattalast’s head from behind. His hat had been taken, then a hand was placed on his head.

  ‘I give you the Power of Tearless Ending.’

  A voice echoed inside his head, and thus Mattalast was deprived of a living heart. He stopped caring about both his surprise at Ruruta having woken up as well as the horrible events about to happen. If he was going to die he might as well die, and if the world was going to be destroyed it might as well be destroyed.

  Thinking this, Mattalast collapsed.

  Originally he would have stayed collapsed like that.

  However, he regained his consciousness when Mirepoc had used her Thought Sharing on him. This happened when Beasts of the Final Chapter charged into the Sixth Labyrinth and the Armed Librarians were barely able to intercept them.

  ‘Mattalast-san! Where are you right now? It’s an emergency!’

  These words echoed in his head. Don’t disturb me, thought Mattalast. I feel very calm right now.

  ‘…Mi…repo?’

  He was able to respond only because of the word ’emergency’. His long-standing habits as an Armed Librarian slightly won against the Power of Tearless Ending.

  However, he could only reply. He couldn’t even open his eyes or fight.

  ‘…Mattalast-san? What’s wrong!’

  ‘…Mirepo? What’s going on? Is there… fighting on the surface?’

  ‘The Guardian Beasts are on a rampage. They came out of the Labyrinth… Right now the Armed Librarians are blocking them together.’

  Mattalast understood; Ruruta was trying to destroy the Armed Librarians. Or perhaps even the world.

  But he didn’t care. It was because of the power that made him not care, the Power of Tearless Ending.

  ‘What’s going on?! Mattalast-san! Where are you now!’

  ‘Mirepo… I’m sorry…’

  His consciousness was falling into darkness.

  However, the next moment, Mattalast’s hand moved and he pulled out his gun. He unconsciously pulled the trigger and shot his own leg. If he could not keep his consciousness, he knew he would never emerge from the darkness again.

  He couldn’t stay collapsed like that. He shot several bullets into his leg. He was able to regain his senses using that pain.

  Mattalast then thought.

  I can’t be allowed to sleep. Or at the very least, I can’t be allowed to die easily.

  Don’t die so easily, he told himself. He couldn’t count the times he shot himself. Before long, Mattalast opened his eyes.

  He looked around. That tree wasn’t there; Ruruta began his move. He was probably heading to the surface.

  “Above ground, huh. I must go.”

  Due to the Power of Tearless Ending, Mattalast couldn’t think very well. His leg hurt and his body was heavy.

  However, he started running.

  Mattalast climbed the Labyrinth with his full power. If he were to be attacked by a Beast of the Final Chapter right now he would be helpless, but the Labyrinth had become vacant.

  After he ran for a while, Mirepoc connected her Thought Sharing to him again.

  ‘Mattalast-san, can you hear me?’

  ‘…Mirepoc?’

  Mattalast wanted to ask about what was happening outside. But before he did so, he received some sorrowful thoughts from Mirepoc.

  ‘What should we do?’

  ‘…Explain the situation. What’s going on outside?’

  ‘The Guardian Beasts are trying to leave the Labyrinth. We barely blocked them by erecting a barrier, but we have no idea how long it’ll hold. Yukizona-san has moved to solve the situation, but there is no contact from him.’

  ‘Is that all?’

  Mattalast wanted further explanations. Was Ruruta yet to reach the surface? And what about Hamyuts?

  ‘The Director has not joined the fight. Rather than that, she has told us that the Armed Librarians are already finished.’

  “What?!”

  Mattalast called without thinking.

  ‘The Director explained everything to us. She said there’s this man called Ruruta and that he’s the real Director of Bantorra Library. She said he wants to destroy the world.’

  ‘Did she really say that?’

  ‘Yes, she really did, Mattalast-san. Does this Ruruta exist? Were we being deceived this whole time?’

  Mirepoc asked as if appealing to him. Implying that she wanted him to tell her is all a lie.

  However, Mattalast knew the truth. And he knew that he could deceive her no longer.

  ‘…I see, so now you know. That bastard Hammy spilled the beans, huh.’

  ‘No!’

  Her voice echoed in his head.

  ‘Then, then, is the world really going to be destroyed like the Director said?’

  ‘…’

  Mattalast had no answer.

  ‘What are we supposed to do, please give me some orders, if you don’t say anything…’

  Mattalast gritted his teeth at her painful plea. He had to think for everyone’s sake. Hamyuts abandoned the fight, Yukizona had been defeated, so there was no one but Mattalast.

  However…

  ‘I don’t know. Even I have no idea what to…’

  He couldn’t answer anything but that.

  ‘How horrible, Mattalast-san. You say that even though all of us are helpless…’

  Mirepoc’s feelings were also transmitted to Mattalast.

  This is the first time I came to realize how much she was relying on me. Mattalast is just a slacker, a womanizer, a good-for-nothing. Did Mirepoc really rely on someone like me?

  However, he could think of nothing. Now that Ruruta took his move, there was not a single way to oppose him. He knew it so much it was painful.

  ‘I’m sorry, Mirepoc… I’m sorry.’

  ‘No…’

  The Thought Sharing was severed.

  “Shit! Think, Mattalast, what can we do!”

  Mattalast’s voice resounded in the silent Labyrinth. No voice answered him.

  He kept running ahead at full speed. He found the figures of Yukizona and Yuri in front of the Fourth Archive. They were calmly collapsed in a bed of feathers.

  “Yukizona, Yuri, move! Regain your consciousness!”

  He shook them and slapped their cheeks. However, there was no response. Mattalast gave up and continued ahead.

  “I have to do it. There’s no one else left but me!”

  He was painfully aware of the fact he was helpless. Even so he had to carry on.

  Meanwhile, Mattalast’s life until now flashed in his mind.

  “Genius”. Everyone who had reached the top class of the Armed Librarian without any exception was called that.

  A genius was not a person who became strong with no efforts; those who have reached a domain no ordinary man could by making an effort and studying diligently were called geniuses. A genius was someone who made more effort than an average person. In order to make an extraordinary talent blossom, an extraordinary effort was needed.

  However, there were exceptions even to these exceptions.

  Like talent that required no polishing. A born talent that bloomed without doing anything.

  Mattalast was one person like that.

  He was born into a family with a long history of 800 years. They have produced Armed Librarians for generations and the one couldn’t use one hand to count the amount of them that rose up to the rank of the Acting Director.

  However, even the Ballory family had declined, and at last none of them became Armed Librarians. During that time, the child who was called their savior – Mattalast – had appeared.

  His abilities already stood out even before he started the Magic Deliberation. He was second to none in his physical ability, marksmanshi
p and swordsmanship, and even in his studies, once he read any textbook once he was able to grasp all of the important points.

  Several months after having started his Magic Deliberation he had already mastered bodily reinforcement Magic. Half a year later he also completed his Predictive ability. It’s not that he underwent a different curriculum from the rest; he simply was able to gain several times the results than anyone else by spending the same efforts.

  He finished school in no time and became a trainee. He was promoted immediately afterwards. His promotion to an Armed Librarian at the age of 15 set a record as the youngest one ever.

  However, Mattalast never felt happy at that talent.

  He simply relaxed his behavior as if it was natural.

  He became sixteen.

  Mattalast came to a pub at the back of town. It was a boorish pub where you had to go up a graffiti-filled staircase and pass through a heavy door. It was also a place where one couldn’t breathe due to the smoke of tobacco and couldn’t talk due to the shouts and shrill laughter inside.

  Mattalast sat on the dirty sofa inside. His upper body was naked. His long hair was tied and fell on his back, and he wore pants splattered with red and blue paint. Around him were delinquent students and prostitutes that proclaimed themselves artists. Also trainee has-beens and apprentices gathered around.

  “C’mon Matt, let’s go to my place.”

  A woman whose name Mattalast had already forgotten snuggled up to him. While wondering who she was, he spewed smoke from his cigarette.

  “Oh, so were’ going?”

  Anyone would be fine, thought Mattalast. But the moment he tried to rise from his seat, he noticed what would happen in two seconds.

  “No, we can’t.”

  “Huh?”

  The iron door was kicked off and rolled to the center of the pub. Simultaneously the movement around stopped all at once. Even the smoke politely ceased. Any Armed Librarian would know what this ability was.

  “Welcome, old lady Ireia. What’s your order?”

  Mattalast said while laughing.

  “For the time being, how about your nosebleed?”

  Coming inside was the first-class Armed Librarian and educator Ireia Kitty. She approached him briskly. Mattalast’s lower body had been affixed by her ability. A splendid smack flew towards his nose, but he made no attempts to avoid it.