“This should buy you time. Get out of here and...” Michie said as she turned around, but then she froze. Fujiko and Keena were both speechless as well.
Boichiro was standing in front of the Cerberus. He was wearing white clothes, but he seemed to have the aura of the grim reaper about him.
“I’ve come to get you... I know you may not like it, but I need you. I want you to understand that,” Boichiro said.
Fujiko was too terrified to speak, but suddenly Keena spoke in a clear voice.
“Maybe what you’re doing is a good thing. But what you need isn’t me.”
Those words seemed to shock Boichiro. For the first time, he looked afraid.
“Why... why are you saying that?”
“Your heart is somewhere else. I have observed this world, the changing of its seasons and the changing of its people, and I understand it. I understand you, as well.” Keena spoke as if she was in a dream.
Panic began to appear on Boichiro’s face.
“Even if that’s true, right now I need to act for the sake of the people! My personal feelings will have to wait!”
And then he jumped.
It was a whole different level of speed than Rubbers had shown a moment ago. Fujiko didn’t even have time to speak. The next thing she knew, Boichiro was next to her on top of the Cerberus.
“No... That can’t be...” By the time she’d said the words, Boichiro had gently touched Keena’s neck, knocking her unconscious, and then held her in his arms.
“This is probably my last chance. If you have any human heart left within you, please don’t get in my way,” Boichiro said to Fujiko, and then leapt back to where he’d been a moment ago.
When he spoke, it seemed like the spell of fear that had been binding Fujiko was finally broken. Anger came boiling up from the bottom of her heart.
“Even if people have died because of you?!” she yelled. She tried to flail at him with her whip, but he leapt back further.
“Who was it who woke up the Demon King and caused all this damage? More people are being hurt now than before!”
“Don’t you dare try to tell me that!” Fujiko swung her whip, but even with Keena in his arms, Boichiro was faster. Only a moment later, he had disappeared down the hallway.
“Damn it!” Fujiko screamed as she slammed her fist down on the Cerberus to drive it forward. But then she heard a scream behind her.
“No! Please!”
“Huh?” Fujiko had forgotten about her, but Michie was evidently no longer able to hold Rubbers back.
She looked around and saw something incredible: Rubbers had stretched his body out to block the whole corridor. It was like a rubber film stretched across a tube. Michie’s wind was just causing his body to stretch.
“I can’t hold him! I’m stopping the wind!” Michie screamed.
“Idiot... If you stop the wind here, who knows what will happen?” Fujiko panicked. But Michie seemed like she already knew.
“No!” Michie ran out of power. The wind stopped. Rubber’s body shrank, and the recoil sent him rocketing towards Michie and Fujiko.
“Uwah!”
Michie dropped to the ground, and Rubbers flew over her and the Cerberus like a bullet, bouncing off the walls, ceiling, and floor of the corridor again and again. And when he finally stopped, he was standing between Fujiko and the way that Boichiro had gone.
“Looks like I’m going to have to take you down before I can get anywhere...” Fujiko whispered bitterly.
○
The battle was chaotic, but the rumors that the Demon King had been defeated, along with the fact that the demon beasts were clearly no longer working together, gave the soldiers courage.
Fujiko couldn’t give them orders, and Akuto’s control over them was gone, so now the demon beasts were just attacking everything in sight. But that made them easier for the soldiers to deal with. Defeating the unorganized demon beasts wasn’t a difficult task. If they could just get close to the school building, the soldiers wouldn’t have to fight a huge army.
At this point, Eiko was sure she’d won. She was smiling, more with relief than joy, as she spoke to 2V.
“We should give the crew of the Genkaku a reward.”
“Might be a good idea,” 2V said, mostly ignoring her while he thought about the report that Rubbers had just given him.
—At this point, we’ve essentially won... But that means that this girl is in the way. I can’t have her winning too many victories.
2V glanced at Eiko.
And then a voice came through the communicator, and Eiko answered it. It was a Teruya soldier.
“We’re encountering human resistance, not demon beast, in front of the Genkaku. We cannot stop them.”
“That student council president?! You still haven’t dealt with her?” Eiko shouted.
“The resistance stronger than anticipated...”
“I’m not sending you any reinforcements. It would embarrass us. Did you contact me just to tell me that?” Eiko said angrily.
“No, the enemy is saying that you killed our master.”
“What?” Eiko grimaced.
2V was surprised at this sudden turn of events.
—Oh, this is convenient. I guess her time is up...
But Eiko’s response was unexpected.
“Kill her! Don’t let her get near the reporters. And especially don’t let her get near the Hattori. They’ve got cameramen with them the whole time!”
—Does the rest of the clan know, and are they swearing loyalty to her anyway?
2V wondered.
“I’m sending reinforcements,” Eiko said. “Make sure you don’t let her survive. If we can pull this off, our clan’s glory is assured.”
With that, Eiko closed the communication channel.
“They know, and they don’t care? The Teruya soldiers.”
“Mind control takes a long time, and you have to use drugs... But if you live with someone, it’s still possible to do it, right?” Eiko grinned.
“Hmm. So you had this all planned out?”
“I wouldn’t have been able to kill my dad otherwise.”
2V looked at her with quiet, cold eyes.
—I guess she really is dangerous after all. I don’t think I can manipulate her. But what to do with her, then?
He quickly began to formulate a plan.
○
“I’ll blow you away!” Lily shouted as her fists flew out, catching several of the armored warriors at once.
They were all blown back, and collapsed in a circle around her. Beyond them were even more soldiers and armored warriors of the Teruya clan. They were too scared of the short girl to attack.
Beyond the Teruya soldiers were the army’s soldiers. They’d seen that Lily wasn’t a demon beast, and weren’t sure if she was an enemy. And Lily was taking advantage of that.
Lily stepped forward, and the ring of armored warriors followed her. After she was done advancing, she quickly moved to the front end of the ring, and another battle began.
Lily’s long arms dodged past the warrior’s katanas, slamming her fists into their faces.
This had happened over and over, but the warriors’ morale hadn’t faded at all. They were wary of her, but showed no sign of retreat.
—They’ve been brainwashed, huh? They’ve got so much energy.
Lily was becoming mentally exhausted.
Eiko Teruya killed her father, your clan leader!” she shouted for what felt like the hundredth time.
But the warriors’ faces didn’t move. Instead, when she shouted, they used the opening to attack her. As she knocked them down, she began to understand what was going on.
—It’s difficult to completely brainwash someone with magic. You have to use drugs, like Fujiko Eto did. I guess it’s a combination of drugs and daily training. So even if Eiko doesn’t want me going to the media with this, in the end it probably doesn’t matter. She has so many supporters that it will just get swept under t
he rug. There’s only one fast way to end this, and that’s to defeat Eiko Teruya.
Lily looked out at the area in front of the school. There was a good distance between her and Eiko’s tent.
In front of her were a hundred armored warriors, and behind them were 500 perfectly rested Teruya soldiers. At this point, they were all focusing their attacks on Lily.
600 in all. And Lily was alone.
—I knew this was going to happen, but... Now that I’m actually doing it, this is bad news.
Lily wasn’t the type of girl to pick fights she couldn’t win out of a desire to prove herself. Usually when she did something crazy, it was because she acted out of instinct.
—Well, it doesn’t matter. I’m the one who started this fight. I wonder if sending the trio to save Keena was the right decision. I can’t let them do anything too risky. Now, then...
Lily charged into the warriors in front of her.
Punch, kick, punch, punch, punch.
She struck the foes to her front countless times, advancing like a drill going through a hard wall.
—If I keep attacking hard enough, I can go faster than my enemy can recover!
If she kept punching quick enough, the armored warrior’s defenses and their healing magic couldn’t save them. It was a simple plan, but in this case it was the right one.
Lily broke through the encircling warriors and into the Teruya’s 500 ninja soldiers. The ninjas charged at her, some of them leaping into the air to attack from above, but Lily punched out randomly without even aiming, creating a sphere of attacks around her. Anyone who touched the sphere was instantly struck and blown back.
—Keep striking! Knock away any attack! You’ll be able to break through!
Lily urged herself on as she advanced.
The Teruya’s ninjas didn’t fight up close like the armored warriors did. They used magical fireballs, ranged weapons, and blinding smoke magic. But Lily knocked all that away with her mana-charged punches.
“Uwooaaah!”
She was like a ball charging through the crowd, knocking them away as she moved. It took an incredible amount of stamina to sustain her assault. The question was whether she would be able to break through, or run out of strength first.
—I’m close to my limit... But I can do this!
The pace of her attacks was dropping, and she had to aim carefully now, but she could see a gap in the Teruya ninjas ranks. 200 of them were already unconscious, and a hundred more unable to attack. And the other 200 were behind her.
—I’ve broken through!
The view in front of Lily opened up. There was just 100 meters to Eiko’s tent, and nothing in between.
“Prepare to die, Eiko Teruya!”
But Eiko was unafraid.
“I said I was sending reinforcements!” Eiko gave the order, and soldiers appeared around Lily.
It was the five companies, 500 troops strong, who had remained in reserve instead of fighting the demon beasts.
“That’s the student council president. She’s a criminal, and she’s spreading lies that I killed my father the High Priest in order to help the Demon King. Some of you may doubt this. So I won’t order you to kill her. Capture her!”
The soldiers seemed convinced by Eiko’s words. They attached bayonets to their rifles and pointed them at Lily.
From Lily’s perspective, it was like a huge wall had appeared. The soldiers’ ranks were deep, and the bayonets of the ones in the rear poked out past the ones in the front.
This wall of bayonets was advancing towards her.
—Tch... I’m almost out of strength, too. I thought I’d left enough power in reserve to fight Eiko, but I guess I just ran out of steam...
Lily glanced to her left and right. There were identical walls on both sides.
Each wall was made out of a hundred or so soldiers. And behind them, the Teruya ninjas were recovering.
—I could fly, but the guns in the rear would just shoot me down. I don’t want to use any more stamina, anyway.
Lily’s only salvation was that the soldiers were advancing slowly. None of them were sure that she was actually evil, and they were trying to capture her, not kill her. But to Lily, it felt like she was being slowly strangled to death.
—Tch... I guess this is the end, huh?
Just when Lily was about to give up, she heard a scream from behind her.
“Aaaaaaah!”
—Hm?
Lily turned around and saw a ball of fur zooming towards her at ridiculous speed. It was like somebody had pitched a giant, furry a baseball at her. And the screaming was coming from the ball.
“What?!” Lily flinched back in surprise.
The soldiers surrounding her froze as well.
Thud.
The ball of fur landed next to her with a loud crash, sending dirt flying everywhere.
“Owww...” the ball of fur moaned. A moment later, limbs stretched out from the furball and it became a wolf slightly larger than a man. It shook itself to get the dirt off its coat.
“There was no reason for Arnul to throw me that damn hard...” the wolf said, and then it grinned at Lily.
“Kanna...” Lily’s face broke into a grin.
The wolf was Kanna Kamiyama, the student council’s treasurer. She had a special power that would let her transform into a wolf.
Lily looked in the direction that Kanna had come from and saw a massive suit of armor, three times the size of a man, standing next to the school building. The suit of armor must have been what had thrown her, because it was still in a pitching follow-through stance. It was the battle armor used by the secretary, Arnul.
“You guys...” Lily had to force herself to not cry. “I told you to save Keena Soga.”
“Nah, Michie’s on that. We knew exactly what you were thinking. And we’re not happy that you tried to leave us out of it.” Kanna bared her teeth into a wolfy grin.
“...Are you stupid? How are you planning on getting out of this?”
“I never thought of that. The same way you never think of anything.”
“I see.” Lily shot a wolfy grin right back at her.
“I feel stupid for giving up hope. We’re almost there. It’s time to kick some ass. Right?”
“That’s what I’m here for! Now this is getting fun.” Kanna let out a howl.
—Another combatant has joined the fray, hm? At this point, perhaps having the student council president win is the smarter choice.
2V started to run some quick calculations.
—Eiko stated publicly that she didn’t kill her father. She plans to wait for Boichiro to win the battle, and then alter the records. It’s a good idea, but some of the soldiers probably don’t believe her. I can use that to cause more chaos, if I want to...
2V focused his mind. He had dolls in many different units in the army — some were with the front-line troops fighting the demon beasts, some were with the squads on standby, and some were in the rear with the medics.
“Hey, did you hear? The enemy says the high priest’s daughter killed him and tried to take his place.”
“No, it was the Demon King that killed him, right?”
“But don’t you agree there’s something weird about the way Eiko Teruya is acting?”
“Maybe, but... Orders are orders.”
2V’s dolls were having conversations like that all over the army. Of course, the soldiers were loyal to their mission — even if they didn’t trust their commander, they would still follow orders. But despite that, the rumors spread quickly, and became tinder that could later catch fire.
Lily and Kanna made a great team. Lily would charge in, and Kanna would follow after her. Given their appearances, the enemy thought it would be the other way around, and had no idea how to react to this.
“Take this! Special Move: Sphere Smash!”
Lily was having fun. Whether it was a good name for a technique or not, she’d gotten her fighting spirit back.
C
ountless fists formed a sphere around her body, blowing away her enemies. Kanna would leap around her to protect her blind spots, which meant that she didn’t have punch into empty air like she had to do before. Now she could keep the battle going for longer, and her attacks were far more powerful.
“Anyway, these are just ordinary soldiers! They can’t use magic!”
“If they get close, they’ll get hurt!”
Kanna was running around at a speed human reflexes couldn’t match. These were the same movements that had been too fast for Akuto, even if that was before he awakened. The soldiers kept their distance and fired their rifles, but by the time they aimed at one spot, Kanna was already gone. Their bullets went every which way, and they ended up hitting their comrades.
Eventually they got tired of trying to attack the wolf, and went for the human Lily instead, but Kanna would put herself between them as a shield and block the bullets with her body. Her coat was tough and flexible, and any bullets that hit it would simply bounce off.
“We’re almost to Eiko Teruya!”
“That was easier than I thought!”
Lily and Kanna continued their ferocious advance.
“You’re an embarrassment to the Koga clan! What’s going on?” Eiko screamed into her communicator.
The command tent was on a hill some distance away from the schoolyard, but Lily was almost there. Eiko should’ve known that normal soldiers had no chance against magical experts.
“The giant armor has us pinned down. We’re trying our best, but...”
Of course, Eiko could see what was going on. The giant armor that had flung the wolf creature across the yard had then moved towards her armored warriors next to the school building. Eiko knew how strong it was — a few ninjas wouldn’t be enough to stop it.
“Send the Hattori to capture the student council president!” Eiko shouted.
2V saw his chance.
—I guess she’s getting desperate. Yuko’s unit is constantly being followed by the media. If they get close to the student council, viewers all over the country will hear about how she killed her father. When that happens, it will be difficult for her to put a stop to the rumors. If I want to, I can have Eiko Teruya removed from the game entirely...
Demon King Daimaou: Volume 5 Page 7
