“Hmph.” Lily brought her arms back to normal size as she landed. A moment later, all of 2V’s dolls crumbled to the ground.
“I don’t think I can use that again for a while... I was planning on saving that for the Demon King, too,” Lily said as she walked up to the defeated 2V, but then her expression clouded. “What...?!”
Lily grabbed 2V by the hair and lifted him up, then slammed him back into the ground.
“This one’s a doll too!”
“R-Really?!” Kanna ran over to see.
The hole Lily had torn open in 2V’s abdomen was ringed with mechanical parts.
“Hahahaha...” 2V — no, the doll she’d thought was 2V — began to laugh. There was no expression on its face. It was eerie, like a laughing corpse.
“Where are you controlling this thing from?!” Lily yelled.
2V replied mockingly, “It’s a secret, of course! But once this doll shuts down, the others will shut down as well. I put a booster inside it, you see. Hahaha... If our luck’s bad, maybe we’ll run into each other again someday. But even if we do, you won’t recognize me. As you can see, I have no face. Hahaha, hahahahahaha...”
With one last eerie laugh, 2V’s doll shut down.
“Shit!” Lily stomped on the doll’s face. “He made a fool of me! That’s the one thing I hate more than anything!”
“W-We’ve got more important things to worry about right now...” Kanna interrupted, trying to snap Lily out of it. “You’re running out of energy, and Eiko Teruya is running away. Even if she’s finished as a commander, we have to stop her.”
“Damn it... But I’m too tired to move...” Lily turned her hat back around and slumped up against Kanna’s furry back.
“Jeez... Why is it you never think things through?” Kanna asked.
“Quiet. I’ll get some rest, and then we can go at it again. You got any food?”
“A certain somebody ate the snacks I keep hidden in the Student Council Room.”
“Oh, the principal never bought a new bag of chips to replace ’em?”
“It was the principal who ate them? That old man... Wait, President! Something’s happening at the school!” Kanna shouted.
Lily turned to look, and saw that the soldiers near the remains of the Genkaku were starting to shout.
Meanwhile, Rubbers was blocking the corridor, and Fujiko and Michie were in trouble.
“Ya know... I’m starting to think we can’t beat this guy,” Michie said gloomily.
In the underground crypt, Michie had once beaten most of the school’s students so badly they had to go to the hospital. If she didn’t think they could win, Fujiko was worried.
“I-If you’re so wimpy, why did you come here alone?!” she yelled.
“In a tight corridor my mechanical bats should be invincible...! At least... that’s what I thought...”
There were so many attacks that Rubbers, with his artificial body, was immune to. Even now he was slowly advancing on them, seemingly hoping they would attack him. It was unclear if he was the type who only attacked when someone attacked him first, or if he enjoyed being attacked. With no way to read his expression it was impossible to tell.
Fujiko and Michie began to slowly step back.
“L-Listen, you got any special magic spells or something?” Michie asked.
“If I did, I would have used it already! Outside of my drugs I’m no more powerful than a normal student!”
“Ahh... I’m not sure that’s something to be proud of,” Michie sighed.
Rubbers seemed to finally run out of patience. He began to increase his speed, bounding along the floor.
“Aah!”
“Hyah!”
He flew by the Cerberus that Fujiko was riding at incredible speed. Without the beast’s incredible reflexes, his attack would’ve been impossible to dodge.
“Yeah... we’re screwed,” Michie said.
“No... maybe not.” Fujiko suddenly looked like inspiration had struck her.
“Do you have a plan?”
“If I can just get to my lab...”
“If that’s what you need, I’ll make it happen,” Michie said as she launched her bats and wind at Rubbers.
Suddenly Rubber’s body changed in a surprising way. He stretched his body out as thin as he could, and then clung flat against the floor.
“Aaah! That’s so creepy!”
“Stop talking and get on! We’re getting out of here!” Fujiko had the beast crouch so that Michie could get on, and then spurred it onwards.
Rubbers followed them, still flat against the floor. He looked like liquid running down a tilted surface. He wasn’t going that fast, but once Michie was too far away to hit him with her wind, he transformed into a ball and began to bounce after them.
“He’s going to catch up with us! I can’t take this anymore!”
“You never stop complaining, do you... Just use your magic to drive him off when he gets too close!”
“Th-That’s right! Man, you’re so smart!”
“I’m starting to think you’re making fun of me... Anyway, we’re almost there! Just hang in there!”
“Sure thing!” Michie focused all her energies, and was able to drive back Rubbers one last time. The Cerberus slid into Fujiko’s lab.
“Just keep him busy a little longer!” Fujiko leapt off the beast and into the lab, leaving Michie panicked.
“Aah... aah... Wait... j-just me?!”
“Just hold him off for a little while and I’ll be right back!”
“Aaah! Please don’t just run and leave me here!”
Rubbers leapt at Michie while she spoke. She tried to block him with a flock of bats, but Rubbers just shrugged off her attack. The bats dug into his stretched-out body, stretching it out even further backwards as they dived into him. But they couldn’t penetrate his tough skin.
“Aah! This isn’t going to work!”
Michie realized she was too exhausted to fight. She tried to summon more wind, but it wasn’t enough to stop Rubbers.
Rubbers’ hand stretched out.
“Aaah!” Michie covered her face with her hands.
But his hand never reached her.
“Well, I certainly handled that quickly,” Fujiko said with a grin.
She was carrying what looked like a silver canister in both hands. White smoke was pouring out of the opening at the top.
Michie turned to look at Rubbers. The same white smoke from the canister was rising from his hand — it had frozen solid.
“What did you do?”
“Liquid nitrogen! He can use magic to stop the temperature drop, but once he’s covered in it, he can’t block its effects with mana!”
Fujiko loosened the spout, and the liquid shot out at Rubbers. He tried to block it with a mana shield, but Fujiko destroyed the shield with a spell of her own.
“I guessed that since you never need to use mana shields to protect yourself, you wouldn’t be any good at it. And I guessed right!”
The liquid nitrogen landed on Rubbers’ body, and he screamed. Half of his body turned a frozen white, and lost its flexibility.
“Now! Attack!”
“Right on!” Michie fired her mechanical bats. A colony burst forth from her cape, and the sharp blades on their wings attacked Rubbers. Until now, his tough flexible body had been able to shrug off the damage, but now they left obvious wounds on him.
“This is going to work!”
Michie concentrated their attacks on the frozen half of his body. There was a series of cracking noises as his body began to be chipped away, little by little.
Rubbers let out a bizarre howl. He stretched out the remaining half of his body, seemingly using the last of his strength. It was obvious that this would be his last attack.
“If that’s all you’ve got...!”
Fujiko leapt back and dodged, but Rubbers wasn’t aiming for her. Rubbers stretched out his hands towards Cerberus and into the pouch tied around his neck.
> “Huh?”
Fujiko didn’t know what he was doing. But when Rubbers’ arm came back and she saw what was in his hand, she cried out in surprise and fear.
“No!”
Rubbers had grabbed the pot that held the part of Akuto’s body she’d been cultivating. It was what gave her control over the demon beasts.
Fujiko opened the valve on the liquid nitrogen again, but shockingly, Rubbers abandoned the part of his body that had frozen. He stretched out an arm and snapped off the frozen part. Even with half his body gone, he was still able to bounce out of the corridor carrying the pot, and flee.
Fujiko didn’t have the energy left to chase him, and it was clear the even if she tried, she would fail.
“What was in that pot?” Michie asked, but Fujiko just shook her head. There was no need to tell her.
But Fujiko knew exactly what him taking it meant. At this point, it didn’t matter if she lost control of the demon beasts. But with that pot, the enemy would be able to research Akuto’s unique mana wave pattern. She didn’t know what they could do with it, but it might turn out to be something awful.
“A-Anyway... We’ve driven off the enemy. Let’s go see what else is happening.”
Fujiko tried her best to pretend she was staying calm.
○
Fujiko and Michie went to the place where the carrier Genkaku had collided with the school, and were astonished to see the principal digging Akuto out from the rubble. Fujiko immediately let out of a cry of joy.
“Oh, you’re safe, Akuto!” She ran over and helped Akuto up.
“Yeah... This was pretty rough.”
“If the dragon hadn’t saved you, you might not have survived. And if I hadn’t used my own skills on the carrier, neither you nor he would’ve survived,” the headmaster said as the rubble around them began to collapse.
Peterhausen appeared, with a large gash on his head. No blood was coming from the gash, but that was only because of how Peterhausen’s body was built. It was clearly a bad wound.
“You okay?” Akuto asked. Peterhausen shook his head.
“I’m not the type who pretends to be okay when he isn’t. I’ll tell you the truth, because it will likely have an effect on our future battles. I’ve lost a portion of several of my powers. Even I can tell that something is wrong. It won’t affect me normally, but if I try to use magical support, there’s no telling what will happen.”
“If that happens, maybe you weren’t lying when you said you’d give your life for me,” Akuto said sadly. And then he turned to Fujiko, who was now clinging to him.
“What’s happening?”
“I-I’m sorry. The demon beasts have been defeated. The soldiers are cleaning them up. And Boichiro Yamato has taken Keena Soga somewhere...”
“I see... Then we’ll have to follow him.” Akuto stood up. His face grimaced with pain.
“Y-You mustn’t! You have to fall back and regroup! Even if we can’t use the Academy as our base, with the black mages’ support we can easily build a hideout! If you die, everything is over!”
Fujiko clung to Akuto. He wrapped his arms around her head and whispered into her ear, “That’s not right. What I’m trying to do is put an end to everything.”
“What...?” Fujiko froze. “Does that mean you’re going to die, Akuto?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t thought that far. But I suppose you can say I will, in the sense that I’ll be dead. I don’t mean I’ll lose my life. If I can prove that I can kill a god, I might be able to rid this world of some tiny part of this evil story. If that happens, I’ll cease being the Demon King. I don’t know what happens then, though,” Akuto said coldly, but Fujiko violently shook her head.
“No! You’re my hope! You’re the one who saved me, and gave me a path to follow!”
“But that means you want to be a part of my story as the Demon King. That means elevating strong men and superior systems to the status of godhood, and creating stories about them that you rely on. That’s what allows people to use those stories to hurt people.”
“But there are also people who are saved that way!”
“And that’s why it needs to end. Of course, I’m going to save as many people as I can, while still remaining me. Even you, if you’ll stay with me, I’ll do my best to live up to your hopes.”
“Akuto...” Fujiko looked up at him with dewy eyes.
Akuto glanced over at Peterhausen.
“It’s time to go,” he said.
“Wait!” Fujiko yelled, “I’m going with you!”
But Akuto shook his head.
“I can’t let you. I don’t know what’s going to happen now.”
“But...” Fujiko let out a howl, as if all the feeling she’d been holding back were exploding. “Why Keena?! Why are you going to be with her?”
“Because she’s the one who will rid me of my story.”
Fujiko collapsed to the ground when she heard his answer.
“So, that’s what the difference between us was... But when you come back, I’m sure I’ll also...” She trailed off.
The principal called out to Akuto as he walked off.
“Well, good luck. Try out what I taught you, too.”
“Of course. I’m going to try one thing right now.”
Akuto jumped over the rubble that was formerly the school’s wall, his hair blowing in the wind from outside.
The soldiers outside the school screamed.
“It’s the Demon King!”
“He’s alive!”
“Forget the demon beasts! Attack him!”
A hail of gunfire rained down on Akuto.
“How many are there...? The same as before. I hope I can scare them into running...”
Akuto knocked the bullets away with a wave as he slid down the mountain of rubble.
Even if you discounted the Hattori ninjas and the ones who’d been knocked out by the falling carrier, there were still over a thousand soldiers on the school grounds. Akuto exposed himself before the huge, gathering army. He could feel their anger, hatred, and fear coming at him in waves.
“Now... it’s time to end this whole rotten thing!”
Akuto leapt to the side and put his hand on the spherical prow of the carrier that had rammed him.
○
“He’s... alive.” Junko raised her head.
The Hattori ninjas had been completely defeated. Including the ones who were helping Junko up, there were less than a hundred who could still fight. But no matter what happened, they would never forget their hatred for Akuto.
“Mistress! We can barely stand, and the Teruyas have betrayed us. But if the Demon King is alive, he is our priority!”
The Hattori ninjas regrouped and began to run towards the school building where Akuto was.
“W-Wait!” Junko followed them.
—You’re alive... You’re alive! But... but now I know that you’re not my enemy!
Junko was looking at Eiko, who had given up on taking command of the army and had surrounded herself with her own forces. Eiko seemed to plan on using the Demon King’s appearance as a way to cover up her own murder of her father. Abandoning the command post would normally have meant prosecution for dereliction of duty. But with the only enemy left being the Demon King, it looked, from a distance, like she was taking command in the field.
But the place where Eiko’s forces were standing was a point far away from where Akuto had appeared. The Hattoris were even farther away, but they at least were heading towards the battle. Part of the reason she was so far away was due to the battle with Lily, but still, it was clear to Junko that Eiko intended to sit this battle out and let others fight it.
—You coward!
Junko grit her teeth hard.
But when the Hattoris approached Eiko, she laughed and mocked them.
“Useless idiots! Go get the Demon King already!”
—Tch...!
Junko put her hand to her small sword, but one of the ninjas sto
pped her.
“Control yourself, mistress. Even if she really did kill her father, if we kill her it will simply look like we assassinated her to gain power!”
“Then you want me to obey her...?” Junko’s whole body was wracked with frustration.
“Ahahaha! Hilarious, isn’t it?” Eiko saw her and laughed.
But then a black shadow suddenly fell on them both, and Eiko turned around.
“Wh-What?!” Eiko gasped.
The carrier Genkaku was sticking up straight in the air.
“I see... So this is the Hua Jin the old man taught me.”
Akuto was impressed. He was holding the Genkaku’s prow with both hands. The 350 meter long carrier was far too big for him to carry, but he was holding it easily. Of course, he was using mana to support it, but it was still his own power.
“Hua Jin... Quite impressive,” Akuto said.
When he heard this, Peterhausen shrugged his shoulders (despite being a dragon.)
“I’m not an expert, but I don’t think that’s how Hua Jin usually works.”
“The principal said you just have to use every muscle in your body.
It’s working, so who cares?” Akuto slowly tilted the Genkaku to the side, and with a quick shout, swung it like a bat.
It was like a collapsing building falling to the ground. There was a low rumbling as the carrier’s hull swept along, just above the earth.
All the soldiers could do was drop to the ground and pray. Anyone who didn’t believe in the story of the gods had nothing left but despair. Those who didn’t get to the ground in time were smashed by the carrier’s hull, and even those that managed to avoid that were caught in the swirling air currents behind it, flung high into the sky and slammed into the ground. A single sweep of the carrier had brought down more than a thousand troops.
The carrier, not strong enough to take the force of the swing, split in half. The back half of it landed in the schoolyard, sending pieces scattering everywhere. There was a rumble like an earthquake and a cloud of dust like an explosion went up around the impact point.
“That should take care of most of it, I guess,” Akuto said as he tossed the other half of the carrier aside.
There was another rumbling and cloud of dust, but there was nobody left to be scared or to run. All anyone could do was look up at Akuto in awe. In the face of overwhelming, impossible power, there was nothing for anyone to say.
Demon King Daimaou: Volume 5 Page 9
