But Akuto nodded and looked straight at her. “I’ll make sure not to forget that there are people who are here to help me. Even if I was just made as a tool that dies in the end, until the last moment, I want to do what you want me to.”
“Y-You dummy... Why are you being so serious?” Junko smiled to hide her blushing
But Akuto answered seriously anyway. “But don’t worry. In two days it’ll be all over. Everything will be fine.”
“Y-Yeah...” Junko looked back at him and gulped. And then she slowly stretched out her hand to his.
“Yeah! It’d be great if we can put an end to all this!” Yoshie came up behind Akuto and grabbed both him and Junko.
“Hyah!” Junko yelled.
“Oh...” said Akuto.
“I’m glad you two are having fun, but if you don’t let me join in, I’m going to pout,” Yoshie joked. She rubbed her cheek up against Junko’s and grabbed Akuto by the ear and pulled. “Once this is all over, let’s see who wins this dunce for their own, okay? Or would you rather share him?”
“Y-You dummy... What are you...” Junko went red right up to her ears.
Yoshie ignored her, and suddenly spoke to Akuto in a serious voice. “Hey, are you seriously going to defeat Zero, not seal him? I think at this point, you’ll need a lot of resolve to do that.”
Akuto nodded. “Yeah. I understand what you mean.” The two of them seemed to understand what the other was trying to say.
“But you’re going to do it anyway? Your resolve hasn’t wavered after what you just heard?”
Akuto hesitated. “You’re right. I’m not sure what to do. My mind is starting to change, little by little.”
Yoshie nodded and smiled. “Okay, I guess I need to do my best so I can help you, too.”
“Hey... What are you two talking about?” Junko said suspiciously.
Yoshie’s mischievous voice returned. “Heheheh. Akuto and I understand each other without words. Are you jealous?”
“Wh-What are you talking about?” Junko’s face went red again as she flailed her hands.
“Hahaha. I’m just kidding. But the reason I like you is because Akuto and I get along.” She suddenly pushed Junko to the ground.
“Hyah! Stop it!”
“Ooh, your body feels different than Fujiko, but it’s still nice.” She began to rub Junko’s body.
“Wh-Where are you touching me...?”
“Where? Do you want me to say it? Akuto is listening.”
“Uwah! You dummy! Stop! You don’t need to say it!”
“Should I say it then?”
“Stop it!”
Suddenly Akuto looked away and spoke. “Let me know when you’re done.”
“You dummy! Make her stop!” Junko screamed.
○
Morning arrived. This was the morning that Akuto had decided they would leave for the moon.
“If it gets dangerous, then run,” he said to the rest.
The “rest” was Junko, Yoshie, Keena, and Keisu. They were all in a car, and Yoshie was driving.
“That’s the plan. But I do think there’s going to be a time when we’re all useful. Not that I don’t want to run when I look at this.” Yoshie suddenly felt a cold chill run down her spine.
The car was driving towards Constant Magical Academy, and they could see the rows of Liradans waiting for them. With just four of them heading into an army, it felt like being thrown out into the snow naked.
“That’s an anti-magic combat formation. They’ve decreased the amount of mana in the area they expect us to travel through, and are planning on shooting mana-accelerated bullets at us from outside that zone. Normally you wouldn’t drive up to a waiting army in a car, you know...” Yoshie said, analyzing the situation with her goggles.
Constant Magical Academy’s west side was a huge courtyard surrounding a small hill. The perfect place for a battle.
“There’s a VPS field, too. Just like we figured, Brave can’t help at all. It was probably right not to bring him.”
“But we’re going to follow the plan anyway. We’re not going to break through. I’m going to disable all the Liradans,” Akuto said calmly.
“Woah. Glad to hear you’re confident,” Yoshie chuckled as if to hide her fear.
Yoshie was an easygoing and curious girl; normally, dangerous places didn’t scare her. But this time, things were different. She’d never been in a real fight before.
Akuto seemed to sense her fear. He put a hand on her shoulder and nodded to Junko. “I’ll let Junko take care of you.”
Junko wasn’t used to having him call her name, so she let out a small “hyah!”, but then her face took on a serious look and she nodded. “Don’t worry. I know I can at least protect the car.”
Akuto smiled and nodded. “Yeah. I believe in you. I’ll handle the mana on our route. You’re all going to stay put until it’s safe. But Zero will probably still come after Keisu. The car can serve as a decoy.”
“Roger.” Yoshie smiled, the fear gone.
“Alright, off I go.” Akuto waved and flew upwards, with a calm demeanor that made it hard to believe he was going to battle.
But even so, the minute he got there, the area in front of them turned into a battlefield. Far to the front of the car, they could hear explosions and see flames and blasts of light. Of course, all of these were attacks directed at Akuto.
“He’s probably fine, but... I’m still worried.” Junko whispered.
“You’re in love, huh? Well, let’s worry about ourselves, not him,” Yoshie said as she accelerated the car forwards.
She was right. There was no reason to worry about Akuto. All the attacks were reaching him, but he was easily deflecting them. Even those Liradans that targeted the car were easily defeated.
But still, he missed a few of them. They could see a unit of Liradans coming from the opposite direction where Akuto was fighting. Zero couldn’t sense Keisu, so he was probably having the Liradans search for her with their eyes. Or maybe they were just seeing the car as a target.
There were three units of five Liradans, each wearing soldiers’ uniforms. A mana ball came up from behind them, fired by Akuto when he realized the danger. It succeeded in blowing away two of the units, but the remaining five Liradans blocked the car’s path, reading their guns with the efficient movements of veteran soldiers.
“Uh-oh.” Yoshie moved to turn the steering wheel, but Junko stopped her.
“It’s dangerous to expose our side. Keep going forward. The mana density is high enough. Even I can block them!”
Junko jumped up out of the car seat. She landed in front of the advancing car, ran faster than it was traveling, and then dropped down low as she drew her sword and made five clones.
Each of the clones headed for a different Liradan. As soon as they saw the Junkos coming for them, the Liradans fired their rifles.
“Just rifle bullets...!”
All the Junkos deployed mana shields. A few of the bullets made it through the shields because of the weaker mana in the area, but Junko spun her blade quickly and split them in half. The clones did the same, and even their own blades, which were made of mana, severed the bullets in the same way.
“Hah!” Then she split the Liradan and its rifle in two. The clones followed along, and all five Liradans collapsed at once.
When the last one had fallen, the car caught up and stopped next to her. “Nice,” Yoshie said, impressed.
“There’s more coming,” Junko said. She wasn’t blushing. She was right; more of the Liradans that Akuto had missed were coming towards the car.
It wasn’t that Akuto was slacking off. The Liradans, in other words, Zero, had narrowed down their target to Keisu. A huge horde was bearing down on them.
“Drive the car around for a while to keep them away from you. I’ll handle this,” Junko said as she made even more clones.
They surrounded the car, keeping the charging waves away. The waves of Liradans collided with the wal
l of Junkos, giving off a powerful mana light.
“Aah!” Yoshie ducked, but not a single bullet made it through the wall.
Junko was wielding her sword like a demon, slicing through the approaching horde and knocking them away.
“Raaaahh!” Junko yelled.
It was common knowledge that the effects mana had could be changed by the power of your imagination. Just like with the battle between Zero and Akuto, the key to this battle was human imagination. In that regard, Junko’s highly trained mind was overwhelmingly powerful.
“Here I goooo!” After blocking the wave of Liradans, now Junko and her clones charged. The clones were so packed together that you couldn’t tell which was the real her, and when they charged they were like a rampaging bull.
As they raced forward, the ranks of the Liradan horde collapsed. As they started to fall back, Junko pursued them. Some of them managed to stop running and try to group up again, only to be blasted by even more powerful mana balls from Akuto.
Every one he saw, he crushed. Anyone that got close to him exploded with a glance. Anyone farther away found themselves with a hole in their stomach, courtesy of one of his mana balls.
The Liradans were all under Zero’s control, and functioned as a single organism, but Akuto was crushing each of that organism’s cells. Now there was no way for them to keep fighting. If they had any “self,” they would’ve frozen in fear like their souls had left their bodies.
“I’m glad he’s not my enemy,” Yoshie said. She was watching the battle like she would a show. “...But it also seems beautiful,” she whispered.
As Akuto stood in the sky, overwhelming his enemies without moving an inch, he had the bearing of a creature that could only be called the Demon King.
And as Junko and her clones stormed down the path, white blades flashing like a blizzard of ice, she seemed like one of the Demon King’s demonic servants.
“This’ll be over soon, I bet.” Keena said as she sat next to Keisu in the back seat.
“I bet.” Yoshie nodded.
Few of the Liradans were still even moving. The area around Constant Magical Academy was now piled up with corpses.
“But I feel bad for them,” Keena whispered.
“Yeah,” Yoshie said, “I feel bad for the Liradans. But right now he’s being cold... What’s coming after this is where it gets scary.”
“After this?” Keena asked.
“That’s right. Anyway, that’s it for the outside. Now we go inside the school,” Yoshie pointed in front of them.
Akuto and Junko were standing on top of a mountain of shattered Liradans. It was a chilling, but somehow powerful scene.
○
The group stepped inside the school. But there were no Liradans in the hallway. Akuto stood at the front of the line as they walked forward, but nothing happened. There were no traps waiting for them.
“What’s going on?” Junko asked as they walked down the stairs, carefully keeping their eyes peeled for anything around them.
“Basic tactics says you should concentrate your forces. Maybe they didn’t expect the forces outfront to actually accomplish anything,” Yoshie said as she walked in front of Junko. She used her goggles display to overlay the path Keisu had told them on their current route.
“...Here. This wall.” Yoshie pointed to a stone wall in the basement corridor — a place the others knew well.
“We use this corridor too, but there’s nothing—”
Yoshie ignored Akuto as she pressed a small spot on the wall. There was a low rumbling as it slid open and revealed another corridor.
“...I didn’t know that was here,” Akuto said in surprise as he looked down the corridor.
There was nobody there, but from the footprints in the thick dust, they could see that someone had already passed through.
They went down the hall, keeping Keisu surrounded and safe at all times. There was a staircase at the end that they followed several levels down. When they got to the end there was a light. Akuto, who was at the head of the line, stopped.
“That’s...” Yoshie looked. And then she groaned. “I knew it... I wish I’d been wrong, but... So this is his trump card.”
“Wh-What’s going on? You’ve been saying that since yesterday...” Junko said, surprised, as she poked out from the back. And then she gasped.
At the end of the hallway was the silhouette of a tiny girl. Past the hall was a space the size of a football field, with a teleportation circle several meters across in its center. That was the only source of light. The girl was standing in front of the circle.
“I cannot let you pass. I will kill all of you,” a cold voice said. It was a voice Junko knew well.
“Korone...” As she stepped forward, she saw Korone. This was what Akuto and Yoshie had been talking about, she realized. Akuto wouldn’t be able to defeat her.
Korone was in the same uniform she always wore. Her eyes were the same emotionless color as ever, but what was different was the way she moved. As she raised her hand, they saw a trace of Kazuko’s elegance and the moments Zero made in his human body.
“She’s being controlled...” Junko whispered.
“Probably. But whether she’s being controlled directly...” Yoshie said.
“Korone!” Akuto shouted.
“That is my individual name.” Korone said, “But now...”
She raised her hand, and the mana flow around her began to warp. There was the sound of space itself ripping apart as a huge teleportation circle appeared above her head.
“A weapon...” Akuto whispered.
A huge machine appeared from the circle. It was shaped like a combination of an airplane and a piece of construction equipment. It seemed capable of flying on its own.
When it had fully manifested, it slowly descended to just above her head, and then surprisingly, began to transform. What seemed to be a flying machine split open and spread out, and then divided itself into parts that fitted themselves to Korone’s body.
When it was done transforming, it became like an armor surrounding her. Or maybe, a giant twice the size of a human with her in its belly.
Korone waved a hand as if to test how it moved. Her hand gave off a powerful mechanical groan as it moved. She pointed it at Akuto.
“...This is the artifact of the God Markt: ‘The Hammer That Destroys the Demon King.’ Call me Armored Korone,” she said.
“That sounds like one of her jokes, but...” Junko murmured.
“She has traits of Kazuko and Zero. It’s not Korone who’s in control. Maybe they’ve mixed to some level,” Akuto said.
“...So that’s The Hammer that Destroys the Demon King. The ultimate armor in Markt’s temple,” Yoshie said.
“It’s the same as my Souhaya no Tsurugi?” Junko asked.
Each of the temples had a single weapon guarded by the priests. The weapons were all tightly linked with the gods, and some of the most powerful weapons an individual could use. They were supposed to only be used as symbols of peace, but...
“As the name ‘Hammer’ implies, it gives its wearer the hardness of steel, and a powerful weapon to bring down on lawbreakers. It’s a weapon that was used in the war,” Yoshie explained as she pointed to Korone’s right arm.
The right forearm was equipped with a steel appendage that looked like a huge stake-like metal rod. The rod unfolded into a hammer so huge that it threatened to tip her over, so big that it threatened to overwhelm anything around it.
“That huge hammer has a booster attached to it. It’s simple, sure. But it’s also incredibly powerful.” Yoshie’s usual monologue was much shorter than it usually was.
“Now, here I come,” Korone said as she suddenly charged Akuto and swung it from the side.
“...!” Akuto jumped back to dodge, but as the hammer passed, it compressed the air so quickly that it exploded. The exploding air turned into a shockwave that spread out in all directions.
“And that’s not all...” Korone spu
n around once, changed her angle, and once more brought the hammer down from above and diagonal. “Fire,” she whispered as she activated the boosters. The hammer struck at Akuto with a roar.
“!” Akuto jumped to dodge this as well. There was a rumbling sound as the hammer smashed into the floor, sending stone fragments everywhere and making a giant crater.
Yoshie looked through her goggles as she gasped in surprise at its unbelievable power. “Its sheer mana density is so high that a mana shield can’t block it!”
Akuto gulped. “So I can’t block with mana...”
But the hammer was slow and unwieldy. If you wanted to attack twice like Korone did, you had to spin yourself around in a full circle.
“It’s simply to dodge, though,” Akuto whispered.
“And if you can dodge it easily, you can touch it just as easily,” Yoshie added.
She was right. Akuto dodged Korone’s next attack, jumped in close, and touched Korone’s right arm. He concentrated the mana there and tried to destroy it. “Haah!”
The mana control worked perfectly. But Akuto jumped back with an expression of surprise.
“He can’t destroy it!” Yoshie shouted.
“The armor is too strong to destroy with mana!”
“Correct. In other words, as long as I’m swinging the hammer, you can’t stop me,” Korone said.
No, from the different tone of her speech, perhaps it was Kazuko who was speaking.
“No, there’s a weak spot... but...” Yoshie said.
Akuto knew it too. The armor wasn’t covering Korone’s whole body. Of course, it wasn’t exposing her weak spots, but with Akuto’s magic power, he could destroy her body with a touch.
Korone must’ve known it too, because she grinned, an expression she normally never showed. It was Kazuko’s smile.
“The Demon King can’t do that, can he?” Korone, or rather Kazuko, said.
“Tch...!” Akuto dodged again.
“That’s why I used Korone as my last trump card. You can’t destroy her. I’m going to get you back for what you did before, though not directly.” Kazuko laughed through Korone’s body.
Demon King Daimaou: Volume 9 Page 6
